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The Eastman E1SS puts solid woods and hand-scalloped X bracing into a Gibson-style slope shoulder for $699, and we don't know of anything close to it at that price. Eastman sent us the first E1SS and E1OOSS sunbursts ahead of release, and we both gave them a 5 for overall value. Here's how they sound, the one catch, what's changed since, and who should buy one.
What the Eastman E1SS and E1OOSS are
The E1 line is Eastman's entry into all-solid guitars. Before these two arrived, it covered a grand auditorium, the E1D dreadnought and the E1OM, in two colors, and that was it. Meanwhile the slope shoulder dread and the L-00 body were two of Eastman's best sellers in the E10 and E20 lines and the varnish models. Not everybody can afford the upper lines, so Eastman built E1 versions of both shapes.
That gives you two guitars:
- E1SS-SB: the slope shoulder dreadnought, the shape that goes back to the J-45, J-35 and J-50.
- E1OOSS-SB: the smaller 00 slope shoulder, Eastman's take on the L-00.
Both list at $699 in our Shopify catalog today. We shot the video before release, in March 2023, and guessed they would sell near the $579 street price of the other E1 models. Prices have moved since, so trust the listing, not the video.
The specs, and why they matter
These numbers come from our Shopify listings for the current E1SS-SB and E1OOSS-SB:
| Spec | E1SS-SB and E1OOSS-SB | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| Top | Solid thermo-cured Sitka spruce | Solid spruce, heat-treated before it's built |
| Back and sides | Solid sapele | With the solid top, every tonewood in the body is solid |
| Bracing | Hand-scalloped X, hand-voiced | Eastman scallops the braces differently for each top |
| Scale length | 24.75" | Short scale, so less string tension than a 25.4" guitar at the same gauge |
| Nut width / neck | 1.68" (43mm), even C, mahogany | The even C is the neck shape we've grown to love on Eastmans |
| Fretboard and bridge | Ebony, 12" radius | Ebony under your fingers and under the strings at the bridge |
| Finish | Truetone satin, open pore | Thin finish; the grain stays unfilled |
| Extras | Bone nut and saddle, dual-action truss rod, open-gear tuners, padded gig bag, no pickup | Neck adjustments are quick, and the gig bag is a real one |
One correction to the video: we called the top solid spruce, and the current listings say thermo-cured Sitka. The gig bag deserves its own line, too. The E1 bag is the thick, black padded one, a clear step up from the bag that comes with Eastman's laminate PCH guitars. If you're weighing that step, our solid vs laminate guide lays out what the extra money buys.
Watch the Eastman E1SS rating video
- 2:16, the full spec rundown
- 3:24, the slot-through saddle and its catch
- 8:41, our ratings
- 14:22, the tone demo of both guitars
How the Eastman E1SS sounds
We called this "a way to get into a much more affordable Gibson sounding guitar," and the sound is the reason. A J-45 is a mid-range heavy guitar to begin with, and the E1SS leans the same way. The satin finish matters too. Nitro gives you a more detailed tone, satin sounds more open and woody, and varnish sits somewhere in between. The E1SS is on the open, woody side.
"There's going to be a lot of people that look at this guitar and go, this is not just a beginner's or intermediate level guitar. This is actually something that gives a whole different tone palette."
The E1OOSS is the small-body version of the same idea. Jeremy bought a small-body guitar with an Adirondack top years ago and loves that sound, which he calls a little more mid-rangey. He thinks fingerstyle players will take to it. We hear Delta blues in it, and slide would sound cool on it. The L-00 shape is "your Blues King guitar right here."
Who else is chasing that sound? Plenty of players are buying old Kalamazoos and Recording Kings, guitars built as department-store catalog models that found a second life as vintage tone machines, plus newer reissues like the Waterloos. The E1SS and E1OOSS sit right in that conversation, with hand-scalloped X bracing at this price. For Martin's take on these shapes, our Martin 16 Series review covers the 00L-16E and DSS-16E, and our Eastman E15 vs E25 comparison covers the varnish slope shoulders one step up.
The Eastman E1SS catch: a slot-through saddle
The Eastman E1SS uses a slot-through saddle, like the original guitars it's modeled on. It looks great, and on our examples the fit was flawless. Eastman sands the saddle and bridge together for a perfect fit, and that smooth bevel is part of why we scored the build so high.
Here's the trade-off:
- Lowering the action. You can't shave the saddle from the bottom, because its length is contoured to the bridge. The work has to come off the top, and then it needs reshaping and re-intonating.
- Adding a pickup. An undersaddle pickup raises the saddle, and then it no longer fits the slot the way it was built to.
If you need to plug in, Eastman now makes DLX versions with a Fishman Presys VT installed and a gloss top. We have an E1OOSS-DLX-SB in stock at $899, and the E1SS-DLX-SB is on pre-order.
Our Eastman E1SS scores
We rate every guitar in five categories, out of five. Here are our two sets of scores:
| Category | Our two scores | What drove it |
|---|---|---|
| Tone | 4.2 (Jeremy) and 4.0 (John) | Jeremy loves the small-body mids; John wanted a little less midrange for his own taste |
| Setup and playability | 4.5 and 4.5 | Set dead in the middle for most players; dual-action truss rod |
| Build quality | 4.7 and 5 | Dovetail neck joint, no finish flaws, a flawless saddle fit |
| Aesthetics | 4.5 and 4.5 | Love the sunburst and satin; the open pore cost it points |
| Overall value | 5 and 5 | Nothing else in a slope shoulder or L-00 comes close at this price |
On setup, one of us is a heavy-handed player and finds the nut a little high and the saddle a little low for his own playing. Eastman sets them up more like Taylor does, with a higher nut so the setup stays even all the way across. Out of the box it's right for most players, and we can adjust it to your preference.
On build: "In this price range, all solid built, you're not going to find a better built guitar."
What we'd change
Two things kept the E1SS from a clean sweep, and both are about cost:
- The open-pore satin. Neither of us loves it. It saves money on grain filler, and it might help the tone a little, but one of us doesn't like the feel of it on the neck.
- The midrange. It leans to the midrange side, like the Gibsons it's modeled on. John gave tone a 4 for exactly that reason, and still said "boy, it comes pretty darn close."
Who should buy an Eastman E1SS
Buy an Eastman E1SS if you want the J-45 or L-00 sound and feel without paying Gibson money, if you play fingerstyle or blues, or if you already own a big bluegrass dreadnought or a jumbo and want something that makes you play differently. A guitar like this "inspires you to play different," and at this price it can join a collection without draining the budget.
Skip it if you need a pickup today (get the DLX), or if you'd rather have a standard square-shoulder dreadnought. For that, the Eastman E1D dreadnought is the same $699 and the same solid Sitka and sapele, and it's the guitar we compare against in the tone demo. If $699 is a stretch, our best acoustic guitars under $500 are the next place to look.
Eastman's Pomona shop does a great job checking guitars against spec before they ship, and of every brand we carry under $1,000, Eastman needs the least setup work when it gets here. Every E1 still goes through our 23-Point Professional Inspection before it goes to you. It's one reason we're the #1 Worldwide Dealer for Eastman Guitars & Mandolins.
Related reading
Find your Eastman E1SS
When this post went up, neither the standard E1SS-SB nor the E1OOSS-SB was available to buy on our site, so ask us about ordering one and we'll tell you when more come in. You can also browse everything Eastman makes that we carry, every Eastman guitar we have in stock, our 00 guitars, or every guitar in stock.
Our verdict on the Eastman E1SS still stands: Eastman hit the price point right on the head, and we don't know of another slope shoulder or L-00 anywhere near this price that's anywhere near this quality.
