Guitar Tone Tuesday: Ep 212 - Eastman SB59/V; Tele On Steroids Tone Right Here!

[@ckdurso5326]

brilliant! the opener was sorrow and hot sauce, good stuff! thx

[@LucasHaneman]

Hahaha love it! You know, I am a huge fan of hot sauce. Maybe I had some with my lunch before filming this video. Knowing me, I probably did actually, so this was the hot sauce and some inner anguish coming out. :-)

[@guyb7005]

for some reason the opening instrumental had me thinking of Warren Haynes. I'm really digging his tone. This Eastman is simply beautiful and has a unique sound compared to a LesPaul. Same depth but perhaps more articulated? Great demo my friend!

[@LucasHaneman]

Funny, I’ve been listening a lot to him too, so this probably was some of that coming out. I’ve been listening a lot to him and the Alllman Brothers. In fact, if you want to have your mind blown, check out Warren Haynes playing “Cortez the killer “with the Dave Matthews band live in Central Park. Absolutely amazing rendition! Regarding your thoughts on the sound of this guitar, it’s like you stole the words out of my mouth. I would actually say that the Eastman LP tone is more similar to what I’ve heard people say old LP bursts from the late 50s sound when compared to the modern Gibson LP tone. People say that those old LPs had a brighter and snappier tone for a couple of reasons. One being that the lumber was old and therefore more dried out when compared to the lumber we have access to today, and two being the tone of the original PAF pickups. The original humbuckers were designed to sound like P90 pickups without the hum. Well, Eastman uses an African mahogany substitute that is lighter in weight than the standard mahogany being used on less Paul guitars, and the next guitar I demoed on this particular day was an Eastman with Lollar P90s. Guess what? These Lollar imperials in the SB 59 sounded very, very similar to them. Same output, practically and similar tonal characteristics.

[@guyb7005]

@@LucasHaneman Oh yes, I love that cover of Cortez the Killer. In highschool days, my younger brother and I used to jam to that song and Down by the River for hours. I didn't mind repeating the same 3 chords just to hear him solo. I've been hearing some comparisons of old vs new LP's and it's amazing how sought out the old ones are for sound, not just their vintage. Eastman just seems to come up with the right mix of value and quality. I loved them when hearing of that company years ago with their jazz guitars, but you've exposed me to a wider range of Eastman's line-up - quite impressive! ANd adding Lollars to the recipe makes the story even better.

[@mooseymoose]

Cool guitar, of course :) We have already established my love for Eastman fairly firmly! LOL. Even the Collings hasn't changed my opinion on them being the absolute best deal around.

[@LucasHaneman]

Absolutely. We both share that vision. In fact, even with some of these higher priced offerings from Eastman, they are still a killer value. As an interesting aside, I see some parallels between many of the offerings from Eastman and a couple of the Collings guitars. For instance, my T185MX I play a lot on the channel is very similar to the Collings I35 I was a huge fan of, and still am. I really wanted one before I found my Eastman, but my budget could never allow for that at the time. I also see some parallels between this model from Eastman and the Collings 360. Both are beautiful, fairly lightweight, LP alternatives, and they feel similar in the hand from my recollection of the 360. Of course Collings is a big step up in terms of attention to detail, and subsequently the prize point. I won’t pretend for a minute that my Eastman acoustic can touch my hand made.luthier built acoustics, but man it stays in tune for days, and the fretwork is impeccable. I can save for certain that Eastman has taken the time to observe what bourgeois, Collings etc. are doing, and IMHO that can’t really be said for production level fenders or Gibsons, even Martins these days. Custom shop guitars from the big companies might be a different can of worms, but to be honest, I haven’t played many of those as of late.

[@mooseymoose]

@@LucasHaneman Custom shop is always good, but they really don't justify the price with what else is available. The Collings 'regular' stuff kicks the crap out of pretty much everything else and MIJ guitars are a whole other topic. If it were a choice between a Gibson R9 or something like a Nik Huber Orca....I can't say Gibson would fare particularly well in my choice. I personally have zero desire to "Play Authentic" LOL! Cashing in on nostalgia is all they do anymore, imo.

[@LucasHaneman]

@@mooseymoose amen to that

[@JS-nf1sn]

Killer phrasing brother.

[@LucasHaneman]

Thanks so much!!