Is it good because its different?

[BatUtilityBelt]

Today I was playing this Eastwood Airline 59 2P with dual single coils. Now I know a couple people would read that and immediately say "wrong picture, dude". But no, those are not humbuckers, they are single coils. Eastwood tells us so, and if you've ever played one of these, your ears will confirm they are single coils masquerading as humbuckers. No push/pull split or anything, just single coils. The guitar has a 3 way switch, dual vol/tone controls, and a master volume. It plays very well, and sounds perfectly fine, but I don't play it a ton.

In all 3 pickup positions, it sounds just like a tele. Yeah, I know, that's a TOM bridge, and I trust Eastwood when they say it's a chambered mahogany body, but my ears hear tele. I'm not going to rip it open just to check the wood. But it is light bodied, resonant, and stays in tune very well.

So why don't I play it that much? I bought it used for a very well discounted price without checking the specs on the Eastwood site. Seller said humbuckers and mahogany body, and seeing the TOM, I figured it would sound somewhat Gibbyish. So the first time I played it, I thought "these are the most ice-picky humbuckers I've ever heard". And the seller apparently agreed because there is another humbucker type pickup loose in the case. Of course, that was my bad for not knowing Eastwood basically made a tele with Gibson looking parts. It sounds like a tele, but feels nothing like a tele to play. So it confuses my style sensibilities. I'm not sure that's a bad thing because I like being shook out of my comfort zone, but this one just hits me a bit wrong. Because it played great and sounded fine today, I don't want to dump it and I like the Valco vibe, but is it wrong to exist? Should there even be traditional single coil implementations hiding in humbucker skin?

[tonebender]

Not my cup of tea but an interesting instrument. It does have a cool vibe.

[Partscaster]

I wonder if RJ Ronquillo does a demo that might make it seem more interesting.



and sure enough......


[url]

[BatUtilityBelt]

I wonder if RJ Ronquillo does a demo that might make it seem more interesting.
and sure enough......

Agree. RJ is a phenomenal player. I have several models he has demoed. While I like them, the guitars don't often sound like RJ's demos. RJ is great at dialing up tones uncharacteristic of the guitar he's playing. But that's also true of most YouTube demos I've seen.

[toomanycats]

Regarding that RJ video, there are not enough superlatives I could use to describe my admiration of this man's playing. RJ is on the highest level as far as I'm concerned. It's not enough to just speculate what tuition, experiences, and influences made a guy like this, because what you really need to understand is that a player like RJ is just born. You might as well go ask a bird how it flies or a fish how it swims. To watch him play and analyze what he's doing is a masters class in guitar.

Regarding the Eastwood Airline single coils masquerading as humbuckers, it's not a new idea or trick by any means. I own a late 70s/early 80s Memphis LP copy that has "fakebuckers," as some call them. Inside the slightly undersized humbucker cover is a ceramic magnet single coil. Do they sound like humbuckers? Absolutely not. But paired with the multi ply, arch top, semi hollow body of the Memphis LP, they produce an interesting musical voice.

[Partscaster]

I was looking at the Eastwood guitars some years back, and I was sure I was gonna get one.
Then I saw RJ demoing a Hallmark Stradette and bought that instead. Its totally case candy, I never play it.
My other favorite demo guy that makes me wonder why I bought such n such, is Mike Hermans.

[redman]

I have to agree with @tonebender that's just not me either. I know Eastman are highly praised by many and I've only owned one of their acoustics and was truly under impressed. This is just my 2 cents so Eastman fans please don't get mad at me. But I had heard so much hype about the E10D I had to try one. Now I admit I think that the Yamaha acoustics are the best value available at least from what I've played but a couple of years ago I started searching for a better guitar at a better or equal price and for a solid year I bought and sold a bunch of acoustic guitars to try them out. Among those was an Eastman E10 D and for me it just didn't live up to the hype. I now have 2 acoustics left a Yamaha LL16 and a Yamaha FGX830C. I did change the nut, saddle and bridge pins to TUSQ on the FXG830C and have done nothing to the LL16 but change strings and played it. Both guitars IMO have much better tone and playabilty and much lower price tag however the Eastman is a cannon and one of the loudest acoustics I've ever played. Like it's said without pictures it didn't happen.



Eastman E10D with Agile PS900 and FGX830C in the background

[BatUtilityBelt]

I have to agree with @tonebender that's just not me either. I know Eastman are highly praised by many and I've only owned one of their acoustics and was truly under impressed.

Whoops. Sometimes I think Eastman when people say Eastwood and vice versa too. Both companies are now getting into the territory of more expensive imports, though Eastwood tends to always have some very affordable models.

[BatUtilityBelt]

Haha, a used red lefty Airline 59 2P just like above just showed up on ebay, but no, it's not mine. Just FYI.

[idiotsdelight]

Do you know the build footprint in those pickups?

If they're built like Supro/Gretsch Hilos that would be a sweet deal.

[BatUtilityBelt]

Do you know the build footprint in those pickups?

If they're built like Supro/Gretsch Hilos that would be a sweet deal.

No idea. I have not taken them out to try to look under the hood. I wouldn't be inclined to do that unless I decided to replace them, knowing any humbucker shaped pickup would work there.

[idiotsdelight]

Do you know the build footprint in those pickups?

If they're built like Supro/Gretsch Hilos that would be a sweet deal.

No idea. I have not taken them out to try to look under the hood. I wouldn't be inclined to do that unless I decided to replace them, knowing any humbucker shaped pickup would work there.

I took a look at their site and watched the vid. They're the Valco designed single coils. Gretsch calls them Hilotrons. Some of my faves single coils. GFS makes a HB shell one too, but they dont really advertise the internals.
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[BatUtilityBelt]

I took a look at their site and watched the vid. They're the Valco designed single coils. Gretsch calls them Hilotrons. Some of my faves single coils. GFS makes a HB shell one too, but they dont really advertise the internals.

Interesting. I just assumed they were like a humbucker, but missing 1 bobbin. Now I'm more unsure than ever. I thought I'd look into it more, and found the 2P has evolved in a few ways over its time with Eastwood. Most look a bit different from mine. For example, most have markings on the pickup selector panel, but mine does not. Most have a rubber binding around the body, but mine does not. I came to the conclusion mine is one of the earlier ones.

I did find one demo model appointed exactly like mine, in this ProGuitarShop.com demo. In the video, Andy says the pickups are Eastwood Alnico Hot-10 humbuckers. In the demo, I think they still sound single coil as mine does, so I'm pretty confused. Not confused enough to pull the pickups, but my google foo is stirring. If you watch the video, note they're not quite as shrill as some tele pickups, but keep in mind Andy is a finger picker, rarely uses a pick.

[Lacking Talent]

These are the innards of the humbucker-sized Valco/Supro-style single coil bridge pickup found on the Reverend Rick Vito Signature model guitar; the company calls it the "Dual Pro" pickup -- ought to give the curious a good idea of what's goin' on in these types of pickups...