Re: Info on Eastman
Another perspective: the tailpiece on my MDC-805 Eastman mandocello broke (there was a design flaw, others have had the same experience), and the Eastman representative went well beyond the call of duty to replace the part, including taking a tailpiece off a "B stock" instrument that had just arrived from China, and sending it to my repair guy to install -- at no cost, of course.
The Eastman staff in the US are to some extent at the mercy of whatever gets shipped to them, and "oddball" low-volume instruments like the MDC-805 are lower in the pecking order, when Eastman's shipping tons of guitars, mandolins, orchestral instruments etc. The rep told me that he's lucky to get a half-dozen mandocelli every six months or so, to cover the entire US. And parts are scarcer even than that; there was a whole box of tailpieces shipped, but all for arch-top guitars, none for mandocello.
Seems to me that Eastman has basically only a trans-shipping facility here in the US, now in California, I guess. No showroom, no direct interchange with customers, only dealing with dealers. Eastman has had several "road shows" at Bernunzio's here in Rochester, with the representative bringing in several dozen instruments to sell at discount; quite a few are "B stock," but the blemishes are really minor, and the prices are quite attractive. Seems like the company would rather use one or more of its dealers as a place to showcase its instruments, rather than doing it directly at their office.
Allen Hopkins
Gibsn: '54 F5 3pt F2 A-N Custm K1 m'cello
Natl Triolian Dobro mando
Victoria b-back Merrill alumnm b-back
H-O mandolinetto
Stradolin Vega banjolin
Sobell'dola Washburn b-back'dola
Eastmn: 615'dola 805 m'cello
Flatiron 3K OM
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