Eastman vs Gibson

Andy79

Played an Eastman E10 ss alongside a J35 and a original Jumbo reissue (3 times the price of the Eastman) the other day. 
I know this is very subjective but the E10 was, in my opinion, superior to both Gibsons in every department. 
It has a better fit and finish. The tone was far superior. It was louder. It has scalloped bracing and a red spruce top. How good will that sound in 30 years

I hear a lot, people say yeah yeah Eastman make great guitars but not in the same league as Gibson. 
I say The Eastman slope is twice the guitar the modern Gibson is. 
An absolute joy to play. Narrowish neck the only complaint 
that hand rubbed relic finish they do is stunning 

Wonder if if anyone has thoughts on this. 

McSwaggerty

A few years ago l checked out an Eastman E10P,  a Gibson L1 and a Gibson L00.
No contest. I bought the Eastman. 

Andy79

I went in with Gibson conditioning convinced I wanted the J35. Glad I tried it. Very underwhelming. 

brojangles

I did the same today round Denmark Street! I've been trying to find a J45 I like, having enjoyed playing my friend's 50s one. Haven't really liked any of the Standards I've tried in shops and today was no exception. A second hand True Vintage in Wunjo had a bit more going on, but at 2 grand or so it didn't have enough going on to make me want it. The E10SS is what I'd go for if I hadn't decided I just prefer longer-scale Martin-style guitars (I have an Eastman E8D) to Gibson-style slopes. 

That said, I think the thumpiness and relative quietness of J45s is what the aficionados of them like, and the E10SS doesn't really do those things - it's more like a short scale D18 that looks really cool. The narrower nut also works against it because I understand the point of the J45 to be that's a pretty good fingerpicking guitar as well as a pretty good strummer, and my fingerpicking is so shite that I really like a wider nut for that. So if I was really into the short scale thing I might keep looking for a J45 of some kind that had the good Gibson qualities plus some resonance to it - they must be out there somewhere. But yeah, the E10SS is in most ways a better guitar and a better buy than any J45 Standard I've come across. 

(Weirdly the guitar I was most taken with on this mini-foray was a second hand Atkin Small Jumbo, a shape I'd never even considered - it seemed pretty do-it-all to me, balanced but with plenty of bass available - but that might have been just me feeling more at home with the higher string tension on it after trying loads of short scale guitars.) 

TINMAN82

My hummingbird has really opened up over the last 4 years since I got it. Its a fantastic sounding dreadnought. I tried a Maton SRS808 recently expecting the string spacing to be wider (TE links etc) and in fact spacing at the bridge was exactly the same as my Hummingbird (around 2 5/32). String spacing at the nut was the same too if not a fraction tighter.

Andy79

I’ll have to seek out an early 50s to try. See what this holy grail sound is all about. It certainly doesn’t seem to be evident in the recent ones I have tried 

Teyeplayer

Was les Paul hunting last year and tried the full range. Ended up with an Eastman SB59. 

Very hard to beat.

BigLicks67

Gibson all day long for me. I've played a few cosmetically rough Gibson's over the years, but I've never played a J45 I didn't like the sound of. 

CloudNine

Find the right Gibson and it will be a guitar you will be happy with for life.

Nobody with a great Gibson acoustic, sits looking at it and wishes it was an Eastman. I know there are people with great Eastman acoustics that wish it said Gibson on the headstock.

It makes no sense, but it is just a fact of life. 

Take the time and find find the right Gibson is a good plan. There are great ones, and not much else sounds exactly like them. 

p90fool

You can never overestimate string choice with acoustics either. 

The Gibson I bought last week sounded fantastic, and after a few days I put my usual favourite strings on it, which sounded horrible, brassy and ugly. 

If it had had those strings fitted when I bought it I would've said it was a duff, overrated guitar. 

That alone makes it very hard to compare acoustic guitars on a level playing field, sometimes we will never know how much potential guitars we try could have. 

mgaw

p90fool said:

You can never overestimate string choice with acoustics either. 

The Gibson I bought last week sounded fantastic, and after a few days I put my usual favourite strings on it, which sounded horrible, brassy and ugly. 

If it had had those strings fitted when I bought it I would've said it was a duff, overrated guitar. 

That alone makes it very hard to compare acoustic guitars on a level playing field, sometimes we will never know how much potential guitars we try could have. 

theres a very wise bit of advice right there

grayn

mgaw said:

p90fool said:

You can never overestimate string choice with acoustics either. 

The Gibson I bought last week sounded fantastic, and after a few days I put my usual favourite strings on it, which sounded horrible, brassy and ugly. 

If it had had those strings fitted when I bought it I would've said it was a duff, overrated guitar. 

That alone makes it very hard to compare acoustic guitars on a level playing field, sometimes we will never know how much potential guitars we try could have. 

theres a very wise bit of advice right there

Yeah, if only Eastman made strings.

Evilmags

The 50s ones were made of woods you can't buy now. Indian Rosewood sounds nothing like as good as Brazillian and Sitka does not project like Alpine. End of story....

guitargeek62

Evilmags said:

The 50s ones were made of woods you can't buy now. Indian Rosewood sounds nothing like as good as Brazillian and Sitka does not project like Alpine. End of story....

*thread revival*

But the 50s ones (i.e. J45s like OP describes) weren’t made with Alpine spruce, they’d switched (from Adi/Red, and briefly ‘hog) to Sitka by then.

Strat_a_tat_tat

guitargeek62 said:

Evilmags said:

The 50s ones were made of woods you can't buy now. Indian Rosewood sounds nothing like as good as Brazillian and Sitka does not project like Alpine. End of story....

*thread revival*

But the 50s ones (i.e. J45s like OP describes) weren’t made with Alpine spruce, they’d switched (from Adi/Red, and briefly ‘hog) to Sitka by then.

DIdn't early J45s use multi piece tops (as Adirondack was in demand for the war effort - so offcuts were being used for guitars). Wasn't the dark sunburst finish a deliberate attempt to hide the quality of the top?

crunchman

Evilmags said:

The 50s ones were made of woods you can't buy now. Indian Rosewood sounds nothing like as good as Brazillian and Sitka does not project like Alpine. End of story....

Brazilian isn't the end of the world.  I remember trying a limited edition Clapton Martin OOO with BRW.  I've player 3 or 4 of the regular Indian Rosewood Clapton signatures that sounded better than that one.

They are making some guitars again now with Adirondack spruce if you want that:

https://www.gibson.com/Guitar/ACC37L866/J-45-Vintage-2019

Andy79

The J35 collectors edition has an adirondack tip and, to me, sounds far better than the regular J35. It appears to have the same construction otherwise