Eastman T64/TV-RD Truetone Vintage - Red
The Eastman T64/TV-RD presents the full P90 Hollowbody fantasy in Eastman's new TrueTone Vintage Gloss finish. The TrueTone Vintage Gloss combines the durability and reliability of their popular TrueTone gloss with a lightly "lived-in" feel of a Vintage-Old-Stock instrument. Truetone is Eastman's special finish that consists of a delicate balance between hardness and flexibility without compromising the resonance or signature tone that makes an Eastman. By implementing a two-part modified urethane topcoat, Eastman created a finish that never sacrifices the sound of tradition while minimizing the footprint it leaves on our planet. The Truetone finish is based on the same recipe featured on Bourgeois Guitars, which joined the Eastman family in 2019.
from a review at Premierguitar.com, 11/30/18
If you’ve never had the pleasure of a session with a thinline electric, you’re missing a world of sounds and overtones that are hard to come by elsewhere. Whether it’s an old Vox, a Rickenbacker, Gretsch, or Gibson, thinlines sound and feel different. The larger physical dimensions lend the feel of an old-world instrument. And there’s a resonance that can veer from beautifully, tonefully flowering to teetering at the edge of feedback. But when it comes to thinlines that feel truly alive in hand, few can match the hollowbody Epiphone Casino, its cousin the Gibson ES-330, and, by extension, the very Casino/330-inspired Eastman T64 reviewed here.
Like those famous hollowbodies, the Beijing-built Eastman T64 is sparkling, exciting, mellow, smooth, jangly, or rowdy depending on your mood, musical mode, and the gear you put at the other end of your cable. It’s also an exceptional guitar that feels more expensive than it is—even though, by import standards, it’s not exactly inexpensive itself.
Original Beat Box
Though frequently mistaken by casual observers for the more famous Gibson ES-335, Epiphone Casinos might be the most commonly heard thinlines. They helped propel just about every Beatles record from Revolver onward. (Paul McCartney had one as far back as 1964.) And Keith Richards used a Casino for some of the Stones’ punkiest early tracks. The variety of tones these guitars contributed to records by these artists alone speaks volumes about the Casino’s versatility. And the same flexibility is easy to hear in the T64.
A big part of the T64’s tone signature is the true hollowbody design. Unlike a Gibson 335 or a Rickenbacker 330, the T64 is built without a center block—a feature that typically adds sustain and contributes resistance to feedback. Hold a T64 sideways up to the sun, peer through the f-hole, and you’ll see daylight shining through the opposite side. You’ll also notice an unusual amount of attention to fit and finish on the inside. Even in the hardest-to-see corners (and I checked with a flashlight), the laminate maple top and back were sanded smooth and kerfing was carefully bound to the body, with only a few, very small errant glue spots visible at the heel block.
The guitar’s exterior, meanwhile, verges on flawless. Frets are perfectly seated at the neck binding. The cutouts for the two Lollar Dog Ear P-90 pickups are cut to the closest possible tolerances. The setup and action are close to perfect. It’s hard to image a new guitar playing more smoothly out of the case.
A Playmate That Resonates
Any hollowbody worth its salt tends to sound and feel musical before you amplify it, and the T64/v is a delight to play unplugged. Thump the low E string and you can feel it in your ribs as it resonates. Center bocks may improve sustain in amplified situations, but it’s hard to imagine the superb resonance of the T64’s top and body failing to translate to extra sustain and overtone color when the guitar is amplified.
That said, the tone profile of the T64 and the Lollar P-90s may surprise when you plug in. If the sonic point of reference you imagine for the T64 is the trebly clank of Sgt. Pepper’s “Getting Better,” you could be astonished to hear that the Lollars, even in the bridge position, tend to be smokier and smoother than you might guess. But the beauty of this tone profile is the leeway it gives you to shape the tone in either direction on the EQ spectrum. If it’s Beatle-y treble you seek, you can add amp treble or a treble-boosted overdrive (I used a Jext Telez White Pedal, in the interest of Beatles authenticity) without losing an ounce of the pickup’s even-handed harmonic balance. The neck pickup may lack a PAF-and-center-block’s wooly ballast, but sounds arguably more complex in some tone-attenuated jazzy contexts.
This guitar is in Brand New condition from Eastman and has been inspected and set-up by our techs. This package is complete with Eastman Certificate of Authenticity and the original hard case.
NEW
$1,999
from a review at Premierguitar.com, 11/30/18
If you’ve never had the pleasure of a session with a thinline electric, you’re missing a world of sounds and overtones that are hard to come by elsewhere. Whether it’s an old Vox, a Rickenbacker, Gretsch, or Gibson, thinlines sound and feel different. The larger physical dimensions lend the feel of an old-world instrument. And there’s a resonance that can veer from beautifully, tonefully flowering to teetering at the edge of feedback. But when it comes to thinlines that feel truly alive in hand, few can match the hollowbody Epiphone Casino, its cousin the Gibson ES-330, and, by extension, the very Casino/330-inspired Eastman T64 reviewed here.
Like those famous hollowbodies, the Beijing-built Eastman T64 is sparkling, exciting, mellow, smooth, jangly, or rowdy depending on your mood, musical mode, and the gear you put at the other end of your cable. It’s also an exceptional guitar that feels more expensive than it is—even though, by import standards, it’s not exactly inexpensive itself.
Original Beat Box
Though frequently mistaken by casual observers for the more famous Gibson ES-335, Epiphone Casinos might be the most commonly heard thinlines. They helped propel just about every Beatles record from Revolver onward. (Paul McCartney had one as far back as 1964.) And Keith Richards used a Casino for some of the Stones’ punkiest early tracks. The variety of tones these guitars contributed to records by these artists alone speaks volumes about the Casino’s versatility. And the same flexibility is easy to hear in the T64.
A big part of the T64’s tone signature is the true hollowbody design. Unlike a Gibson 335 or a Rickenbacker 330, the T64 is built without a center block—a feature that typically adds sustain and contributes resistance to feedback. Hold a T64 sideways up to the sun, peer through the f-hole, and you’ll see daylight shining through the opposite side. You’ll also notice an unusual amount of attention to fit and finish on the inside. Even in the hardest-to-see corners (and I checked with a flashlight), the laminate maple top and back were sanded smooth and kerfing was carefully bound to the body, with only a few, very small errant glue spots visible at the heel block.
The guitar’s exterior, meanwhile, verges on flawless. Frets are perfectly seated at the neck binding. The cutouts for the two Lollar Dog Ear P-90 pickups are cut to the closest possible tolerances. The setup and action are close to perfect. It’s hard to image a new guitar playing more smoothly out of the case.
A Playmate That Resonates
Any hollowbody worth its salt tends to sound and feel musical before you amplify it, and the T64/v is a delight to play unplugged. Thump the low E string and you can feel it in your ribs as it resonates. Center bocks may improve sustain in amplified situations, but it’s hard to imagine the superb resonance of the T64’s top and body failing to translate to extra sustain and overtone color when the guitar is amplified.
That said, the tone profile of the T64 and the Lollar P-90s may surprise when you plug in. If the sonic point of reference you imagine for the T64 is the trebly clank of Sgt. Pepper’s “Getting Better,” you could be astonished to hear that the Lollars, even in the bridge position, tend to be smokier and smoother than you might guess. But the beauty of this tone profile is the leeway it gives you to shape the tone in either direction on the EQ spectrum. If it’s Beatle-y treble you seek, you can add amp treble or a treble-boosted overdrive (I used a Jext Telez White Pedal, in the interest of Beatles authenticity) without losing an ounce of the pickup’s even-handed harmonic balance. The neck pickup may lack a PAF-and-center-block’s wooly ballast, but sounds arguably more complex in some tone-attenuated jazzy contexts.
- Deluxe Maple Laminate Top, Back, & Sides
- Maple Neck
- TrueTone Vintage Gloss "VOS" Finish
- Ebony Fingerboard
- "Traditional Even C" Neck Profile
- Pearl Parallelogram Inlays
- Ivoroid Binding
- Lollar P90 Pickups
- USA-Made Bigsby Vibrato
- Gotoh Bridge & Tuning Machines
- 24 3/4" Scale
- 12" Radius
- 1.72" Nut Width
This guitar is in Brand New condition from Eastman and has been inspected and set-up by our techs. This package is complete with Eastman Certificate of Authenticity and the original hard case.
NEW
$1,999