eastman t58/v & t59/v
Eastman is known for its high-quality yet affordable archtops, a few of which, like this pair, are now available in an ‘antique violin’ finish
Founded in 1992 by Qian Ni, Eastman started by making violins in an apparently old-school environment, with “virtually no power tools aside from the bandsaws used to cut out the necks and the outlines of the tops and backs of instruments”, we’re told. Along with violins, stringed instruments, guitars and mandolins, Eastman also builds woodwind and brass instruments.
The idea of the head of its European operation, Pepijn ’t Hart, however, was to combine the company’s heritage and expertise in violin making with its guitar making to create an Antique Series of currently three instruments (more are set to follow during 2017), finished and antiqued/aged in Eastman’s violin department.
“This is a personal project from me,” Pepijn tells us. “It has been a wish for years, since our violins are just gorgeous looking. So I just went with one guitar that had not been finished to the ‘varnish lady’ [her name is Li Hua Rong] in our violin varnish workshop and I asked her if she could antique and finish the guitar for me. She asked me to pretend to play the guitar, so she could see where it would age naturally. She has been doing this for over 22 years, and is an absolute master.”
According to Li Hua Rong, “the process itself features six distinct steps, starting with base-coat application to fill the grain, directly moving to colour application, and concluding with the French polish. The result is softer than lacquer, which creates a smoother tone.” As to the antiquing process: “This is the sorcerer’s secret!” we’re informed.
Opening the cases of this pair is certainly one of those OMG moments: both guitars really do look like antiques. The finish is very different from Gibson’s VOS or any aged ‘relics’ we’ve seen previously, for example – a clearly ultrathin finish that doesn’t aim to replicate cracked or old nitro-cellulose.
Now, the T59 is a hardly unique Gibson ES-335 clone with the ‘wrong’ name on the headstock, but the T58 is less generic. It is a 413mm (16.25-inch) width hollowbody with its rounded Venetian cutaway, yet in typical Eastman-style, this model boasts a solid carved spruce top rather than the maple laminate used entirely on the T59 and the back and sides of the T58. And while the T59 uses a grained ivoroid for its body, neck, headstock and f-hole binding, the T58 goes for a lightly figured maple with inner violin-like wooden purfling. The T59, as you’d expect, has a (mahogany) centre-block with a thinline depth; the T58 is deeper and fully hollow with two longitudinal top braces. Both display elegant old-school ebony-faced headstocks, with inlaid pearl logos, ebony fingerboards with split parallelogram inlays, and pretty chunky fretwire that sits over the edge binding, as it should. Necks on both are maple: the T59’s appears to be a three-piece laminate; the T58’s appears to be a single piece. Both, obviously, have headstock-widening wings.
There are no surprises with the T59’s hardware or electronics, although, like the finish, the Gotoh hardware and the covers on the Seymour Duncan Seth Lovers look ancient. The T58 goes for an equally old-looking tuneo-matic-style bridge on an unpinned wooden foot and is given a Gretsch-style makeover with its USA Bigsby and TV Jones Filter’Trons with their oversized dog-ear, P-90-like clear plastic mounting rings that have been back-
sprayed in silver, Gretsch-style. Control knobs here are old-looking metal types with knurled sides – just master volume and tone – and only the shoulder-placed metal toggle switch cap looks a bit new. Both have typical archtop-like metal chassis jacks, side-placed with no metal plate mounting – never our favourite, but hardly unique to the genre.
Feel & sounds
Both share a similar neck profile with a palmfilling, well-shaped C that’s just under 23mm deep at the 1st fret and 24.2mm by the 10th fret on the T58, while the T59 is subtly slimmer depth’d – 22.5mm at the 1st and 23mm at the 12th. Both stick to Gibson’s nominal 629mm (24.75-inch) scale, a pretty generous nut with an airy string spacing of 38mm and oldGibson bridge spacing of a shade over 50mm. If we’re honest, both feel as old as they look. But the similarities end there. The T58 has a lovely light weight with a crisp, loud and very acoustic-like unplugged tonality; the T59 is, of course, heavier (though not over-heavy for the style) with a more muted, narrower unplugged response, but still very lively and vibrant.
Despite the old appearance and feel, these are new guitars and both have quite a ‘manly’ setup with what feels like 0.011s, the T58 with a wound third that certainly adds to an older
vibe. The T59 has bags of brighter-than-you’dthink early PAF about it, but the smooth bridge tone certainly tames that, while wound down and moving to the twin pickup mix starts to unleash its ES-335-like versatility; the neck is plummy but with plenty of clarity. As we crank up the wick, the guitar’s resonance comes to the fore and – depending on your amp setup, volume and environment – the hint of microphony from the unpotted pickups can lean into the uncontrollable. But find that on-the-edge ‘sweet spot’ and dig in and you’re rewarded with a clean-edged thinline voice that it would be silly to pigeonhole.
Before we totally fall for its charms, the T58 somehow pulls us back in time. Its almost delicate strapped-on feel and hollow construction is more limiting, of course, as it edges into feedback at far lower volume, but there’s a fuller, deeper resonance here that, with the slightly funkier edge to the oh-soGretsch-y sounds we hear, has us hitting some slapback echo. The pickup mix is superb, bubbly, funky and textured. The neck has an almost acoustic-like edge that stops it mushing out with some crunchier amp tones, while the bridge has an almost steely, Tele-like character
that’ll cut through a mix without being overly teeth-jarring. No surprises, in a good way. New guitars that look, feel and, to an extent, sound like well-gigged, older-than-they-are pieces.
verdict
Finishing like this is a rarity in contemporary times, with the majority of electric (and acoustic) makers telling us that it’s unsuitable for the rough and tumble of the rock ’n’ rolling modern world. It’s not for everyone, but that’s your choice: yes, the finish might not be as sturdy as modern nitro or certainly poly finishes, but the old patina has considerable appeal and can easily be maintained – or not – as it absorbs the wear and nicks of use. Along with a considered build, it certainly doesn’t dampen resonance: both guitars feel very alive, and though neither are cheap they certainly have as high a specification as the USA-made guitars they ape, not least the T58’s carved spruce top. Players’ instruments both, if you like the aesthetic here then we’ll pretty much guarantee you’ll love the sounds. Yet another example of forgotten or overlooked instrument-making techniques making a return. Highly recommended!
They look, feel and, to an extent, sound like well-gigged, older-than-they-are pieces