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All, on my Eastman 515, the neck and back seem to be parting company. As the neck pulls away and bows slightly, it has a predictably adverse effect on the action and playability of the instrument. Is this a truss rod issue or has that boat sailed? Thanks in advance for any advice. Chris
Not sure what the issue is, nothing to worry about if your the original owner, plenty if your not.
No this is not a truss rod issue. You should loosen the strings if you have not already done so and get thee to a luthier. As the previous poster suggested, if you are the original owner it may be a warranty matter.
If Eastman uses a dovetail joint, it would look to be a poor fitted joint. Repairable but not a small job.
Thanks for the replies. I am the original owner so I'll see how the warranty path works out. Bummer. Silver lining is I'll "have" to play my new El Rey for a while.
in what conditions do you store the instrument?
Mort - it generally lives outside the case in my home office either on a stand or hanging on the wall.
What year and what kind of strings?
I’m somewhat startled by this. Never seen a separation like that on an Eastman. My 2009 505 has been with me over 10 years, rather casually cared for, spends months outside the case, stable as a rock. Good luck with that one. Does seem like a quality control hiccup.
What are the weather conditions like in your area in summer and winter? Also, is the instrument exposed to a heat/AC vent? Is it exposed to sunshine through a window? Does the humidity and temperature change a lot in that room?
It's always had EJ74's on it, so nothing crazy. As to weather, etc, I'm in northern VA, so humid summers, etc, but it's mainly lived in my home office or on the ground floor. The home office is in the basement but nothing out of the ordinary as far as temperature fluctuations. If anything the temp is probably more stable there than in other parts of the house. I played it for 4 years before this happened - or at least before I noticed it happening.
Everything, even the best made stuff, fails eventually. If you have 500 perfect dovetails, some of them will fail long before they would be expected to fail, based on a normal distribution of units. Doesn't mean it's a lemon or "friday" instrument, just that life is complicated.
Resetting this neck is going to be a toss-up between the cost to replace it used, and the cost of fixing it. This is a frustrating situation, and there's not much in the way of a "good" solution for this.
The safest course of action, IMHO, would be to try to get $500 or so for it, and use that towards a replacement or upgrade. Which, in my professional opinion, you need (feel free to print and use as evidence to your business manager).
Thanks Marty. I appreciate the advice. "See honey, I got my $$ worth out of this. And I agree it's so weird there aren't more mandolins available b/w $1K and $15K, but I have Mr. Ellis on the phone, so I'll get those dishes in a minute..."
String tension has won the battle on that instrument. If it were mine, I would remove the strings, very carefully and thoroughly clean out the heel to button area, try to push the heel back to its original position, and reglue the button-heel joint. I have reported in this forum an experiment which suggests that a good heel to button joint is sufficient to resist the torque the string tension applies to the neck.
Just wanted to close this out for the record that Eastman came through on a warranty replacement. Very pleased.
That is great news (especially since I just bought a new Eastman) :)Quote:
Originally Posted by jones
I am associated with a veterans organization here in Williamsburg, VA. If you still have access to the broken Eastman and would like to donate it to a veteran, I will repair it an make sure it gets donated, along with some lessons to get him/her started playing. Please PM here on MC if you are interested.
I encountered another 515 in similar straits. I was able to repair it satisfactorily for the owner and he ended up selling to GC. I hope it's still doing well.
Richard, ack, sorry but Eastman took it back to do an autopsy I guess. Will keep your organization in mind. Thanks for helping our veterans!
Yay. Eastman gives a lifetime warranty to the original owner. It sounds like they stand behind their warranty. Great news.Quote:
Originally Posted by jones
Too bad! Thanks for the response. I may contact Eastman and see what they do in this situation. Maybe I can get a couple of instruments from them.