Eastwood Guitars Savannah

Finish is solid, very pretty to see. Semi-hollow body with a trapeze tail and gotoh tuners. Thin neck, which I prefer greatly.

No accessories, although they did throw in a t-shirt and cable. Made in China. 3-way selector on the pickups, two volume and two tone knobs.

I'll give it an 8, but in truth it has all the features that I would expect it to have.

I'm playing it through a vox valvetronix 120 watt hybrid. It's got a great growl when warranted, and does clean tones fabulously. I don't detect as much tone change swtiching between the neck setting and the middle position. But, the bridge setting has a great bite.

It's a little on the dark side with regard to tone, but that is at least equally related to using the "marshall" setting on the amp, which is not heavy on the high end. I've got the treble cranked and could still use a little more sparkle. Less of an issue on the ac-30 and 2x10 blackface settings of the amp.

Set up was solid. Action was a little high, but easily adjustable. I actually get a weird harmonic resonance from the strings behind the bridge before the tailpiece. Nothing a little piece of foam can't remedy. No other set up problems.

This will definately withstand a live setting. The hardware is good (although one of the tone knobs popped off... again and easy fix). Strap buttons are solid and tight.

My one concern as it relates to durability is that Eastwood doesn't offer a case to fit this guitar!!! And I've thusfar not been able to find one. The gibson/epi cases are not giving me the right shape. So, I might have to just use a gig bag.

Customer support was solid. I actually had to return my first Savannah, because the truss rod was stripped and couldn't be adjusted. They told me they had never seen that happen before and didn't know why it happened. But, they shipped me a new one off right away. I had to pay shipping to get the defective one back to them, though.

I've been playing for nearly 20 years, and own too much gear to list (some great, some not so great). I've actually ordered an Eastwood Stormbird recently and I'm looking forward to getting it and hearing what it will do. Whether or not I replace this guitar if it's lost or stolen will depend on how the stormbird feels and sounds.

I don't own one of these, but I spent a lot of time playing one when I was considering buying one and I wanted to offer a balanced review to some of the other reviews, and mention a few things that haevn't been mentioned.

Features mentioned throughout the other reviews. The guitars in my opinion are very
comparible to the Ibanez Artcore hollow bodies in both price and features, so I will kind of use them as a comparisson a few times throughout the thread.

One edge I feel the Savannah has over most other hollow bodies in the price range is it has a decent set of Filtron pickups in it.

One really important thing that isn't mentioned in a lot of these reviews is the neck. The neck is VERY narrow at the nut, and in my opinion totally doesn't suit this style of guitar. Unfortunately all of Eastwood's hollow bodies have the same neck from what I have seen. If you are planning on buying one of these guitars without trying it, this is something you should really take note of. I know a lot of people dislike narrow necks, and the neck on the Savannah is one of the narrowest I have played.

As mentioned, the Filtron pickups are a nice bonus. This is the only hollow body I know of in the price range that comes with a set. They are especially good for Rockabilly/Country tones.

If you are looking for a "gretschy' sound on a budget, this guitar might get you closer then a lot of others in the same price range.

I personally was not that impressed on the finish with the one I was considering buying. I know you can only expect so much from a budget guitars, but to use an Artcore as a comparisson again, I have never seen the same errors on an Artcore. There was a lot of paint problems near the binding, and finish problems. The worst I saw were burrs or knots on the back/sides of the neck that didn't look like they hadn't been sanded down properly before finish was applied to the guitar. I was also not impressed with the nut as many other reviewers mentioned.

Bottom line. I got to try one of these in a store, but if I had recieved the model I tried in the mail, I likely would have returned it.

I can't offer an opinion on this.

Even though my review might sound a little rough, I have full confidence from my dealings with Mike, the owner, that they would make sure you are fully satisfied with your purchase or return your money. Eastwood offers some cool guitars, and hopefully one day I will find one I like.

A decent guitar overall. I the look of the guitar isn't a concern, and you just want a hollow body I think you could find better guitars in the price range though. You can find used Dearmonds, and Artcores for the same price, and they usually come with cases. If you want a hollow body with a unique look to it, and don't mind putting some work into the guitar it could be a great guitar for you though.

My Natural Finish flamed top Savannah arived the other day. It's INCREDIBLE. One of the top 5 guitars I've ever seen and heard. I believe mine is unique. It has the standard savanah shape, but it has a B6 style Bigsby tremelo, no pickguard(like the old kind), but the same pickups that are on the newest model. it is perfect for me. I love it.
All maple body with laminated top, maple neck, rosewood figure board, 3 way switch, gibson style controles, great tuners. I'm not sure of the brand though. All gold hardware.

It's harder to get a bad sound of this than a good one. I play rock mostly(Beatles, Matthew Sweet, Lloyd Cole <--My Dad, Creedence Clearwater Revival, much more) and it's perfect for it. I also play in my school jazz band and my state jazz band. This guitar has replaced the other 5 that I've tried.
Using my Tech 21 Trademark 60 amp, and occasionally experimenting with a couple pedals(Tube Screamer, DynaComp, I have more to try!) I can do anything. The sound(on clean settings) is big and fat, without loss of twang. It is very warm, but not mushy. It's a very "lively" sound. I don't usually use it distorted(I have other guitars for that), but there is no problem with a distorted sound. I love the sligtly overdriven sound I get using the Tube Screamer with the gain on about 4.5 and the tone on 8.5.
The best comparison I can make of it is that it's somewhere between a Gibson 330 or 335, and a Gretsch Country Genteman. Very, very versetile.

It was in tune out of the box. The action is perfect and the pickups were adjusted just how I like them. Everything was fine, etc. The only one thing was that the treble pickup had a loose volume knob, but I fixed that amost instantly. This guitar is in no need of change, but knowing me I'll have it professionally set up, and have a black pickguard installed so I don't do anything to the beautiful finish.

I would do anything with this guitar. It will last longer than I will. I would/could gig with it without a back up. It stays in tune, even with bigsby use(up to a point, naturally).

Mike gave this guitar to me as a gift because he knew I wanted it, but had to spend my savings on an 8 track recorder!!!!! How great is he?!?!??! I intend to buy more guitars from him(Stormbird, New Models...)
Mike answered every annoying e-mail I sent him, and treated me like I was his only customer! If you deal with him, you'll make a new friend too!

I LOVE THIS GUITAR

STD Model already described

I play a range of music from blues to heavier alternative rock. I play through a TRIUMPH peavy 60W tube amp and use an array of Boss (Delay, Chorous, Flanger, Octave, Equalizer, SuperOverdrive, MetalZone), Ibanez (TubeScreamer), Jim Dunlop (Wah) effects in different combinations.
The guitar is not overly noisy. At the start I was a little worried as the guitar sounded muddy and lifeless. It required a lot of tweaking both at the amp end and a lot of effect adjustments but finally the guitar started to sing. At the right settings the guitar has a rich sound, bright, with great sustain and takes on a life of its own with tube distortion. Feedback is inevitable with certain settings but can be controlled. The neck pickup still sounds a little muddy to mee, but when you add the bridge pickup the sound becomes much brighter with a great tone.

The action was low as I like it but I was getting some fret buzz and intonation was poor. I changed the strings to a lighter gauge, raised the bridge only slightly and adjusted the intonation. This was not that easy and perfect intonation throughout the fretboard could not be achieved, but the variation is only small at higher frets (19-22). Pickups had to be raised beacuase of the higher action, but at their heighest point they are still a little far from the strings, which seems to affect the level of output.
Otherwise the guitar is in good shape small flaws in the finish are not really of great concern, the gold hardware seems to have survived over the last year with moderate use, peg tuners are good, one of the tone knobs was a little loose but that was easily fixed. My only real dislike was the plastic transparent pickguard on the standard model: it was cut badly and was ugly to look at so I removed it.

I've never used it yet at a live gig, I'm a little too attached to my faithful gibson studio. During a good rehearsal it does need retuning especially if using the tremolo system. I find the "bigsby" is suited more for vibrato than for anything else as it affects the tuning too much.I've had it for a year now and nothing has broken yet with moderate (ab)use, so other than the tuning issue I have no problems with its reliability.
I plan on using it on our next gig for 1 or 2 songs but I don't think it could endure an entire set.

I bought this guitar from Ian Carter Guitars the australian eastwood dealer. He was very helpful and professional, he knows his guitars and is very passionate about them. I havn't had any issues since I bought the guitar, but from what i've heard i'm sure that if there were any problems he would be of assitance.

I've been playing for 13 yrs, other that the savannah I own a gibson studio, a yahmaha pacifica and a Martin DCME. I'd be quite upset if this guitar was stolen. It feels good to hold and I love playing it: from the darkest blues to the brightest puncy riffs it has a awesome tone, a rich sound, a beautiful look, it's relatively versatile and it came at a great price (with custom case) all of which outweight the tiny imperfections I wrote so much about.
For the overall feel of the guitar and the smile on my face when I play it I give it a 9.

See other reviews.

Not very good!!! Very bright and harsh sounding pickups. Not the warm tones I was expecting. I should have known you can't get a decent hollow body for this cheap.

Absolutely horrible! Finish flaws everywhere, finish scraped off in a few places, tuners overtightened on the headstock so that they cracked the finish on the headstock. The nut was a mess, the binding was terrible. A real POS!!!

I don't know about the reliability because I returned a couple of days after I received it. I can't imagine it to be very good. Just felt really CHEAP!

Mike Robinson at www.myrareguitars.com is a straight shooter and I would definitely deal with him again. He gave me a no hassle refund when he found out I was not satisfied with the product. I just hope some of his other models are of better quality.

I've been playing for about 12 years. I am a hobbyist, but I can hold my own. I definitely know a good guitar when I see one. This is not a good guitar...bottom line!

I like that it's a twisted version of a gretsch or 335 for easy coin. Something I can drag into a dumpy bar and not worry so much about (Won't try that with a real white falcon). The stock pickups were okay. The tremelo is a problem, though. Will not stay in-tune. My tech calls it the 'go out of tune lever' - and that's really all it's good for.

Kind of a thinline white-falcon, or a gretschy 335. Works with my rootsy americana music, through vintagey toob amps. The neck 'filtertron' is girthy enough, and the bridge can be nice and bright - lots of variation and they all work.

I did improve the tone considerably by swapping the stock pickups with actual filtertrons - but the stock pickups were pretty serviceable, and the above comments refer to them

The white finish and the body binding didn't fit well together, and there were places where the paint wasn't scraped off the binding very well. Set-up needed work (but that's not a big deal) The pickup selector switch was faulty, and had to be replaced. One of the pots needed to be replaced also. Finally, and most importantly, the burns tremelo system is completely useless. The bearings around the post that the strings anchor to have too much friction. The string tension won't return the bar to neutral if you pull up, and the spring won't return the bar to neutral if you push down. Get the trapeze version and buy a separate Bigsby.

I have changed several things on this guitar. Stock, as-is from the factory, I don't think the guitar is very giggable. With several changes (which bring the guitar into the $600 area) it' serviceable.

I've been playing for 15 years, and gigging regularly for 5. I've owned dozens of guitars. This is not one of the worst I've had (except maybe for the tremelo system). I don't mind replacing pickups, but switches and pots should be working from the factory. I can't figure out how anyone even tries to use that trem. Now that I've made it better, it will get played fairly regularly.

i purchased my wallnut Savannah through ICguitars here in melbourne australia. the guitar is constructed in a similar fashion to an ES335. the guitar is made in china however of very good construction for the price. it as a single 3 way pickup selector switch for the 2 pickups. the bridge is a roller saddle type and has a bigsby type of tremolo. the fingerboard is quite wide and comfortable. I had Ian Carter change the humbucker type pickups to the filtertron style ones offered on the black version.

initially i used the guitar at home for a while through my small marshall lead 12 and it sounded good. at low volumes i was particularly impressed by its jazzy tones and rockabilly sound. However plugging it through my english made Vox AC30TB and my digitech RP12, the guitar took on a completely different personality. it is able to nail that classic BB king type sound as well as the great tones reminiscent of neil young and crazy horse. the guitar cuts through in a different way to a fender, the sound is smoother and powerful. if you are an ACDC fan you can instantly get the sound of malcolm young. the setting with both pickups is great for country rock as well. a very nice playing guitar with great versatility.

the down side of the guitar was that it does need a fret dress and i intend to also replace the nut. i would have expected even a factory set up to have been better than this and was a little disappointed. this has given me some concern however will get the work done soon, its a great now guitar how it is now and expect it to be superb once the work gets done.

the gold plating is wearing very fast, especially in the bridge.

the guitar is solid and well made overall and i expect it to hold up to regular gigging. the strap buttons were the normal conical types which i replaced with oversized ones. its also a very comfortable guitar to play both sitting downa nd standing up. totally dependable.

i have dealt mainly with Ian Carter of IC guitars who is the importer of Eastwoord guitars. he is great and only too pleased to help out. (he even swapped the filtertrons from his personal Savannah into mine just to make me happy. i guess i am lucky to have probably the only walnut savannah with filtertrons but if anyone was to ask me for my reccomendations i would say they should all be with that pickup. the guitar comes with warranty however do not expect to really ever need it, and if i did Ian would be as easy to deal with as he has been in past.

this is the guitar that completes the set. I fave a number of fenders etc etc, most of the guitars people own, however the savannah is a great guitar which i could use for Jazz, blues and rock. i would die if it was stolen and would get another one immediately. i may consider putting a reverse phase switch on it the peter green tone.

any of you aussies out there......ian has been great, alovely guy to chat with and to do business. he is passionate about what he does and it shows..onya mate!

I acquired 5 Eastwood guitars from Mike Robinson 2005. This semi-hollow electric is compared to Gretsch but a comparison to Epiphone DOT or Wildcat is probably closer, the neck on the Savanah is more playable. It has a set neck, bigsby style tremelo and roller bridge. A lot of features for the price including a set neck.

I played it on a Kendrick amp and it sounded like again an Epi to me. Wiring is Gibsonish with two volume and two tone controls and three way switch. Great sounding, fairly well shielded. Easy player.

Guitar was well setup when it arrived. There are many minute finish flaws but I build and repair guitars so I see things that most folks don't. The only complaint I have on this guitar and other Eastwoods is the terrible plastic nut. Mine was scratched up and I will be replacing with a bone nut ASAP. This will help the guitar reach its full potential.

Just got it but I'm familiar with the hardware and it should hold up fairly well. Fret work was pretty well done for a guitar in this price range and it outclasses Mexican Fenders that generally have poor nut and fret work.

Mike Robinson is knowledgeable and easy to contact. He's brought an amazing set of guitars to market for a great price.

I've been playing guitar for 40+ years. You name it and I've owned. Mike is offering remakes of some of the quirky guitars of the 60's but he's improved them and made them players at a price point that is amazing. Is it a 3000.00 ES335 Custom? No. Is it a player you can use day in and out? Yes. If I advised Mike to make any improvement it would be to the nut but any local repair person can do a bone nut and you still would be money ahead.

Asian made.... All gold hardware with Bigsby Style Tremolo, Humbucker Pickups, Grover Style Tuners, 3-way Adjustable Roller Bridge, Clear Plexiglass pickguard, Multi-Layer Body and neck binding, Bound F-Holes, Mother-of-Pearl headstock inlay and a SET NECK

I use my Savannah with a US made Fender Blues Jnr. The two get along really well. I play in an alt-country-surf-rock band (www.littlepilgrms.ca) and this guitar offers versatility at an affordable price. Having volume & tone controls for each p/u allows a wide range of combinations for different tones.

The guitar arrived with some pretty nasty strings on it. Not a suprise given the price point. The set up, packaging and finish were all good. There are a couple of very minor cosmetic flaws (tiny bit of a paint touch up at the base of the headstock, slightly sloppy paint around the set neck). Very subtle... again at this price point, this a very sharp guitar, and I was impressed with the finish.
I switched to 12s as soon as I got the guitar, so I had to also set it up and adjust the neck. Everything was smooth, and with the 12s it is playing very nice.. Good action.

I've owned my Savannah for app. 7 months now, and have gigged with it the whole period. I play 3 nights a week with my band, and often play it every day. I use a back up at gigs (as I would with whatever guitar I was playing), but have never had any problems with it.

The gold finish wears pretty quickly... Around the bridge I've worn through to silver in a few places... No big deal though.

Mike Robinson at www.myrareguitars.com is very helpful and pleasant to deal with.

I've been playing for app. 9 years.

I'm quite happy with this guitar and it's taken over the #1 spot from my strat. It is starting to break in really nicely now that it's logged many hours.

The Savannah has a fairly slender neck which took some getting used to at first...

I would buy it again if it were stolen.

Brand new Falcon Savannah (demo). A lot of guitar for the money. Beautiful white finish, not flawless but still very pretty. Chinese made. Bigsby type vibrato with roller bridge that should stay in tune after I beat it a little while longer - Nut Sauce helps. Nice pitch on the headstock giving very good sustain. Clear guard
Very cool offset cutaway making access to the top frets much easier than on a 335. Two totally utile humbucks. Toggle switch is in a easy to get spot. Nice tuners. The features and ring of a Gretsch with the upper neck sustain of a 335. An important hybrid design.

Good so far. Full sounding leaning towards a 335. Seems very versatile.

Very good set up. Came w/a good 10-46 set of strings. Strap pins perfectly placed.
Guitar hangs and balances just right. White paint around binding not spot on but for this price, no complaints. I imagine the wood finished models won't show this but the white finish looks retro and I'll bet it looks better as it ages.

This build feels very solid.

Very responsive - great

Gots lots. I'd replace it if lost - at this price you could get one in each color and it still wouldn't cost as much as a 6120 or a 335.