EASTMAN

BOASTING A REPUTATION that grows year upon year, the Eastman String Company has long defied any “budget-brand” preconceptions normally heaped upon Chinese-made guitars, delivering instruments that punch well above their weight for build quality, tone and playability (see the “Meet Your Maker” interview with two of the company’s prime movers on page 24).

Suffice it to say the guitars reviewed this month, a T64/v and T184MX, prove a couple of great cases in point. Each displays how this maker eschews the copy-and-clone approach, taking inspiration from classic forms while thoughtfully seeking to improve the designs in the process. Both instruments were tested through a Deluxe Reverb and a Friedman Mini Dirty Shirley combo, with JHS Bonsai and Tsakalis Six overdrives for dirt.

T64/V

The T64/v we looked at is primarily a new model by virtue of its color, a stunning cherry red done in the hand-rubbed and characterfully aged Antique Varnish that has become one of Eastman’s signature moves. The enigmatic model name defines a 1964-style, ES-330-inspired thinline hollowbody,