So Eastman Is Making A Les Paul Style Guitar Now....And It Looks to be Top Shelf

Now...they've gone and done it at NAMM:





It'll have a 1 piece mahogany neck blank, 1 11/16th nut, likely 17 degree headstock, real abr bridge, 1 piece mahogany body blank, ebony board (the real deal too), solid book matched maple top, Jescar fretwire, Duncan USA Antiquities, I'm guessing gotoh parts, lacquer or varnish finish etc...

This isn't the usual import job, far from it.

Some of their Gibby styles have 1 3/4 nuts and a few other varying changes which make them feel a bit different. Yet, every Eastman I've checked out has really been impressive, especially the woods.

MSRP @ 2G's...

Eastman SB59/v https://www.eastmanguitars.com/sb59v/

I have two Eastman acoustic and they are fine quality instruments. I like the cutaway shape on this one too. Reminiscent of a Gibson but still distinctive enough to not be "clonish". Somewhat reminiscent of a Yaron "Bone".

A few more pics:



Look at that grain separation...I like'em TIGHT.



Varnish is underrated.



Little family shot.

wow, surprised...isn't the market already saturated with LP style guitars?

becks bolero said:

wow, surprised...isn't the market already saturated with LP style guitars?

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I don't think so, cheap ones, yes. Well, it is in the sense that right around now dealers are practically liquidating 2016 Historic's and most folks consider them a "buyers market." But, I don't think there's too many non-Gibson LP styles that are as well made as a Gibson. A few small builders, Collings, Heritage, etc.

The price point looks like they're trying to compete with the Traditional line. Not a bad niche.


I know next to nothing about Eastman guitars. Can someone write about them? Are they US made? etc...

deytookerjaabs said:

I don't think so, cheap ones, yes. Well, it is in the sense that right around now dealers are practically liquidating 2016 Historic's and most folks consider them a "buyers market." But, I don't think there's too many non-Gibson LP styles that are as well made as a Gibson. A few small builders, Collings, Heritage, etc.

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ah interesting...I can not read the pricing on those tags, how much will they retail for?

I have an Eastman acoustic, it is a nice guitar built out of solid wood: Martin OM clone. Although there is something going on with the neck, I need to sort out.

I am a big fan of Heritage guitars. I actually prefer them over Gibsons...probably heresay on this forum, but true

becks bolero said:

ah interesting...I can not read the pricing on those tags, how much will they retail for?

I have an Eastman acoustic, it is a nice guitar built out of solid wood: Martin OM clone. Although there is something going on with the neck, I need to sort out.

I am a big fan of Heritage guitars. I actually prefer them over Gibsons...probably heresay on this forum, but true

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Heritage makes a fine guitar. Love them as well. Love my Gibsons too.

becks bolero said:

ah interesting...I can not read the pricing on those tags, how much will they retail for?

I have an Eastman acoustic, it is a nice guitar built out of solid wood: Martin OM clone. Although there is something going on with the neck, I need to sort out.

I am a big fan of Heritage guitars. I actually prefer them over Gibsons...probably heresay on this forum, but true

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Heresy for sure, but you like what you like And if my Heritages sounded as good as my 2014 R7 or 2006 R0 I'd be right there with you. It's got to be all about sound and the feel, screw the name on the headstock.

The Varnish model with the Seymour Duncan Antiquities sound great, and it looks pretty cool too:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr_Ol3OWf0E

I would consider one for a good backup to my R9.

Stephens said:

The Varnish model with the Seymour Duncan Antiquities sound great, and it looks pretty cool too:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr_Ol3OWf0E

I would consider one for a good backup to my R9.

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It does sound pretty good, but for that kind of money I would spend a few extra dollars and get a used Historic, which is what I just did last week. Varnish finishes although tone full, do not hold up nearly as well as a good lacquer finish, and why buy a copy when you can have the real deal. I'd get a used R7 or R8 as a backup. My R7 sounds as good as any R9 I've ever picked up, and better than most! It knocked my ridiculously good sounding R0 out of the #1 spot.

I had an Eastman 335 style guitar, and it was extremely nice. I really dig their higher end mandolins. Can't see why they couldn't build a nice solidbody.

sonar said:

The price point looks like they're trying to compete with the Traditional line. Not a bad niche.


I know next to nothing about Eastman guitars. Can someone write about them? Are they US made? etc...

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The company literature is vague at best; but despite the California address, these instruments have to be built in China. There is no way those price points can be met with the cost of production in the USA. I set up one of the better grade Eastman archtop guitars...nothing special ime.....but they are more affordable than an American guitar of the same type.
When are Americans going to see the folly of demanding something close to a living wage for wage-earning workers? IT simply kills manufacturing when investors have to pay anything more than slave wages. Hmmmm???? End user purchases will triumph and thereby shape the coming world. China obviously has their hand on the pulse of a modern society.....socialism combined with a semi-capitlistic system that CAPITLIZES on a massive labor force that cannot demand living wages.
To the tune of some N. Young song...
"Rock and roll in a slave labor world!"

Know that where we spend our money will shape the world for your children and grandchildren.

to the tune of a Funkdelics song...
"Spend your bucks, and your ass will follow!"

Nothing is more of a determining factor than where the money goes.

Says a person driving a car made up of more things non-USA than "made in the USA" ....

58Lover said:

Says a person driving a car made up of more things non-USA than "made in the USA" ....

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We do what we can......I buy as much Made in the USA as possible. I don't have children or grandchildren, so in the long run it really doesn't matter to me what the future holds....
I need to turn loose of this thought that the USA is something special and that my fellow citizens need jobs.
I will say this...the high end Eastman archtop guitar that I set up was the best sounding Eastman archtop guitar I have played. IT was a mere sonic shadow of a decent American archtop.

I agree with you on premise Wally. But I do think there's enough scamming right here to go around. That said, as for Eastman, don't forget they've got a president & 50 plus employees over in California. The dealers are small time, make a few bucks off every sale right here, and don't need to buy them en masse to make money thus mom & pop shops tend to carry them. It's not a huge operation and I'd say if you watch their factory vids you'll see it's not your typical high stress crazy paced crack the whip pacific rim factory atmosphere, unlike Quingdoa, don't know what the pay is and I'm sure the benefits are non-existent but I bet better it's a better place to work than 90+% of the rest of the factory life out there. When I was jazz school my arch budget was around 500-700 and luckily back then no one knew what a Heritage was so I had an H-550 which fell in that budget. :laugh2:

These days, if I sat down with the Epi "premium" or whatever it's called ES-175 next to the couple 175 Eastman styles there's no doubt which one I would pick, and they're about the same price point. I'd probably take an early Korean Sheraton over the Eastman low end 335 style but that's just me. Guitars that good under a grand are for people who want to spend...under a grand. Yeah, there's a couple people with the mindset "I sold my Gibson when I found Eastman" but there's always a contrarian streak in certain folks, especially in the guitar world and maybe they are being completely genuine. Those Martin styles are for folks who want to spend under/around a grand on the best thing they can get, at the same time guys drop 10g's for a commissioned Martin copy right here. I really think they're different markets, those folks at the low end of the budget were likely going to go foreign regardless. Long gone are the days when you can walk into a shop and put down $50 on a 2K guitar like I used to do!

These Les Paul styles I've read about that Eastman has it seems they've been bought in the $1200-$1500 range brand new, at that point competing with anything from a tribute to a traditional. That, and you can't find one, lol, because they're produced in such small numbers. In the end, I really think Eastman is competing with the foreign market at large from Ebay MIJ's to MIM Martins etc. The guy buying the Eastman Les Paul probably never had his eyes on a traditional in the first place, or for that matter a genuine HD-28. In some cases they're stepping stones until one can afford the real thing.

My arch is a '58 Gibson but I won't lie, if I find one of those little p90 Chinese Loars for $300 used I might pick it up as a beater, played one that was quite boomy and I'd only be buying it because...it's $300 bucks! Wouldn't even be on my radar versus domestic.

Hi guys, I'm new to this forum however, I have this guitar (prototype) as my order was damaged in transit. The co-designer Pepijn Hart had the prototype shipped to me. A great company and quality instrument for the money. I have been playing and collecting for thirty years and in that time have played a large variety of Gibsons Les Paul's (custom shop, limited editions etc) and I still own some however, this Eastman is truly how I imagined an old school Les Paul, felt and sounded. Same woods used by Collings, no CNC machines, great hardware and Seymour antiquity pups. Sometimes taking a pragmatic approach to guitars etc regardless of what's on the headstock, country of origin etc can reap rewards. Not everyone's "cup of tea" but from years of experience you'll be hard beat to get an instrument of this quality for this price - no I don't work for Eastman just being honest

Blodger1 said:

Hi guys, I'm new to this forum however, I have this guitar (prototype) as my order was damaged in transit. The co-designer Pepijn Hart had the prototype shipped to me. A great company and quality instrument for the money. I have been playing and collecting for thirty years and in that time have played a large variety of Gibsons Les Paul's (custom shop, limited editions etc) and I still own some however, this Eastman is truly how I imagined an old school Les Paul, felt and sounded. Same woods used by Collings, no CNC machines, great hardware and Seymour antiquity pups. Sometimes taking a pragmatic approach to guitars etc regardless of what's on the headstock, country of origin etc can reap rewards. Not everyone's "cup of tea" but from years of experience you'll be hard beat to get an instrument of this quality for this price - no I don't work for Eastman just being honest

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Pics, man, pics!!!