EASTMAN T64/v and T184MX

BOASTING A REPUTATION that grows year upon year, the Eastman String Company has long defied any “budget-brand” preconceptions normally heaped upon Chinese-made guitars, delivering instruments that punch well above their weight for build quality, tone and playability (see the “Meet Your Maker” interview with two of the company’s prime movers.

- DAVE HUNTER

Suffice it to say the guitars reviewed this month, a T64/v and T184MX, prove a couple of great cases in point. Each displays how this maker eschews the copy-and-clone approach, taking inspiration from classic forms while thoughtfully seeking to improve he designs in the process. Both instruments were tested through a Deluxe Reverb and a Friedman Mini Dirty Shirley combo, with JHSBonsai and Tsakalis Six overdrives for dirt.

T64/V

The T64/v we looked at is primarily a new model by virtue of its color, a stunning cherry red done in the hand-rubbed and characterfully aged Antique Varnish that has become one of Eastman’s signature moves.The enigmatic model name defines 1964-style, ES-330-inspired thin line hollow body, with a genuine Bigsby vibrato tailpiece (a non-vibrato version is also available). As such, this one has a fully hollow 16-inch-wide body made from Eastman’s own deluxe maple laminate, with a glued-in maple neck and ebony fretboard cut to the traditional 24 ¾–inch scale length. In addition to the slight variations in materials represented there, and the subtle alteration of the body and headstock profiles, other significant changes have been wrought upon the mid-’60s Gibson formula.

“WE SOLVED THE PROBLEMS OF CREATING A FULLY HOLLOW THINLINE THAT WAS A PLEASURE TO PLAY, AND AT THE SAME TIME HAS THAT UNIQUE SOUND OF A HOLLOW GUITAR WITH THE GROWL OF P-90S”