Eastwood Classic 4

[Baxter]

Eastwood Classic 4

I bought it 2nd hand for £300, I had bad GAS for one (whatever that actually means).
I had seen some good reviews and a couple of vids on youtube and as a big semi acoustic fan I reckoned that this was to be the next purchase. It is a seriously good looking instrument. The previous owner "never got on with it". It's the MK111 version - no I didn't know either - the first had a floating bridge like my old Hofner Verithin, the second has the same bridge but fixed, the third has a metal fixed bridge and a slight neck taper towards the headstock and wider spacing at the bridge. All of Eastwood's own promo still states a floating bridge. Points off for slackness straight away.

So, is it a good 'un? As with most Chinese manufactured instruments some things can be hit or miss and this guitar is no exception.

Build Quality and finish - It's spot on actually, the person who made the guitar did a fine job, there are no ragged cuts, the neck is glued and invisibly jointed, the binding is good quality and expertly fitted - even round the F-holes. The frets are above average for a cheap guitar and the fretboard inlays are well fitted and good quality. The finish is a reddy brown clear walnut base with laquer. The colouring and grain are excellent but It seems to finely scratch quite easily.

Hardware - The chromework on the bridge and tailpiece are pretty good, but not top notch - all down to the price I guess. The machine heads were dung, seriously, it would not stay in tune. I changed them for a set of Grovers of the same design so they were a straight 20 minute fitting job - huge improvement at a cost of £50. Heres an important tip though, I bought the Grovers as I wanted to get a trusted brand name to solve my problem. When I went to fit them i compared them to a loose Stagg
one I had in my spares tin. They were identical save the Grover name etched into the grease cap. All the other manufacturing stamps and other indicators were exactly the same. So unless the innards are manufactured to a different standard, the Stagg ones are £20 cheaper. The jack is secure as are the strap buttons.

Electrics - Oh dear. I couldn't make head nor tail of the 3 knob 1 switch arrangement. I gave it to George my local guitar guy and he pulled it apart and re wired the set up into what it should have been in the first place, and put the switch the correct way up. No wonder the last owner had issues with it wired completely wrong. The pickups are good though, no crackles or interference issues.

In general the guitar is comfortable to wear and play, the body may be a bit big for some. It says that its a short scale but I would say its pretty much normal scale in every sense except getting a set of flatwounds that actually fitted. I don't like wrapping the speaking length of the string around the post so that ruled out my usual Rotosound 77s. I went for a set of Rotosound rs77m's, which fitted perfectly but they were 40-90s rather than the 45-105 I was used to. Didn't like them at all!! Far to small for my big fat fingers. So I was after flatwounds, with a speaking length no longer than 35" no shorter than 32" about 45-105. After a bit of research and a few phone calls I plumped for D'Addario ECB81M XL Chrome at 34" - 45- 100. They fit well and sound great.
Also, I got an Eastwood hard case for it. It says on the eastwood.co.uk site that you can only order a case when you order a guitar, and there is no option to just to buy a case online. I called them up and ordered and paid for one no problem.

So all in all its good value. An attractive, well constructed guitar thats been let down by dodgy tuners and a bad wiring job - but i'm willing to concede that the wiring issue may have been a one off error. If you think it may be the one for you, then go for it. Just remember the machine head replacement in most cases, and the Chromes if you're a flats kind of guy.

Bax

[Musky]

Nice review.

Any pictures? I'm quite curious about the newer design bridge. Is a tune-o-matic type affair?

[Baxter]

Aye, heres a pic I took from my facebook, i hope its big enough to see!

[Musky]

[quote name='Baxter' timestamp='1333060213' post='1596957']
Aye, heres a pic I took from my facebook, i hope its big enough to see!
[/quote]

Thanks - that doesn't look too shabby.

[Roger2611]

Just to add to the above, I have just brought an Eastwood Classic 4 in white.....well it's the closest thing to a White Falcon this side of £2000.00!

I wasn't expecting a great deal for a £300.00 outlay and build quality wise it isn't fantastic, one of the tone knobs is broken and will be a pain to change if I decide to, the gold is already tarnished and well it just feels a bit fragile like. As the OP put the wiring is something of a mystery but to me that just makes it more Gretsch like as their wiring has often been illogical in the extreme.

I was really just looking at this bass as a bit of fun however, through a decent amp it actually sounds pretty good, plenty of thump on the neck pickup but just enough bite to cut through a mix on the bridge pickup and with both pickups selected it is a decent mix of bite and thump, I decided to give a go live, use it for a few numbers then switch to one of the "better" basses, well I have now used it for two entire gigs, it's light, pretty well balanced, stays in tune and looks awesome, I have had loads of comments on how it looks and sounds, I really cannot fault the plucky little fellow, as for £300 it punches well above its weight, I did try a Gretsch Electromatic bass but at nearly £900 I wasn't impressed enough to consider buying it.

So if you like the look of em, realise they are a cheaply built bass and don't expect the world from it you certainly won't be disappointed and it will leave you with a smile on your face....now where can I find an Orange one!