Eastwood Guitars Sidejack Deluxe

The Eastwood Sidejack DLX is a solid body electric guitar which is a reproduction of the classic Mosrite Ventures model from the mid-60's. In other words, it is a double cutaway with the lower horn longer than the upper horn. Kind of like an upside down strat. Set neck. 22 frets. Carved top with 5-ply binding. Bound rosewood fingerboard. Two P-90 style single coil pickups (the neck pickup is slanted backwards). White scratch-plate. Jaguar-style tremolo. Controls are two knobs (master volume and tone) and three way pickup select switch. Mine has a sunbust finish. This guitar has an awesome, quirky, 1960's vibe.

Obviously, with the Ventures influence, surf music is the logical style of music to play on this guitar. But I think this is a very versatile guitar. The P-90s sound great. I also have a 1956 Gibson Les Paul with P-90s. By comparison, the Eastwood pickups don't have quite as much grunt, but what do you expect from a $449 guitar? I considered changing the pickups but I won't bother - they sound great. I love P-90s for blues. They can overdrive an amp like nothing else. They are like single coils on steroids, so you can play rock, blues, whatever. Also, don't forget all those early jazz guys (Herb Ellis, Joe Pass, Kenny Burrell) played P-90s as well. Surf guitar looks - versatile tones.

The finish on the guitar was fine. There is one little section where the binding is a bit messy, but you can't really notice unless you look REALLY closely. I think the finish is better than average for guitars in this price range. The action is low and very comfortable, but unfortunately it needs the frets dressed before it will play really well. There are spots on the neck where I can't bend strings without them fretting out. This is disappointing, but understandable in an inexpensive, Chinese-made guitar. Shame though, because otherwise the set-up is excellent.

I've only had this guitar two weeks, but it feels very solid. The set neck is solid as a rock and the finish is polymer, so it feels like it will last a lifetime. Everything about the guitar seems like a quality product that will withstand plenty of wear and tear. Ask me again in a few years.

Customer support was excellent. I emailed Mike Robinson (president of the company) several times before committing to the purchase. Mike returned all my emails very promptly and answered my questions in a very polite and professional manner. Delivery was extremely quick. Even though I live in Australia the guitar arrived 5 days after I placed the order. After I'd had the guitar for about two weeks I received a courtesy email from someone else at the company enquiring about my level of customer satisfaction. I only had good feedback for them. This is the second Eastwood guitar I've bought and I'll definitely buy more guitars from them in the future.

I'm really impressed with the quality of guitars being made in Asia these days. It's always been possible to buy cheap guitars, but in years past you wouldn't want to because the quality was so poor. You used to have to spend big bucks just to get a guitar that was playable. These days you can get a really great, quality guitar for under $500. Eastwood is a case in point. I have a couple of vintage Gibsons and Fenders, but the problem with owning guitars like that is that I never take them out of the house. They're too valuable to use on a gig and, to be honest, they rarely get played. The Eastwood guitars have a cool retro vibe at a price that doesn't make you feel nervous about playing them.

2009 Made in China
Solid top
23 frets?
3 way selector switch, volume knob, tone knob
2 P-90 pickups, passive
Basswood body I think
Metalic blue finish, although it is more teal than blue
Moserite copy, reverse strat
classic fender style trem, Jaguar, jazzmaster, what have you.
non-locking Les Paul style tuners
Rosewood fingerboard, regular sized frets I think
came with cable and allen wrenches

I play surfy/rock instrumental through a 78 Fender Pro Reverb/Hot Rod Deluxe, being a Moserite copy it complements this sound/style very well. The pickups are hot, very hot. I like it.

Set up leaves a little to desired for my personal tastes but overall is very playable. I have not found any flaws in the finish thus far.

It seems solid, I have only played one show thus far so we shall see.

Awesome customer service, very friendly and helpful.

It looks awesome and plays great. I will have to wait and see how it holds up but I'm really pleased with this purchase.

This is an update to my previous 'bad' review. I have since figured out how to keep the sidejack in tune - I had to make sure all the areas where the strings touch are well-oiled and clean. The guitar has a tendency to bind up and this is what causes the guitar to go out of tune. I still think the machine heads are kind of crappy - I may upgrade those. Also had to tighten the allen screw that increases the tension on the wammy trem - so it doesn't float - that seemed to help a lot, because now it rests in the same position which is butted up against the stop, if that makes sense. Now, that I've fixed the tuning issue - the guitar plays very nicely and is usable. I'm much happier now

The guitar sounds great - the pickups are very clear and loud. It sounds great as a surf guitar - really punches the tank and gets some nice drip. It's not a strat and its' not a les paul - it's somewhere in the middle.

The action is nice - it plays really well. It feels good in the hands. When I got it it was unusable because it wouldn't stay in tune. The finish looks great.

Seems reliable and durable.

Still haven't heard from anyone at Eastwood - Kind of weird actually. They must be really swamped. So gotta give them low marks here

Overall, a nice sounding and looking replica of a mosrite without the big price tag of a real one. There are some tuning issues, the trem is kind of useless and the machine heads suck. But for 400 bucks - it's a good deal. I'm much more satisfied now that I've figured out how to keep it in tune.

The guitar was made in 2008 - the year with the crappy tremolo. It's got two p-90 'style' pickups - really nice looking guitar - belongs on a shelf - not meant to be played or taken on the road - you have been warned...

The sound if full - not noisy - it plays pretty nice - but it doesn't matter what it sounds like because it CANNOT be used with a band

Utter crap - unusable guitar - will NOT stay in tune - I don't care what you do to it - I feel like I've been ripped off by this company and this guitar - don't they ever play these things in a live situation to test them out? The tremolo feels like it's going to break off at any point. I would never buy an eastwood without testing it out in person thoroughly first - BEWARE!!

Who cares if it's reliably if it's unusable - cannot depend on it - feels flimsy

Emailed a bunch of times to get some advice for keeping it in tune - never heard back from them - EVER - customer support sucks BIG TIME

It's a cheap nice looking guitar that feels flimsy and is totally unusable - darn shame really... I have loads of guitars that stay in tune and work well. Heck, for 400 bucks - should have I expected less? I hate getting ripped off - and when they upgraded the tremolo in 2009 - wasn't that an acknowledgement that the earlier ones were crap? well, now I truly feel like a sucker. - I guess I was fooled by the term, 'deluxe' at the end of the model name - ha ha ha - shame on me. Now I'm stuck with a nice looking piece of junk

Don't know the year made but very recent. Two P90s, double cutaway, 22 fret, burns trem, Mosrite copy. I assume it was made in China.

This is a great guitar for the money. I use it with a 68 Fender Super Reverb. On a single pickup it is noisy but with both pickups on she is silent. Every guitar player that has heard this guitar has stated that it sounds great. The burns trem cannot dive bomb and is more in the range of a bigsby. I play almost entirely clean and this guitar is great for that.

I bought the guitar used and when it arrived it looked like new and needed no adjustments.

This guitar is built like a tank. I replace all strap buttons with strap locks but they were solid. The transparent sea green finish is great. I expect this guitar to last at least twenty years.

Don't know about the warranty, bought it used. I have contacted the dealers for these guitars on a few occasions and have always received a prompt response and all questions were answered.

I have been playing for 45 years and have always wanted a Mosrite. I did not expect to get such a good guitar when I purchased this one but I am one hundred and ten percent satisfied. One of the best 250.00 I ever spent. I own several guitars at the moment, the admiral being a Gibson 335, and have owned over a hundred guitars. This is one of the best I have had, probably better than the original Mosrites. If it was stolen I would replace it in a heartbeat.