For the guitars players

I just had to share my excitement.

I just bought an Eastman 605 guitar, selling in the area of $1,600. No cutaway, 1 ¾ finger board, a floating pickup; I feel like I am playing a grand piano.

I am using a Fishman Amp. – the Eastman guitar -- and just me; no other electronics. Talking about playing live with no gimmicks. (smile)

I had to share, John C.

Correction; It's a Eastman 610 arch top guitar; sorry, John C.

John-GOOD FOR YOU! Been looking at Eastman's for about two years.

1/2 my jobs are a big Guild or Gibson through a JazzKat amp...nothing else. I have lots of single pick-up/floaters. My "junker" (played outside where the possibility of damage is higher) is a Gretsch Synchromatic.

I also have a couple of Godin archtops; a non-cutawat with a P-90 and the same in a cutaway, with two P-90's. These are good buys. the single nets at $699.00 and the double aT $999.00.

Enjoy! Solo guitar instrumentals are my favorite jobs. In January, I posted 10 minutes of just me and a Big Guild 150.

R.

I have a couple a Godin arch top; cutaway at $999.00. Great sound -- sometimes I think of dressing it up but that effect the sound.

I to enjoy solo guitar but in my home like someone who sits and plays a piano, full arrangements – melody chords and working with chord substitutions.

Thanks Russ, John C.

Hey, John, I also enjoy doing the same material on either a fine nylon string or a reproduction of the Selmer MacKafee, the Django guitar. The nylon string I choose for dining rooms is the current model of the Giannini Craviola (Brazil).

They both work fine in a dining room setting.

GOOD HEARING FROM YOU!


Russ

John, for over 20 years, I have been using a great little Audio Technica lavalier mic which is designed to be used with a little f hole clip on acoustic guitars. Last time I checked it is still a current model. We use it on any acoustic instrument we need to amplify and as a, behind the tie" clip on for live sound on video.

It's around $ 100.00 and works GREAT. The pre-amp is bigger than the mic and clips on your belt.

I'll look up the catalog number in a little while.


Russ

John, the mic I use is an AT 803 lavalier. Musicians Friend price is $159.95...guess they went up $60.00 in the years I have had mine.

If that interests you, I'd ship you mine to try out. Not interested in selling, but you'd be welcome to test it for yourself.


Enjoy...


Russ

Wow Russ you're a sweetheart always there to help. But no, I do have it covered my Eastman has a floating pick -up designed by guitar maker Bernnidtto. (Spelling)

Thanks again my friend, John C.

John, Fishman's are generally voiced for acoustics with piezo (microphone) pickups. A "floater" is magnetic. You may want to try different amplification, just to test the differences.

For "straight ahead" jazz, most people use a pure transistor...something like a Mini Brute Polytone, or the JazzKat line I use.


My FatKat JazzKat has a switchable tube pre-amp, so you have the flexibility of sounding like blues guys or hard rockers want to sound (tubes), or something more like traditional jazz
( Herb Ellis, Johnnie Smith, etc.) A George Benson sound would add a little tube.

Fun Stuff! Fishmans are great for acoustic but not many people use them for magnetic pick-ups. I use a Fender Acoustasonic for my piezo nylon and steel strings.

Email me anytime to talk guitars and amps....I'm "eaten up" with them!


R.

Russ Because of my love of music and the guitar – and the fact that I owned a Store/music school I was in a position to lay my hands on many different guitars. I had the best of the best and boy was that fun. I considered myself as a good enough player to have the best. I was also good at lying to myself. (smile)

Here’s my story;
I bought a George Goble Gibson L5 CES guitar; it was red, had a floating pick up, a 16” body and it was 2 5/8 thick. It had a beautiful sound. I decided to mount 2 patent applied (Spelling) pickups to this red beauty. I did a great job, the controls were placed correctly and the pickups were set just right. It became my main guitar. Four months later I ran to Jimmy D’Aquisto’s repair shop because the top of the L5 was caving in. He said, “John, you cut the support struts on the guitar”. I wasn’t feeling too good. But leave it to Jimmy he put 2 sounds post inside the guitar under the bridge similar to a violin.

Bottom line – It was a great humbling experience, John C.

John, I've been lucky, too! By the time I was 12 I was playing a Gibson ES 295...the Scotty Moore guitar (Still have it) at an officers club in on Ladd AFB in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Now, with over 340 stringed instruments, my choice of nightly players is sometimes strange.

For outside gigs (patios), I play a beat up old Yamaha nylon string(sctattched up and not expensive to begin with) or a neat little Ovation nylon string, and a relatively new, inexpensive 100CE Gretsch synchromatic with a floater ($750.00 net). These are "beaters", because I've had better guitars damaged by drunks or kids just running by.

For better jobs, I play an old Guild double cutaway hollow I've had since 1964 (my all-time favorite guitar), a Giannini Craviola Nylon String, one of my old L-5's, a Parker-Fly, with usually a double-neck of some kind on the bandstand. My current one is a Robin double with an octave neck at the top. Controls are Strat style. For straight ahead jazz, I play one of my new Godin's, an L-5 (I have 23 of them) or a Guild 150(relatively new to me. Single, non-floater. That's what I used for the little YouTube piece I posted last year).

There's no logic to my choices, and some of my favorite "axes" are not very valuable. For instance, the old double Guild I play cost less than $700.00 new; they only built 200 of them and it hasn't appreciated all that much. I am giving it in my will to one of my favorite people here, which you all know.

Guitars are WONDERFUL!

Play on, friend,


Russ