1) Vince Lee playing the FOLKSTAR unplugged to you can get an idea of the natural tone. Nice!

2) Vince Lee fingerpicking on the AIRLINE FOLKSTAR part #1

3) Vince Lee fingerpicking on the AIRLINE FOLKSTAR part #2

Thanks Vince!

Check out Vince Lee here: http://www.myspace.com/vinceleemusic

Vince Lee Test Drives the New Airline Folkstar Resonator from MyRareGuitars.com

Product: Eastwood Guitars Sidejack
Price Paid: $479
Submitted 04/28/2006 at 02:26pm by John W.

Features : 10
This is a follow-up to my review (John W. 2-28-05)

Same as review. Everything is working perfectly with no complaints. I am desparately trying to wear this thing out! I will perish before it does, place your bets now.

I didn’t know I would become accustomed to this flat (12.00″+) fretboard and slightly chunky neck (slightly larger than “standard thin”).I have gits from 7.500″ radius to 16.000″ and still play them and enjoy each one, but this particular set up at the 24.750″ scale is perfect for my hand @ 9.500″ hand spread (pinky to thumb).

I still dream about a Wizard neck with compound radius and a 24.750″ scale. Maybe someday I’ll throw some money at it. It would be soooo nice to have the best of both radius worlds! (I’m trying to get Warmoth to make one of these, but they don’t make a Wizard at shorter than 25.500″). Maybe Mike Robinson (Eastwood) will make us one??

One extremely nice change for the Sidejack has been loading it with D’Addario Chromes (ECG24). These are High finish ribbon wound that are ground FLAT. They call them jazz light gauge @ .011, .015, .022, .030, .040, .050″. These strings sound bright and clean and play so smoothly (NO FRICTION) that it is truly effortless which makes playing easier with obvious technique improvement. They bend very easily considering their gauge and chords blend so well it makes standard ribbon wounds sound terribly bad. Single notes have a quality that is clean with no overtones and they require LESS pressure to note, removing intonation sharping that can occur with light gauge strings.

I put a set of Chromes (ECB82) on my Bronco bass also. Perfect sound! Slap, flap, clean, mellow; it’s all in the tone knob and playing technique.

Sound : 10
You can get any sound out of this guitar with good amps, etc. It needs no mods or “hot rodding”. The pups are clear!

Action, Fit, & Finish : No Opinion
Constructed better than all the things I’ve played for years. I require extremely low action with no buzz. I have it with this guitar.

I always pay attention to the left or right of torso centering of the guitar’s scale. (Too far left of center chest, you have to reach abnormally far with the left arm as a RH player). It occurs on guitar models like the Mosrite and others. Just look at the amount of body real estate to the right of the bridge on some guitars (from playing position) and where the body relief shaping is located).

This guitar does shift the scale to the left 2.000″ more than my Fenders and Dano, so it would be a problem EXCEPT that it’s a mid-scale length at 24.750″. There is some extra reach but it’s ok with the shorter scale.

Reliability/Durability : 10
Durable period.

Customer Support : 10
Better than perfect. Just like my wife! (she will read this).

Overall Rating : 10

Guitar Review: Eastwood Sidejack DLX Guitar

Bonus clip: The Baseball Project on the David Letterman show (June 19, 2008, Steve Wynn, Scott McCaughey, Peter Buck and Linda Pitmon):

Guitar Review: Eastwood Sidejack DLX Guitar from MyRareGuitars.com

Product: Eastwood Guitars Airline H-44 Stratotone
Price Paid: UNKNOWN
Submitted 09/10/2007 at 06:24pm by daloco

Features : 10
The features should be well known from the reviews below. I bought two of them. A copper colored two PU DLX and a black one PU STD (black with two PU’s are sold out until december this year.)
I liked the slide sound of them so much but i’m not really a good slider.I’m a better lap steeler. So i customized one into a lapsteel (even a fake pedal steel). I mounted a higher nut and a “Duesenberg Multibender” bridge and it sounds amazing.

Sound : 10
I’m playing blues and if you do too, than this is the guitar to go for! The model with two pick ups is so versatile.
I’m playin them through a Fender Hot Rod Deville 4×10. Nothing special on the floor but a Ernie Ball Volume, a Whammy for octaving and a TS808. Compared to my Gibson Les Paul Std the sound is a bit warmer and got more bass. I could not say wich one sounds better… the 3000 Euro Gibson or the 300 Euro Eastwood. I actually bought it as a back up for the Gibson… it’s got my main guitar at the time… Amazing

Action, Fit, & Finish : 10
I mailed with Mike from Eastwood a few times and he told me that the H44 is the only model in their program under USD500,- made in Korea.
No flaws, nice finish. Setup was fine. I used that little trick with the ducktape for the bridge wich is loose on the guitar like on the original, so i would not have to calibrate so often. Works great.

Reliability/Durability : 10
Sturdy workhorse… you can play shows, or baseball with it. You even could defeate conan the babarian with it and play on.
I do not have the feeling i have to watch out all the time to keep it in mint condition. I think this is the kind of guitar where one will like every scratch, dent and ding that happens during touring. I’ll do.

Customer Support : 10
Contact Mike… absolutely fast and friendly. When i wrote him the first mail concerning shipping to Europe i got an answer within two minutes. He must have a blackberry in his pocket ore something like that!

Overall Rating : 10
I started playing when i was five years old, thats 24 years ago now. I’m a professional since ten years now (former major recording artist now indiependend and more happy). Got a couple of other guitars from larivee parlor acoustics to sitars from india. My current live set consists of a gibson les paul std hb, a epiphone j200 (’96 korea), a hoefner jazz guitar from the fifties and my two H44’s from Eastwood.

I came to the Eastwood Site cause of the replica of the airline 3p dlx. A friend of mine is playing a white original on stage. I wanted to check out the replicas and watched many video reviews on Eastwood Guitars. The H44 review and sound was so standing out, that i forgot about all the others and went for the H44. I might get a Tuxedo and a Airline sometimes but I’m not a lawyer hanging guitars behind glass in his office… so I’ll need a reason to purchase I’m shure I’ll finde one soon.

Guitar Review: Eastwood Airline H44 DLX Guitar

Bonus clip: Vince Lee and his H44 DLX:

Guitar Review: Eastwood Airline H44 DLX Guitar from MyRareGuitars.com

Product: Eastwood Guitars Classic 6
Price Paid: UNKNOWN
Submitted 04/05/2008 at 05:38am by grum

Features : 9
Eastwood Classic-6 double cut-away (similar to gretsch country classic style).

• Walnut finish. maple body & neck.
• Chinese made two filtertron style humbucker pickups.
• 3-way toggle switch, 2x volume 1x tone knob. tune-o-matic bridge.
• case, cable & tools included.
• finish on the guitar is great, really deep strong lacquer & nice binding.
• Had one of these before that i modified with new bridge & bigsby but was stolen on me (filching gits!) that had a lovely abilone motif in the headstock that wasn’t present on my new one. but the bridge on this one is far superior to the old free-floating bridge so i can’t really complain!

Sound : 10
Beautiful range of tones available on this guitar, bridge pick up very bright & with the hollow body perfect for that gretschy twang. neck pick up lovely & warm round tone. great for jazzy/ country warmth. this guitar is great for my style, i play with various artists going from bluesy/gospel to country, rockabilly, rock n roll, and quirky rebo-esque stuff. its very playable & versatile. I use a fender twin amp and the valves really help getting tones to ring pure. for the price i can’t fault it.

Action, Fit, & Finish : 9
Guitar was set up really well, it’s shipped with .10 gauge strings which i replaced with my usual heavier gauge. minimal adjustment needed to raise action slightly to accomodate heavier gauge, absolutely no problems with intonation & pick up distances.
binding & finish very good quality, lovely grain in the top & back body.
1 volume knob was slightly loose but allen key was supplied so easily remedied.

Reliability/Durability : 10
Played my last one live & in studio constantly. very strong construction and never had a problem, even travelling by air with temperature changes from being in aeroplane holds & ham-fisted baggage handlers! so i’m not expecting any trouble with this one.
again for the price i can’t fault this guitar.

Customer Support : 10
played another eastwood guitar in a studio and was impressed with the quality so I emailed eastwood directly and asked Mike loads of questions. he was, and still is very helpful and i never have to wait too long for replys and assistance from him. Guitar is warrantied under usual conditions. company support is great, got loads of stickers & a dvd with this guitar too.

Overall Rating : 10
been playing about 16 years, used to use a 62 kay & various other old things which were lovely but very unreliable on the road. the eastwood classic 6 is a great replacement. I’ve had one stolen from me & I had no hesitation in ordering another one. It looks cool as **** & sounds great, whats to fault?!, nuthin! again, for this price you can’t go wrong. ——

NOTE: (Jan 2008) All Classic models now ship with an upgraded FIXED tun-o-matic bridge.

Guitar Review: Eastwood Classic 6 Guitar

Bonus clip: Bubbles from Trailer Park Boys and his Classic 12:

Guitar Review: Eastwood Classic 6 Guitar from MyRareGuitars.com

I can’t help myself. I’m an especially big fan of old Airline guitars. I’ve owned many over the years and have always dug their quirky shapes and sounds.

Eastwood Airline H44 DLX Guitar

Catching my eye in particular was an Airline H44 DLX in a copper finish, reminding me of the old 50’s Harmony/Kay Stratotone, which in those days was considered kind of a poor man’s Les Paul.

The H44 sports a really cool small bodied, single cutaway shape with two mini-Humbuckers, a short trapeze tailpiece, three way selector switch and a master volume & tone control. When I got home after NAMM I kept thinking about it and ended getting one a month later.

When I unpacked it, I was immediately struck by how beautiful it looked in its copper finish with just a hint of sparkle to it. I took it out of the box and immediately began twanging away. True to the original Stratotones, this guitar came with a fat “baseball bat” type neck. The advantage of a fat neck is that it’s very stable and practically un-warpable. Also like the originals, these guitars have a movable non-adjustable wooden bridge with a fixed compensated saddle. With a set of 10’s the action was good, and the intonation was pretty darn close.

I noticed the bridge moved around a bit whenever I would bend the strings (just like the old ones), so I remedied the problem with an old bluesman’s fix; I just put a few short strips of double stick tape underneath the bridge and voila! It held like a champ even on my wildest bends.

The tuners are open-faced, again just like the old ones. Some people think open faced tuners “slip”, but that’s a load of hogwash. I always wrap the string around itself against the tuning post, which kind of “locks” the string, and when I do that along with stretching the string a few times it always stays in tune. No problems with the tuners here.

The string slots on the nut were a tad on the tight side, “pinging” now and then when tuning. A little bit of Big Bends Nut Sauce lubricant took care of the problem. Note: Tight string slots at the nut is the number one reason guitars don’t stay in tune. Always keep some lubricant handy and you’ll be a happy (and in tune) camper.

So how did it sound plugged in? Very cool indeed! Mini humbuckers typically have a darker sound than single coils, plus they’re more powerful, so it’s important to set an amp’s controls accordingly. I first revved it up through a small Roland Microcube amp. It was quite at home here. There were plenty of modeling amp settings that I could find to make it sound good. Then it was on to a Line 6 POD in my studio, going direct into the recording console. With a few little tweaks I had some very bluesy sounding tones happening through the studio monitors. Nice!

Next it was on to a Rivera 45 watt 1-12 Clubster combo amp. There was no problem dialing up a nice, slightly overdriven Mike Bloomfield “Super Session” kind of sound. I liked it mostly clean, but with just a hint of amp distortion. And finally, I ran it through a 15 watt Fender Blues Junior amp and it sang out like it owned the joint!

Will Ray with his H44 DLX

Here’s my take on guitars like the H44 ‘ they’re specialty instruments meant to create unique guitar tones that normal Strat, Tele and Les Paul guitars can’t do. I use guitars like this a lot in the studio when I’m looking for something different to add character to a track, or on a live gig to give a different mojo to a song. I find that when a guitar sounds a little different, it will make you play a little different. I already know what I sound like with my usual guitars. But what can I paint with a different paintbrush?

Conclusion? I like my H44. It’s built like an old guitar, but without old guitar hassles. It’s very cool looking and stable. Plus my wife digs the color. What can I say? She’s a keeper.

Post by: Will Ray

Guitar Review: Eastwood Airline H44 DLX Electric Guitar from MyRareGuitars.com

Airline 18-Watt Handwired Combo Amp

In addition to my monthly rants and raves here in Guitarticles, I also donate some experience and opinions in the design and development of many EASTWOOD guitar models. So, last month Mike Robinson of Eastwood Guitars sent me a prototype of his new Airline 18-Watt Handwired Combo Amp for review. The AMP is scheduled for release in October. Despite UPS’ efforts to the contrary, it arrived in perfect condition with a black – almost “bedliner” looking covering – a different take from the usual Tolex treatment. This material is very tough and cleans up nicely. The Airline sported an Emminence Red Coat speaker which looks to me to be a copy of a Celestion Vintage 30, which by the way is one of my favorite speakers. The controls on the Airline are simple a volume, a tone and a three position switch. The switch seems to fatten up as you go from position 1 to position 3, a great addition when going from single coil to humbucking pickups. I reported to Mike immediately that I thought the knobs – which were original 1960’s Airline knobs – are not my cup of tea, perhaps some chrome knobs?. I also thought that the pilot light, on/off, and standby switches also looked chinsey. But hey, he asked me to take this baby for a TONE test drive, not a fashion show, so now let’s get down to the sound.

I plugged the amp in and was expecting it (with its dual EL84’s) to sound like a Marshall with that classic compressed signature sound. It did not; I initially thought that the speaker was the difference but upon playing the amp more I realized that this amp was indeed a different bird. First off the Airline is a cleaner amp with more headroom then the Marshall. The Airline seems to be a bit louder than its British counterpart, hence the clean headroom. The Marshall sounds best when turned up all the way, revealing its signature sound. A sound that is fat, and compressed, with a fair amount of Marshallesque high end. You cannot get that sound from the Airline, but what you do get is a more versatile amp that sounds very good at any volume setting. It’s lively and strong in its sound. The three position switch is also a nice addition. The amp held its head up nicely when paired with my Blackface Pro Reverb in a live A/B setting.

Where the amp really shines is when you plug a few different guitars in. My Les Paul sounded great at the first of the three tone settings on the Airline. The amp replicated the classic bluesy Les Paul sound very well. And due to the headroom the Airline has, it also handled a few different pedals I plugged in impressively well.

But, when I plugged in a Strat the amp really, really shined. The guitar sounded full and nasty at amp and guitar on 10, but when I started to turn the amp down to about 6 it cleaned up w/ a funky tone that was amazing. Now the flood gates opened, I started trying all different combinations amp on 10 guitar on 5, position 1 through 3 on the tone selector, different pickups!, I was there for about two hours getting truly breathtaking sounds, all with different degrees of chunk/clarity and sustain even at moderate volumes. Before I knew it, it was sunrise and I went to bed thinking about other guitars I would have to try next day.

After a midday cup of “Joe” the Airline got fed a steady diet of my favorite Eastwood guitars, the Sidejack, Delta 6, P90 Special, and the Saturn all yielded similar results, the Airline revealed their versatility and tonal possibilities without pause.

It’s not a fancy looking boutique amp with piping and a brushed golden aluminum faceplate. It, like its guitar namesake, is a retro looking niche offering featuring unusual angles and colors. However, where most niche AMP’s turn out to be one-trick ponies, this versatile AIRLINE delivers, big time!

The Airline is a point to point custom shop handmade amp with a versatile sound, Made in Canada, quality workmanship and a well matched speaker. With most of it’s competition at a street price in the $1,800 range, the AIRLINE holds ground and offers an uncommon versatility. But, knowing Mike, we won’t have to pay that much! Right?

Verdict: I LOVE THIS AMP!!!

Gear Review: Airline 18-Watt Combo Amp from MyRareGuitars.com