Eastman AR804 - 2004

Description

Eastman AR804 - 2004

Built at the time when Eastman were making superb quality hand built archtops. This oval hole archtop is very rare and only made as a custom Order.

This is a beautiful hand built jazz archtop guitar with a solid carved spruce top and hand carved bow back and sides.

Gorgeous woods. Heavy binding. Lovely low action with ebony neck. Gold stair step tuners. Ebony and Gold tailpiece. Ebony bridge.

Heavy bound headstock. Bound neck. Build quality is superb. You’re unlikely to ever find a hand built spruce top maple back and sides for anywhere near this price.

Original hard shell case. I am also supplying an original Eastman matching Ebony pickguard if you want to add one.

This guitar has a wonderful acoustic sound. Mellow, loud with a sustained bell-like ring. Few very minor dings commensurate with age but nothing at all bad. No cracks or splits or major dings/dents. Really for a 20-odd year old guitar very very clean.

……Internet comments….”On the upside, the guitar is utterly beautiful to look at. Acoustic tone is marvelously racy. It doesn't have a big, bassy jazz-box sound. Instead, the guitar sparkles like a good flat top. The guitar is a joy to play. Neck, fingerboard, frets and intonation are all absolutely first-rate. The rounded back makes the guitar very comfortable to hold.

Workmanship and materials are surprisingly high. Better than my Gibsons and Fenders, though not as good as my Martin D18.

Bottom line, I really love my Eastman. True, I've played archtops that are much better (such as the $7000+ Hopkins Guitars they have at Buffalo Bros.), but the axe is still satisfying enough for me to consider myself totally out of the market when it comes to jazz guitars. I have no buyer's remorse whatever. I haven't the slightest trace of upgrade-itis. The fact that it's Chinese bothers me a little bit. But then I look at the pictures of the folks who work at the factory. There's no slave labor here. They all look like dedicated, skilled craftspeople, doing what they do best.”

Not sending this by courier with risk of damage so pick up or can deliver meet reasonable distance North Yorkshire. We are also coming up on holiday past Edinburgh and up East Coast to near Aberdeen 30th August. We are also coming down to Kent via A1/M11 and back up through St.Albans mid-October. Both could offer delivery/meet possibilities.

Ad ID: 1502053758