Eastmans

[b.pat]

Well it was only a matter of time before they hit E-bay.
These should be fun to watch.

# F style

# A style
#
# # What do you think?
# # # #B.Pat
# # # #

[jim simpson]

I would have thought the starting price would be a bit lower. A dealer who saw the Eastmans at the NAMM show told me that the mandos had the tuners on upside down. They didn't think it was intentional. I have taken apart gears before to change or reverse direction so I wasn't sure about the story. When is an F4 Eastman going to appear?

[brewmaster]

Never had the chance to hear one of these.
How do they sound?

[Stephen Perry]

They need a little work here and there to be optimal, but so does every other mandolin I've had. I'm quite pleased with the tone and response on the MD515 I got. I have a couple more on order, a 615 and a 505.

[John Flynn]

giannaviolins:

Where do you order them from and how long does an order take? I have not seen them for sale outside of some of the early prototypes.

[Ted Eschliman]

I had the good fortune of sitting in the Nashville airport after NAMM and sharing a cup of coffee and two hour conversation with Qian Ni, the president of Eastman strings. He shared with me at length, the importance of jumping into the mandolin market completely prepared.
They have a decade long reputation of serving the violin market with quality products, but they are still in the "reconnaissance" phase of preparing for the mandolin market. Even at this recent NAMM show, it was fairly obvious, they are on the right track, but they are not there yet, as far as being able to deliver a quality product on a massive scale.
One thing they WILL do differently, not crowd the already dense market of entry level F5 copies. (I'll bet I saw three more new companies at NAMM with beginning Pac Rim instruments. Yawn...)
Make no mistake, when Eastman IS ready, they will be a force to contend with, in the $1000-$2500, middle to entry level pro market.

[Stephen Perry]

I order them from Eastman. I'm an Eastman dealer. I picked up the MD515 at NAMM and ordered the 2 others. I don't know how long they'll take to arrive. On limited production stuff I just put in orders like everyone else and wait. At least I have one now!

Steve

[8ch(pl)]

There's an Eastman in the classifieds

[Steven Stone]

Actually there are two in the classifeds.

One is mine.

I loaned it to a bandmate to take to the John Moore workshop in Montrose this weekend. If you are there, give it a whirl. I think you will be VERY surprised by its tone, build quality, and my crackerjack set-up.

[Stephen Perry]

Well, my MD515 is gone. So I ordered couple of more. Don't know when I'll see them. Nice mandolins. Apparently they have a nice fiberglass case coming in as well.

[Spruce]

I've seen the fiberglass cases they make for their archtop guitars (these guitars are also nice, BTW).

When open, they seem to be a bit flimsy, but when closed, they look like they'll do the job very nicely...

[EasyEd]

Hey All,

Nobody has bid on those Eastmans with about 12 hours to go. I woulda thought somebody might go for the f style - it may well be worth a $1000. I'd consider bidding on the A as I suffer no scroll envy (however 3 points are kinda cool) but priced the same as the f it's too high plus I've seen some stores advertise the A's new for about $950. Either that or the f is a very good deal. No financial interest BTW.

Take Care! -Ed-

[JeffS]

$1000 for an Asian A model is just too high in my opinion. It looks nice but for a few hundred more I could get something made in the states. I guess for someone who really knows Eastman that wouldn't be a problem, but I'm just not familiar with them.

[John Flynn]

$1000 for an Asian A model is just too high in my opinion.

Just FYI, I have no interest in promoting Asian mandolins, but it is worth mentioning that the Eastmans are not the run-of-the-mill Pac Rim imports. From all I can find out, Eastman has a good reputation over several years for building high-quality violin family instruments and archtop guitars. They are not mass produced, but built by a real luthiery operation with significant experience. I have played two of the Eastman mandos in a store and I can attest they are a major cut above the typical Pac Rim imports.

[b.pat]

Well the Auctions have ended. No bids one either one. I agree that the $1,000 asking price for the A style was out of line. Someone just stold a great Charles Horner A for about $850. It should have been mine, but I tried to get a little to cute with the bidding
B.Pat

[AeroJoe]

If any of you are in the Raleigh NC area, Harry's Guitar Shop has one of each, an A-style and an F-style...the F-style is ok, somewhat crude-looking in the rudiments, but better than any of the other Pac-Rims they carry due to the fact that the top does not have that noticable slope-drop on the top (towards the fretboard extension) like the Micheal Kelley's they have in there do...(none of the MK's in there has a bridge that fits even remotely acceptable, but the two Eastman's are ok...)

But that A-style...that thing is just /fine/...I was very impressed by the craftsmanship (especially in the area of fret installation and neck attachment) but moreover the tone/volume. It is a very clean mandolin and the fit & finish is a superb job...it blows that f-style they have right out of the water. The wood selection is just beautiful and it is louder than the Rigel they have there and is scarily close to the $2,600 Weber on the opposite side of the wall from it...like someone said above, it won't be long until they are a very real contender for your MAS...
This one particular A-model mandolin was so nice that if I had not known it was Pac-Rim, I never would have believed it, the thing is that nice...

The only mandolins from overseas that still have them beat as far as F-styles are concerned *//IMO//* and as it stands right now, are those older Kentucky mandolins (KM-1500, Dawg Models) that they made back in the '80's...
I say give Eastman a year or so, that might not be my opinion anymore...

[Stephen Perry]

UPS just dropped off an MD615 F mando here. I am very impressed at the workmanship. It is really quite delightful. The bridge seems to fit very well indeed and is polished. J74 strings it looks like. I suspect it is completely set up and all I have to do is tune it up, but I'll check first! Beautiful thing. Really resonant already. I'll post more info once I play it a bit this evening. I'm rarely excited when instruments arrive, but these mandolins are rather dishy.

[Zed]

Interested in hearing your review, Steve. Will you have these for sale on your site eventually?

[WireBoy]

I spied an Eastman F @ Buffalo Bros last week.

[Stephen Perry]

It seems to be a very good mandolin. I did a little rib tuning and so on. Very clear, easy to get a reasonable volume out of. Starting to get little bursts of more powerful sound, as any mandolin does when breaking in. I'm really quite impressed. I'll keep my Flatiron, but I suspect I would have a different opinion were they both equally broken in. This beats the pants off the Morgan Monroe MCM for punch. Of course, it is more expensive.

I will, of course, sell this. I just hadn't put it up anywhere on the web. Most of our mandolin business is walk-in or otherwise local. Just call and we can chat about it. 1 866 884 6546 toll free