NMD Eastman MD604
New to me, my first oval hole.
I'm still feeling my way around what kind of tone I like in an instrument, and recently signed up for the artist works classical stuff, so wanted an oval hole for that and this is my idea of a student model to meet that need. I also love pickups, it has the Schertler resocoil in it (a pickup I really like and have in my MD605).
I wish Eastman still made bowlbacks, that would have been an interesting one to get, but might be a bit out of my price range at the moment.
FYI, compared to an Eastman F hole (I guess that's apples to apples):
- the tone is much darker, more resonant, especially in the lower frequencies.
- more sustain on the low end, richer and fuller too. classical has a lot of drone notes with stuff played over them, I can see why an oval hole is desirable.
- it won't bark like an F-hole though, so I can see why these aren't used for bluegrass.
So a learning experience for me, I'm still not ready to take the plunge and buy a higher end instrument until I'm sure what it is I want. I spent years before I bought a blue chip, I think this is the same kind of journey. Eastman's are good enough you can live with them for a long time, at least that's what it seems like to me.
I love sunburst models, so when I called the mandolin store, they said they were out of new MD604's, but had a used sunburst one, I bought it immediately.
It will go out for a refret this saturday (from .031 to .050 fret height, makes it easier on me to play).
I already restrung it and put on the Grover 309 tuners (shown in the pics).
Here it is:
Davey Stuart tenor guitar (based on his 18" mandola design).
Eastman MD-604SB with Grover 309 tuners.
Eastwood 4 string electric mandostang, 2x Airline e-mandola (4-string) one strung as an e-OM.
DSP's: Helix HX Stomp, various Zooms.
Amps: THR-10, Sony XB-20.
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