Eastman thickness

[Doug Edwards]

It's been my experience the past couple years that the Eastman model 300 - 600 series vary in side thickness' a lot. They can be from 1 1/2" to nearly 2", but most commonly they are 1 5/8" or 1 3/4".

What model do you have and how thick is it?

[roysboy]

It's been my experience the past couple years that the Eastman model 300 - 600 series vary in side thickness' a lot. They can be from 1 1/2" to nearly 2", but most commonly they are 1 5/8" or 1 3/4".

What model do you have and how thick is it?

Hmmm ..you may have discovered the secret to the seeming inconsistencies in the tone of Eastmans.

[xpaul]

I have an Eastman MD615 manufactured in 2014 and it is 1 5/8" at the tailpiece.

[TEvans]

I had a MD315 and a MD505, and the 505 was significantly deeper from backplate to the top.

[Steve VandeWater]

my 2006 MD 515 is 1- 5/8"

[Mike Arakelian]

My 315 measures 1.7" from top to bottom.

[Mike Barber]

My 315 is 1 11/16 thick at the tailpiece.

[Doug Edwards]

I wonder how the rib size is determined. Do they use different graduations or is it the stiffness of the top, or wood species, or just what they have to work with for the day?

[Tezzerh]

My 305 is 1 13/16 at the tailpiece, so not far off two inches. But does size matter??????

[Dale Ludewig]

If the measurements that are being taken are the outside, those aren't the rib height. I think of "thickness" as how thick the ribs are, not how high/tall, which I think is what Doug is asking. The measurements being given here would seem to be the height of the ribs Plus the thickness of the top and back plate at the edge. The variations could all be accounted for by differences in the plate thicknesses.

[Mike Arakelian]

My 315 measures 1.7" from top to bottom.

I remeasured mine a bit more carefully at the tail piece, and got 1&5/8".

[Doug Edwards]

That would be correct Dale, thank you for clarifying. As one would suppose, this information is armrest related.

[Marc Ferry]

Hm, interesting. My 505 is 1.75" thick. When buying it there were two other 505's at the shop, and the one I chose was significantly more resonant. Maybe that's because it was a bit thicker!

[Marty Jacobson]

FWIW, I vary my instruments in 1/8" increments and there is definitely an effect on the resulting tone. I wouldn't call one configuration more or less resonant, it's just what the customer is looking for and how it works with the rest of the instrument.
As to why stock factory instruments would vary by more than 1/16" or so... probably they just take the rims and sand them until they're flat, so you're going to see them distributed on a curve centered right around 1 3/4" (or whatever the specification height is called out to be).

[Astro]

OK got me curious so I measured my MD305.

One hair shy of 1 7/8 ths.

[Phil-D]

Just measured my Eastman 305. 1 13/16 at the tail piece then it varies to almost 1 7/8 at other points around the rim