Eastman Uptown AR810CE Beautiful Hand Carved Archtop with Kent Armstrong Pickup, Serial Number 513, built in 2004.
From Eastman web site:
“ Eastman Strings had been accepted as high quality handcrafted instruments, so Mr. Ni identified the need for hand crafted arch top guitars at an affordable price. Following the same good practices established by the violin shop, a studied approach was applied to the arch top guitar. Numerous vintage models were studied and the first guitars were built by the most gifted staff of the shop.”
The guitar division of Eastman Music Company celebrates its tenth anniversary in 2014. Until 2004 a guitarist searching for an archtop guitar like those played by the jazz legends had to be rich, take out a loan, or settle for an inferior copy.
THIS IS HOW THEY CAN AND SHOULD SOUND WITH AGEING AND USE!
This baby not only has the looks to turn heads, but all the sweet warm tone and playability you would expect from guitars costing twice as much, both acoustically and plugged in. This guitar has above-average acoustic volume and projection, while retaining balance across all notes in all positions, with no annoying dead spots. It's just as nice amplified, with a warm fat sound. The floating Kent Armstrong Pickup has a volume control located at the bottom of the ebony pick guard. This guitar also has a cool ebony tailpiece and gold tuners. This guitar features a beautifully figured flamed maple back and sides and solid aged spruce top. The 3-piece maple neck is very comfortable and easy to play with a nice rounded profile and ebony fingerboard. The 7-ply ivoroid/black binding around the sides and neck really compliment the sunburst finish. The sunburst on this guitar is stunning, just check out the pictures. There are some very small nicks in the finish which aren't really noticeable except up close. This guitar comes with a really cool, very rugged, cello styled, sleek blue fiberglass case with interior padding of molded foam and plush lining, six latches, and even hardware for a back strap. This case offers a weather tight seal and a lot of protection and is still pretty light. These cases sell for over $200 themselves. Case also has an Oasis in case humidifier. This guitar has not been gigged and has been very well cared for in a smoke free home. It doesn't get played enough and I think it should be someone’s MAIN guitar!
All in all, this is a really sweet guitar and I think you'll love it as much as I do, but I am selling it AS IS, so please look at all the detailed pictures and ask any questions. I want you to bid in confidence, so please let me know if you need more detailed photos of anything.
New price at Long & McQuade is $2799 and the cello style case is $289 for dreadnought size.
Currently has LaBella black nylon wrapped strings, very smooth and quiet. 18 – 56. You can check out a lot number of videos on YouTube of people playing AR810CEs that give a representative sound. But of course, it always sounds WAY BETTER in person! Serious inquiries only, low ballers will be ignored