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Since you guys have been asking, these are my initial thoughts concerning these two torrefied Eastman dreadnaught models.
I apologize up front for the picture quality. I had to take pictures of these two at night in a room with terrible lighting. I’ll post better pictures sometime in the near future.
Strings:
Both guitars are strung with Martin Phosphor Bronze treated Medium gauge strings. I like these strings as they seem to give long life without sounding overly coated.
Overall Tone:
The overall tone of these two guitar are quite similar. They are both loud, clear, and have almost a bell like quality. And much to my surprise, they actually sound much more similar than they sound differently. Because of this I am beginning to realize that guitar brands and makers may have a larger contribution on the tone than b/s tone woods.
Again, to my ear, they seem to have that balanced Eastman voice. Neither is too boomy or woofy. Though, much to my surprise, the E10 has a slight bit more bass than the E20. Tonally they both are voiced more like a Collings than a Martin. I kinda expect the E20 to sound more like a vintage Martin D-28, but it wasn’t so.
I would describe both guitars as having bell like clarity and great overtones. They both have volume to spare without being harsh.
The E10 seems to have the classic mahogany bumped mid range with a very pronounced quick decay bass and strong highs.
The E20 has that slight smiley face EQ with a focus on the bass and highs while still retaining a great amount of balance. The E20 is quite clear and has a fair amount of bass without being boomy.
The E10 sounds glorious, dare I say majestic. So many overtones happening at one time. The E20 sounds sweet and musical. It rings with the chimes of the guitar gods!
In the overall tone department, both guitars are very good examples of modern takes on the classic dreadnaught.
Volume:
The Adirondack top seems to add more volume and clarity to the tone when compared to Sitka counterparts. The E10D-TC seems to have the edge over the E20D-TC here. It might be that the guitar is two years older, but I don’t think this is the only factor at play.
I distinctly remember the day I first played the E10D-TC. I was blown away by its volume and bass response. It was as loud as some of the pre-war Martins that I’ve played. I now attribute this to its very large full C shape neck. For this reason the E10 seems to be slightly louder than the E20.
Neck:
Speaking of necks, this is where the two guitars begin to differ. Both are said to have mahogany 1 3/4 inch necks but the feel of the two are not the same.
The E10 has a much larger, full size mahogany neck. It’s as large as some of the Martin authentics I’ve played. Think “baseball bat” neck. It’s big, but not uncomfortable. I have medium size hands and find it very easy to play when set up with low action. It also takes medium strings very well.
By comparison, the E20 has a smaller, thinner neck. I haven’t measured them, but the E20 feels like a 1.725 or 1.7 inch wide neck. It’s not the full C that the E10 is either. My E20 feels more like some of the necks on the reimagined D-28’s that I’ve played which have the high performance taper.
Out of the two, the E10 seems to provide more volume with its mass, and the E20 provides a sleeker and slightly more comfortable feel with its thinner profile. I like them both but I had to choose just one I would go with my E20.
If this is a large factor for you I would suggest playing one in the store. These necks feel completely different even with similar set ups.
Playability:
Both guitars come from the factory with high nut slots and high saddles. After filing the nut slots deeper and reshaping the saddles both guitars now play as good, if not better, than my two USA Martins.
I partly attribute their great playability with Eastman’s impeccable fret job. These guitars came with the best dressed frets I’ve seen in any guitar under the $4000 price range. Both guitars play great up and down the neck without any buzz or fretting out. Both play great with a capo and have nearly perfect intonation.
My E10 has been one of the most stable guitars I’ve ever owned and I’m hoping the E20 will be the same. If you gig a lot stability can be a life saver.
Aesthetics:
Both guitars are very elegant and beautiful, but both had a few fit and finish issues. Where the neck joint meets the body of the guitar there was some leftover glue on the E10 and the same place on the E20 has uneven stain. There were other small cosmetic issues like hazing in the nitro finish, but overall these were not deal breakers for me. The tone and value make up for slight cosmetic imperfections.
It might also be worth noting that my E10 came in a little bit better fit and finish than my E20. This may be because it was one of the first 5 E10D-TC’s that Eastman ever made. I’m thinking they paid very close attention to detail on that first run. I hope they keep up the good work as the demand for these models goes up as the years go on.
As far as aesthetic features go, I tend to prefer the more traditional rosewood head plate and herringbone binding on the E20. The E20 looks like more of a pre-war D-28 than the E10 looks like a D-18. The E10 has an ebony head plate and a tortis binding that is quite beautiful, but not found on D-18’s from the golden era (if my Martin history serves me correctly)
Both guitars have beautiful tone woods that are on par with many of the boutique guitars I’ve played. The mahogany on the E10 appears to almost have a blistering effect to it. The EIR on the E20 is lighter and grayer in color than my D-28. Eastman is using some very good East Indian Rosewood. My wife really liked the color of it too!
Build Quality:
Both guitars seem to be very well built and have very little to no structural issues. ( I can’t say the same has been true for all my Martins costing 2 to 3 times the price.) I feel like the value to quality ratio is very high on these Eastman guitars.
I was also very impressed by the quality of Adirondack spruce Eastman is using on these two models. I believe it to be on par with most boutique builders in the $5,000 price range. They are very straight grain and uniform in spacing. They have no runout and very little streaking, which sadly I’ve seen on boutique guitars costing into the 5 figures.
Comparison to Non TC models:
I don’t own a non TC model Eastman, but from those that I’ve played in the store the Thermo-Curing process seems to add a bit of snap to the attack, right out of the box, without being too harsh. These sound like Eastman’s on steroids that have been lovingly played for years.
Don’t get me wrong, there are some great non TC models out there. I’ve played several of them, but I just like the darker looking tops on these guitars and I believe TC process adds stiffness and stability as well. Plus, it’s only a couple hundred dollar upgrade.
Value:
10/10. These are comparable to guitars costing 2, and 3 times as much.
Overall Impressions:
I’ve owned many high end Martins and Taylors and I think these Eastmans are on par with guitars at least twice their price point. These aren’t just good guitars for the money. The are good guitars period!
Both are winners in my book. Both are loud and powerful dreadnoughts. Both have similar voices with slight nuances.
Both guitars sound absolutely amazing and are still very new. I’m excited to see how both guitars will age over the decades. If you can get your hands on either one of these models, do it! I wholeheartedly recommend both of them.
I hope this was helpful. I’ll do more updates to this post as the weeks, months, and years go on.
Cheers!
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