Table of Contents
- What happens at Eastman Pomona before an instrument ships
- Otto D'Ambrosio, the designer who tries to stump the builders
- The value case, in the words of the Eastman Pomona team
- The mandolin family that sold one player on Eastman
- What we add after the Eastman Pomona setup
- Who this is for, and the catch
- Shop Eastman at The Acoustic Shoppe
- Acoustic Shoppe FAQ
Every Eastman headed to a North American dealer gets one last setup before it leaves the Eastman Pomona shop in California: fresh strings, fretwork, electronics and finish checked against a spec the dealer agreed to. That's what the crew there does, at least as of our visit in 2020. We also met Otto D'Ambrosio, Eastman's lead designer. Here's what we learned, what the Eastmans on our wall today have, and what happens once one lands at our shop in Springfield.
What happens at Eastman Pomona before an instrument ships
The building happens before an instrument ever reaches California. The Eastman Pomona shop is the last stop for the North American market. The team there does a final setup for every North American dealer just before an order ships out, so the guitar or mandolin arrives with fresh strings and a dealer-spec setup.
When that instrument hits your store, it's got a fresh set of strings on it, a fresh setup.The Eastman Pomona checklist covers four things:
- New strings on every instrument, right before it ships.
- A setup to the spec Eastman has agreed on with that dealer.
- Fretwork, where the frets need it.
- Electronics and finish. If shipping knocked a pickup loose or marked the finish, they address it there.
Instruments travel a long way before they reach Eastman Pomona, and shipping causes problems. The shop is there to catch them before a dealer does.
Jump to: Otto's introduction at 0:06, the first-guitar features at 1:17, the mandolin family at 1:49, the final setup at 2:27, and Otto on design at 4:13.
Otto D'Ambrosio, the designer who tries to stump the builders
Otto started building guitars midway through his teens, and by 2020 he'd spent more than half his life at it. About five years before our visit, Eastman asked him to become its lead designer, and he moved out to California to design the future of the guitar line.
Otto says Eastman won't cut a corner because a material is too expensive or a part is hard to get. If something is the best option, they go get it. He also says Eastman's builders work by hand, and that the hands are the point.
I do my best to try to design guitars that they can't build, and they always seem to figure it out, or make it better.That's a designer giving the builders the credit. And on the wood itself:
They're able to really make pieces of wood musical.Eastman makes electrics too. We sell only the acoustic side of the line, so that's what the rest of this post covers. If you want our longer history with the brand, read how Eastman became the foundation of our shop.
The value case, in the words of the Eastman Pomona team
The people at Eastman Pomona call themselves musicians first. Their point: plenty of beautiful instruments are out of reach for the players who'd use them hardest, and Eastman's reputation is building high-quality instruments working musicians can afford.
Then there's the question almost every new player asks: what should I get for a first guitar? Their answer is the features usually saved for expensive guitars: hand building, a bone nut and saddle, and a lifetime warranty, at about a third of what most makers charge. That ratio is their figure, not ours, but the features check out on what we have in stock today.
| In stock now | Top | Back and sides | Nut width | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eastman E1D #1300 | Solid Sitka spruce | Solid sapele | 1-3/4" | $699 |
| Eastman E6SS-TC #1116 | Thermo-cured Sitka spruce | Mahogany | 1-11/16" | $1,379 |
| Eastman MDA315 mandola #0605 | Solid spruce | Solid flamed maple | 1-11/32" | $1,189 |
| Eastman MD815 mandolin #0586 | Solid Adirondack spruce | Solid flamed maple | 1-3/32" | $2,249.99 |
| Eastman MDA815 mandola #5756 | Solid Adirondack spruce | Flamed maple | 1-3/32" | $2,539 |
Every one of those carries Eastman's limited lifetime warranty in our listings, and the E1D, E6SS-TC, MDA315 and MD815 list a bone nut. The E1D at $699 is the cleanest example of that pitch: a full-size dreadnought with a solid top and solid back and sides, an ebony fingerboard and a 1-3/4" nut that gives your fretting hand room between strings. If your budget stops lower, our best acoustic guitars under $500 guide covers that range.
The mandolin family that sold one player on Eastman
The guitars aren't what brought everyone to Eastman. For one mandolin player we met there, the mandolins came first. With a hand-carved top and back, he couldn't find anything else close at the same price. Then Eastman added octave mandolins and mandolas, and he ended up owning almost the whole family: an F-style, an A-style, a mandola, an octave mandolin and a mandocello.
It's been affordable to be able to have that full orchestra of instruments.The family goes down in steps: mandolin, then mandola a fifth lower, then octave mandolin, then mandocello. Today we have two mandolas on the wall. The MDA315 #0605 is tuned a fifth below a mandolin (C-G-D-A) on a 16" scale. The MDA815 #5756 puts an Adirondack top on an F-style body.
We don't have an octave mandolin or a mandocello in stock right now. If you want one, ask us about ordering one, and read our octave mandolin guide first for tuning and scale. For the whole family in one place, see our complete guide to the mandolin family. If you're starting with a first mandolin, our mandolin under $1,000 comparison puts the Eastman MD305 against the PCH M104.
What we add after the Eastman Pomona setup
We inspect every Eastman again after it arrives from Eastman Pomona. Eastman's own crew will tell you shipping causes problems, and the trip from California to Missouri is one more freight leg.
Here's what an Eastman goes through after it arrives at our shop:
- It sits for 24 hours to acclimate to the room before anyone touches it.
- It gets our 23-Point Professional Inspection: structural, cosmetic and functional.
- Our technicians can reject it. If it doesn't meet our standard, it doesn't go on the wall.
- It gets photographed, so the listing shows that exact instrument.
On anything $1,000 and up, which includes the E6SS-TC, both mandolas and the MD815, the Dread-Not Guarantee applies. It starts with a 1-year trade-in credit of up to 90% (pre-tax, less round-trip shipping), so the instrument you buy today still counts toward your next one. You also get a 30-day in-home trial, the inspection, and a humidity kit in the case.
Who this is for, and the catch
If you're buying a first serious guitar, the Eastman Pomona pitch points straight at the E1D: hand-built, solid woods, bone nut, a limited lifetime warranty, and a setup in Pomona plus an inspection here before you open the case. If you play mandolin and want to fill out the family, Eastman builds every voice that mandolin player owns, from F-style mandolin down to mandocello.
The catch: this is Eastman's own people talking about Eastman, back in 2020, with no blind test and no comparison guitar on the bench. Otto's design role and the Pomona setup are as of 2020, and the "third of the price" figure is theirs. Judge the instrument in your hands, which is why we're glad to be the #1 Worldwide Dealer for Eastman Guitars & Mandolins and keep enough of them on the wall to compare.
Related reading
- Solid vs laminate acoustic guitars: does it matter?
- Eastman MD615 vs MD815: what's the difference?
- Eastman E15 vs E25: the varnish slope shoulders
Shop Eastman at The Acoustic Shoppe
Everything we carry from Eastman is on our Eastman page, split into Eastman guitars and Eastman mandolins. If you're still deciding on a brand, browse every guitar in stock. Eastman says every North American order gets the Eastman Pomona setup (as of 2020), and every one we sell gets our inspection on top of it. If you want one we don't have, call us and we'll order it.
