615 eastman f style

[wag1943]

hi
i just ordered an eastman 615 f style im new to mandolins .. just what can i expect from a 615 tone / setup/ craftmanship /

[JEStanek]

I'm a fan of Eastman's products so my opinion is colored that way. I would expect a well built instrument that looks pretty good. I wouldn't expect it to look like a boutique instrument costing thousands more.

The finish on these is thinner (which is part of why they sound good -to me). The Set Up is going to depend entirely on whom you bought it from as the factory set up they are shipped with always needs adjustment by the shop that sells them.

Once it arrives (likely with D"Addario J74 strings on it) you can vary the tone with other strings and pick choices. Soe folks say the Eastman has a thinner tone but I've been pleased with the voice on an 814 and an 805D I had/have.

This is a great first mandolin. For many people, it would be quite acceptable as their main and last mandolin.

Welcome to the Cafe!

Jamie

[Folkmusician.com]

If it is a new 615, it will also have the Shertler Resocoil pickup. This is a great pickup with a balanced out. Jamie covers it well. Very nice mandolins. From the factory the frets are close to level but a bit rough. Nut will be a little high, and the bridge foot doesn't match the top all that well. A good setup will take care of all of this. As Jamie says, the tone is thinner, but not on a bad way.

[SGraham]

Hi Wag,
I had a 615 for 7 years and played it as my main mandolin. It did very well in bluegrass settings with J75s on it. It had a nice chop to start with that was enhanced by a Tone Gard and a Cumberland Acoustics bridge. It's a lot of mando for the money. I think you'll be pleased.

[Laird]

It did very well in bluegrass settings with J75s on it.

As a 515 owner, I'm curious: what do the J75s give you that the J74s didn't?

[Mike Bunting]

If it is a new 615, it will also have the Shertler Resocoil pickup. This is a great pickup with a balanced out. Jamie covers it well. Very nice mandolins. From the factory the frets are close to level but a bit rough. Nut will be a little high, and the bridge foot doesn't match the top all that well. A good setup will take care of all of this. As Jamie says, the tone is thinner, but not on a bad way.

Do they come with pickups now?

[SGraham]

As a 515 owner, I'm curious: what do the J75s give you that the J74s didn't?

I'll preface this by saying I don't play with a pickup. Our band does the play-around-the-single-mic thing. With J75s I saw a very noticeable increase in volume and "pop" or percussiveness (if that's a word). The chop was fairly impressive with the 75s. With 74s the chop was drowned out by the other instruments. Also, with 74s it was easy for me to overplay single notes. They would bottom out. Not so with the 75s.

I will say though, that the 74s are easier to play on.

[Jeff Budz]

You can expect a great playing / feeling mandolin, and usually quite nice to look at. The tone is pretty thin, but if you don't compare it to other mandolins it is nice and easy to live with.

[Folkmusician.com]

Do they come with pickups now?

Yes, all new 600 series mandolins now have a factory installed Shertler Resocoil pickup. I had some 600 series back-order from Eastman late last year (ordered as acoustics). When they finally came in, they had the pickups. I am not sure what the official date for the change was. I believe all that I received in 2012 have had pickups.

[Mike Bunting]

Cool.

[wag1943]

By Thinner Do You Mean Tinny Or ??

[wag1943]

I guess I should Have Asked What Do You Meany By Thinner sound .......

[Jeff Budz]

I did an AB comparison between my Eastman and Phoenix in this thread:

http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/sh...-Eastman-MD515

[Laird]

Also, with 74s it was easy for me to overplay single notes. They would bottom out.

Hmmm, could you help me understand that better? I'm not sure what it means for an individual note to "bottom out," or how that happens from overplaying them. Thanks in advance!

[Justus True Waldron]

I call that "petering out" or "overdriving" but I have experienced the same thing with the 74s/75s comparison. The way I understand it, rather than getting louder when you pick the note harder, the volume stays the same and the note gets "mushy". I've never had much of an issue with that on my mando, but when I switched to 75s it has NEVER been an issue and I can out play banjos and actually hurt my ears playing loud if I want, and still have the notes sound clean and clear. Obviously thats not all the string, but the jump up to 75s was a big improvement for me. Only real downside was the 2 weeks or so it took my hands to really adjust. Now I don't even think about it. Like SGraham, I also only play acoustic around one mic, so volume and tone are important...

[SGraham]

Hmmm, could you help me understand that better? I'm not sure what it means for an individual note to "bottom out," or how that happens from overplaying them.

What Justus said. For me, with the 74s I could easily get to the point when picking hard that I wasn't experiencing an increase in volume, just a decrease in tone quality--sort of thin and reedy. I pick pretty hard. With the 75s I can play hard with a more pleasing tone. I don't understand the physics of it. I've tried the 74s on my 615, my Ratliff R5, and my '99 Flatiron Festival with the same results.

My 615 sounded "thin" as Jeff says, with the 74s, but with the 75s that descriptor doesn't fit well.

Wag, I hope you post your impressions of your new mando when it arrives.

[wag1943]

Im not sure what kind of set up is avaliable up here but illl let you know how things go after i get it ... been waiting bout 3 months already grrrrrrr

[wag1943]

What should we be looking to fix change alter in a set up ?????