2011 Eastman E10P 0-Size 12-Fret Guitar

March 20, 2016

2011 Eastman E10P 0-Size 12-Fret Guitar

Eastman products continue to shock me in terms of high quality for the dollar -- these are/were $1100 shipped when new. This is their take on a 30s-style 12-fret Martin 0-18 with a solid spruce (Adirondack) top with scalloped x-bracing and solid mahogany back and sides. The board and bridge are both ebony and the nut and saddle are bone. It's 13 5/8" on the lower bout and has 4" side depth. The neck is a wider 1 13/16" and has a medium soft-V profile and the scale length is 24 7/8" -- clearly specs suited to a fingerpicker (which is what this guitar shines-brightly for).

I mention all of these specs by way of confirming its 0-18 12-fret aspirations, though the guitar is built in significantly different ways from a Nazareth box. The soundhole is higher up on the body, the instrument is stiffer and heavier than an old Martin, and the neck is heftier, too. In many ways this is like a modern-construction mix-up of thicknessing and design elements borrowed from 20s Washburns and 30s Martins with a good bit of top-end Larson-esque voicing thrown-in. The tone is more strident, punchy, and rumbly than a 30s Martin 12-fret but doesn't have the airy warmth on the bottom-end or simple, fundamental clarity on the top-end of that style of guitar (or its later 0-16NY cousins).

This Eastman was clearly built to take modern "12s" easily and suit both fingerpickers and aggressive flatpickers. The mixed-up voicing also makes it more adaptable to modern tastes and it has things that a lightweight old Martin 12-fret doesn't have as much of -- more lingering, mid/top-end sustain and an extra dose of ringing overtones.