Eastman ERM El Rey

[outskiing]

Aaaaaaaaand it's sold :-)

[Daniel Nestlerode]

And now it has been removed.

D

PS, sorry, late the trigger and can't figure out how to delete the post.

[mandroid]

Martin, have a sound comparison with Gibson's EM 150 ?

[mandroid]

Eastman is importing from a factory , so there must be mote than One..

[Baron Collins-Hill]

I really want a long scale 5 string version!

[mrmando]

Martin, have a sound comparison with Gibson's EM 150 ?

Haven't played an EM150 all that recently (although I do have a cool A50 with the Johnny Gimble setup), but the biggest difference is going to be single coil (EM150) vs. humbucker (El Rey). You're likely to get less hum, and extraneous noise in general, out of the El Rey.

[Daniel Nestlerode]

I really want a long scale 5 string version!

Me Too!

D

[mrmando]

And another one hits the bay ...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Eastman-ERM...cAAOSwRSddMMls

[mandroid]

Gone : fetched "$1,039.00 "

[Ben Milne]

Got to play one of these today. As of yet it’s the only one in Australia, and unfortunately it was at a guitar show in a trade hall full of stalls selling 6 stringed axes to shredders with amps set to stun.

First impressions are pretty good overall... somewhat impressive, and definitely a step above other mass-produced emandos that have come along over the years, as expected at a higher price, but it is certainly several steps up in price over much else that been offered of late ...
It played nicely and was overall a nice neat and tidy build, the thumbnail fretboard inlays were a nice touch.
Played through a Vox ACsomething without much tone control (all they had handy, bass and treble control only) it was hard to find a nice tonal balance across the entire instrument with the A string followed by the E string being quite overpowering. Hard to pass judgement on the pickup considering the conditions and because of this I didn’t spend much time taking it for a strap (the noise floor coming from the shredders of adjoining stalls was let’s face it pretty ridiculous).

As previously mentioned in the thread it would be nice to see adjustable poles. I think it’s all too easy for manufacturers to grab whatever pickup is readily available without considering if it has been specificity voiced for the instrument’s register...
Given the RRP one should expect a decent performance out of the box without having to hotrod it with custom features... especially considering the somewhat sealed nature of the body an lack of access to the electronics. I feel like this simple feature would give the instrument more legs in terms of out of the box functionality before treating it as a shell on which to build a custom build.... it would be an expensive start for a project instrument.

[Ben Milne]

All right, thanks for your patience, here are my remarks.
https://www.fretboardjournal.com/col...-rey-mandolin/

Well summised Martin.

[Dave Greenspoon]

I saw one in a local store today; played it thru a Rivera Thirty Twelve. I have to say EL34 is not my choice circuit; I'm much more a 6V6 guy. That said, this little axe played wonderfully, and sounded amazing.

I did not really run the instrument through all the paces and nor take full advantage of the amp. Rhythm sounded great; note articulation for leads was clear and clean. The playing dynamics was pretty much like playing my Eastman 515; just add the custom Lollar for more even more fun. I did not sense a drop off in the signal strength of the E string. The mahogany gives gives the sound a lovely warmth.

Fit and finish felt superb all the way up and down the neck and fretboard. The visuals are impressive; the finish was nice as my 515 and the "thumbnail" inlaid fret markers work for me. I'm thinking of going back to get it this evening.

[johnsoba]

Well-written, thorough review, with an obviously great depth of knowledge. Thanks. It’ll be interesting to see if the weak “e” is addressed soon.

Bruce

[auburnlynch]

For what it is worth, I just bought an Eastman ERM El Rey on Friday and think that it is terrific. Great for playing with a band. It increases the versatility of a mandolin for a wider variety of songs. I would not give up my Collings to keep it, but it really is a welcome addition. So far, I have been very impressed with the tuners and the Lollar, as well as the instrument's comfortable playability. I tried out two at Acoustic Music Works in Pittsburgh (which, parenthetically, is a great, great shop). The tops of the two ERM El Reys had a different appearance, but the voices were virtually indistinguishable. If you have any interest, you should check them out.

[Rick Jones]

Picked one up today at Elderly Instruments. Just need to figure out what strings to use. Despite early comments about a weak E string, this one is weaker in the G and D strings. I don't Think the D'Addario Nickel Bronze strings on it are quite as magnetically reactive as they need to be. I think Elderly currently has five others in stock. I compared the one on the rack with two others they brought upstairs, couldn't discern any difference between them. They are amazingly consistent. I bought the one on the rack. This is going to be FUN!!

[BillWilliams]

Looking forward to hearing more from you guys about your El Reys.

I've been looking around in Europe and suppliers here appear to be out of stock apart from a couple in the UK (no longer a good option for me due to Brexit). Though I guess that keeps me out of the way of temptation.

[meow-n-dolin]

Picked one up today at Elderly Instruments. Just need to figure out what strings to use. Despite early comments about a weak E string, this one is weaker in the G and D strings. I don't Think the D'Addario Nickel Bronze strings on it are quite as magnetically reactive as they need to be. I think Elderly currently has five others in stock. I compared the one on the rack with two others they brought upstairs, couldn't discern any difference between them. They are amazingly consistent. I bought the one on the rack. This is going to be FUN!!

Just for giggles, I put TIs on my El Rey. They work very nicely, and also seem to help the "weak e-string," though it wasn't really very "weak."

[Rick Jones]

Just for giggles, I put TIs on my El Rey. They work very nicely, and also seem to help the "weak e-string," though it wasn't really very "weak."

I've got a set of the D'Addario flatwounds to try, but am liking the D'Addario EJ67 Nickel Plated strings enough that I'm not in a big hurry to change. If I wind up liking the D'Addario flats, I'll definitely be giving the TIs a try.

[meow-n-dolin]

I've got a set of the D'Addario flatwounds to try, but am liking the D'Addario EJ67 Nickel Plated strings enough that I'm not in a big hurry to change. If I wind up liking the D'Addario flats, I'll definitely be giving the TIs a try.

I intend to try the D'Addario flatwounds as well (I had an extra set of TI's on hand)

[Rick Jones]

I intend to try the D'Addario flatwounds as well (I had an extra set of TI's on hand)

"extra TIs" ... isn't that like having an "extra Ferarri?"

[meow-n-dolin]

"extra TIs" ... isn't that like having an "extra Ferarri?"

Well, maybe my use of TI's are the reason I don't own a Ferrari.

[BillWilliams]

I couldn’t hold out against temptation after reading the reviews and comments in this thread and decided that I need to buy an El Rey.
Turns out they’re out of stock across Europe.

I ended up back-ordering one at Richards Guitars in the UK. They warned me it could be 6 to 9 months before they actually receive it. Haven’t done business with them before but they have been good so far and they seem to be able to handle the post-Brexit export problems well.

[meow-n-dolin]

I couldn’t hold out against temptation after reading the reviews and comments in this thread and decided that I need to buy an El Rey.
Turns out they’re out of stock across Europe. .

Let us know how you like it. The more I play mine, the more I enjoy it. I played a set with a C/W band a couple of weeks ago. It most definitely added a new "flavor" to the mix. And for swing, oh yeah.

[BillWilliams]

Let us know how you like it.

I managed to track down a second hand El Rey and it arrived from the UK last week.
I’m really delighted: looks very pretty, sits nicely when played standing with a guitar strap, has a comfortable neck and for me feels really musical once it’s plugged in. Practising acoustically is possible but the sound is fairly minimal.

I took it to a gypsy jazz jam the first evening, played the same songs as with my electro-acoustic the previous night and it felt much easier to play, especially in the higher register where I usually have to work hard to coax a good tone. Felt like I had an extended range of notes at the top end. Maybe that's due to lower string tension - it has a set of nickel 010 strings. I took up mandolin fairly recently so anything that helps my phrasing flow more easily is very welcome.

Sounded ok through the PA (DI) as far as I could tell but there was a lot going on with 6 or 7 instruments on the stage so I’ll need more time to really work out whether I need to go through my preamp pedal in the future. Pickup seems fine and the tone control gives a good tonal range that can be adjusted to give a reasonably acoustic sound.

Looking forward to playing at sessions in the coming weeks to really get to know how it sounds in an electric band context

[BillWilliams]

I adjusted the pickup height a little to compensate for the slightly weaker output of treble strings.
Listening to the balance on this video of a recent jam where I was DIed into the PA it sounds OK to me. Worth tweaking more?