Before they were the world renowned massive global manufacturer they are today, Eastman guitars made a limited run of these AR-905 full solid, hand carved archtops that are still extremely highly regarded by the jazz community. This particular example, made sometime in the early to mid 2000’s, is genuinely as a good a guitar as some near six figure luthier built examples from the east coast, and we don’t say that lightly.

A 16” archtop, the 905, with its spruce top and maple back and sides, has an incredibly rich tone, reminiscent of modern designed archtops like Benedetto or Monteleone, with a strong attack and a bright aftertaste that cut quite well. The gorgeous maple body is accented by 5 ply maple/plastic binding, as well as a single black purfling strip on the side.

The 5 piece neck (maple, ebony, maple) is a very comfortable thinner, modern C shape with a 1 ¾ nut and 2 ⅛ bridge spacing and a fairly flat radius, making for a playable, navigable fretboard with playable spacing. Nice and shiny ebony fretboard. The headstock features a black front and back overlay, possibly ebony. The volute area is a lovely rounded inlaid design, capping off the black overlay elegantly. Schaller tuners make for great tuning stability.

This guitar is in basically new condition, remarkable for its age, and has only very minor signs of use. K&K pickup installed.

Comes with the original hard shell case.