Eastman AR905CE Thermo-Cured Archtop Acoustic-Electric Guitar #0217

The absolute driving sonic layout behind this flagship Venetian archtop comes down to an uncompromising recipe of hand-carved, thermally aged tonewoods that mimics the response of a decades-old jazz box. Eastman completely elevated the architecture of this 16-inch body by running both the solid spruce top and the solid flamed maple back and sides through an extensive thermo-curing process. This artificial aging bakes out volatile resins, loosening up the wood cell structure so that acoustically, notes pop off the top with immediate physical speed, immense acoustic compression, and a woody, dry midrange authority. It handles single-note bebop lines and complex, dense chord melody extensions with absolute architectural clarity, yielding zero of the tight, stiff frequencies typical of a brand-new archtop.

Visually, the instrument serves as an absolute showcase of artisan luxury, blending high-end organic materials with a brilliant high-gloss Truetone finish. Rather than utilizing typical plastic multi-ply bindings, Eastman meticulously wrapped the entire body top, back, fingerboard, f-holes, and headstock in real snakewood. This premium exotic timber is also bound directly onto the solid ebony pickguard, mirroring the dark ebony floating tailpiece and adjustable ebony bridge. Accented by brilliant gold hardware, Schaller tuners, pearl and abalone fretboard diamonds, and a genuine mother-of-pearl headstock logo, it presents an aesthetic of absolute custom-shop prestige that looks stunning under performance spotlights.

In the hands, it behaves with total, frictionless stability, establishing a playing platform that completely gets out of your way. The maple neck is carved into a highly predictable, traditional even "C" profile, capped with an elite ebony fingerboard and 22 medium-jumbo Jescar frets that make wide chord stretches feel entirely fluid. What cements this instrument as an elite professional gigging tool, however, is the floating Lollar Johnny Smith neck pickup. Wired cleanly to discreet 500k thumbwheel controls hidden beneath the pickguard edge, it completely preserves the acoustic resonance of the un-cut spruce top while pushing a warm, smoky, high-fidelity jazz tone straight to a Switchcraft output jack. Arriving perfectly factory-calibrated and housed safely in a premium hardshell case, the AR905CE is a specialized masterwork built for the uncompromising jazz player.