I've had this guitar for over a year. I have more expensive guitars than this one. Not one comes close to the quality, feel, sound of this guitar. Extremely resonant and light. Very versatile. Best music purchase I ever made.
This sounds super sweet Lucas. I really like the way it looks too and the acoustic sound is incredible! I like when people make different shapes that aren't just straight copies of the traditional models. If there's anything about it that I think is a bit strange it's that they didn't do a separate volume for each pickup but did do a separate tone.
I have had mine for 9 months now and it is killer. Feel and tones are off the hook. You can play anything on this guitar. It is its own design and isnt meant to be nor is it a clone of any other guitar. Did I mention it is light as a feather...
That Romeo is just so beautiful! Eastman has been getting a lot of attention of late and after seeing this guitar I know why! What a beauty! Plan to own one of their guitars in the future! Gotta try one!!!
It's always cool to see true excitement over an instrument you love versus the CZcamsrs who are just demoing a guitar they say they love. Love your playing style too!
Very fine guitar, I've spent some time with one. The Fret-King Elise (the plain old Black Label version) came long before it and plays and sounds just as good for half the $$ - definitely worth comparing. Love your playing Lucas -
Eastman makes great guitars and mandolins and I did love the sound. There’s some about the top part of the upper bout which doesn’t look quite right to my eyes. I could get used to it I suppose.
Man, can you imagine how great it'd be if Eastman eventually get around to making their own version of an Explorer? I recently started getting back into playing guitar after not playing for a long time, and I've promised myself that I'd treat myself and buy a new guitar as a present if I stick with it for at least a year. I'd been dancing back and forth between various candidates from EVH, Charvel and PRS up to now, but at this rate- I'm saving up for an Eastman SB59/v. Love me a good singlecut and for the money, it really seems like nothing competes with that guitar. Though admittedly the PRS S2 McCarty SC594 seems pretty great too... just not the apparent "Custom Shop" quality that Eastman seems to always deliver.
Sounds like a sweet guitar!! Even some epiphones blow my mind with their quality. Im a usa made fan like everyone else but some china made models are spot on and what you get here for the price is staggering! Compared to a gibson usa es-339 i would choose this romeo. I like es-339's but they dont come this decked out and i like the idea of the spruce top. Cause you kinda want a hollowbody to sound very acoustic not even plugged in and this does that. Very good use and part choices. Definitely a custom shop without the custom shop price tag. Rock on!
Same! I ordered the T186MX and Romeo over a year ago to my local guitar shop and the Romeo just arrived today. Still no word on the T186mx. I think I'm just going to go with the Romeo!
Very diggable axe. Lively and flexible, with a lotta poke-y clarity and punch. Merges a fair bit of the Gibson thinline signature harmonic "bloom" with the snap and punch of a 'hotrod'/humbuck'd tele, keeping most/all of the virtues and mitigating potential drawbacks .... a legit "vintern" character, if you will.
@@LucasFowler nice I been looking at the T59/V as well they look fantastic love the Antique Amber ones ....looking forward to seeing that review always have loved 335ish guitars but without the "You Know What" price tag and bad quality
Very interesting. Similar build to the PRS Hollowbody with its post under the bridge and spruce top/mahogany back & sides. Sounds lovely! Great playing man. Something I've noticed about hollows and semi-hollows especially on stage though is an uncomfortable punch to the ear thing, can't quite define it but hear it here too, anyone know what's going on?
Those kind of guitars definitely have a ring to them that comes through the amp. I don't usually notice it when I'm playing with other people, but in the room I hear it.
Hi Lucas. Great demo. I’m about to pull the trigger on one of these. I’m gonna have to order without trying the thing but it looks to be exactly what I’m looking for - something unique that sits between a tele and a 335, and can do the jazz thing with just a little more body than a tele. Any thoughts? Also, how do you find it stands up a year since the demo?
Oh yeah thats almost exactly how I would describe this, between a Tele and a Byrdland maybe. It will do the jazz thing just fine or you can really make it snap. It still sounds and feels great. And it feels so "alive" when you play it with some volume :)
@@LucasFowler Thanks Lucas. Looking forward to getting my hands on my Romeo - it’s being delivered next week. Excited to see if I can get it to do some John Schofield overdriven jazz tones...
Excellent Demo as always! Love my Eastman SB59! Im expecting delivery on a Greco EG700. Im in the Charlotte area. Do you setup guitars locally? Would love to get some PlanetTones dropped in.
I do some tech work, though I haven't been doing as much lately since I've been really busy with this stuff. If you're just wanting wiring stuff done I highly recommend my friend Kaleb at Matthews Guitar Works. He does incredibly good harnesses and wiring and he's a Planet Tone dealer as well. He's in Yadkinville, I'm north of Winston-Salem.
@@LucasFowler Oh wow! Thanks for the response! I will definitely look him up. Everyone in this neck of the woods are booked for months and as a lifelong drummer I don't feel comfortable working on any of my guitars. Thanks for the reference and I love the channel. Its time to get your Dad back over for an unboxing!
I didn't like the neck when I checked it out.. It would be nice if they took a page outta Ibanez's book and make guitars with flatter necks built for speed and comfort !
Pretty much all guitars of this style are laminate and also with laminate tops as well (including gibson 335's). I've no idea why, because if we were looking at acoustics, we would want solid timbers. At least this Eastman has a solid spruce top.
Not much content in this guitar.. well.. not much showcasing a range of styles which this guitar clearly can handle. After buying my Epi Casino I just love love hollow body guitars and Eastman just spec like bosses so I think this could be the perfect guitar.. So it doesn’t have p90’s but I can really hear the feel you are getting from the body type. These now are coming up for around 800 bucks which is just hard to pass tbh.
I had a chance to try one yesterday. I was truly jonesing for that guitar. I compared it to my Ibanez AM153. The Romeo is nice but it is so similar to the 153. Sounds were exactly the same. Playability the same. Frets of similar quality. Tuners not as good on te 153, easy upgrade. Some might think the 153 more beautiful. The big difference, new the Romeo is now $2,499. The 153 is $999. Needless to say I didn't by the Romeo. Hopes this helps you all in your search for your favorite guitar.
I love the tones but the head stock is meh... the color is kind of odd too., Maybe it's just the camera but it kind of looks a paint job you would find on a cheap guitar. I have seen a similar one on a Les Paul and it looked cheap there too lol. I think had they done it in a transparent paint it would look much better. I like the sound hole design too. The head stock reminds of the old Galveston guitar company style only backwards lol. It also looks like the Epiphone only they cut one corner off lol. I LOVE the looks of that fret board all nice and ebony and polished up! I bet it feels Suhhweet on the fingers!
@@LucasFowler Yeah I was watching you and it seemed like it. Believe it or not I can sort of tell if a guitar is truly playing as nice as a guy says it is just by watching him. It has to be someone I know and have seen play a lot though, there are certain little things that people do when they like or dislike a guitar and you seemed to really be enjoying this but also it seemed so effortless, lol if that makes sense. I really want to get myself a nice hollow body one day, I have a Peavey JF1EX that my son bought for me a few years ago and despite all the negative reviews it seems to get I really enjoy the guitar and have not had any issues with it. Ok, that's not totally true lol, when I first got it there was an issue with the high e getting caught under the 4th fret wire, apparently it had sprouted just a touch. I dropped just s touch of super glue in under it and quickly tapped it with my plastic hammer and the problem was solved. One day I think I may put in a better set of pups, the ones in it are great but on certain settings they can be a little muddy, especially the neck, (the neck duhh right? lol) even though I know it's just a veneer top man this flame maple vintage sunburst sure looks sweet. The first every brand new Gibson Les Paul I purchased was vintage sunburst and I hated it! Lol, it was such a dull color but this veneered Peavey looks really nice. Hey Lucas that brought a thought to my mind of a question I don't know if you have ever answered on the channel - maybe you could even turn this idea into a video? What guitar(s) do you have or have had or maybe even your dad or friends have/had that the reviews all seem to indicate the guitar is no good, but you, or those others, disagree with those reviews and actually really like the guitar(s). I think that might be an interesting video and maybe even get some others to "testify' on video. Like go to their house, yours is getting boring, lol no J/K, sort of do like a "roving reporter" type of a thing? Now, my idea is to not use guitars, necessarily, that people compare to other similar brands and give yours a bad time. For example if let's say you owned a Les Paul knock off and people were comparing it all the time to a real, Oh I mean "authentic" Gibson. I know you have a few LP copies, but that's not why I mentioned that lol. But I am more talking like a situation I have with this Peavey or even a few others I own. All the reviews are bad, or the majority anyway, but yet you got/have one and find that your experience is just the opposite of those reviews or just guys complaining online about it. You and the misses haven't been doing too many "together" videos, did those not do well with the viewers? I personally liked most of those, especially like that taste testing one you guys did, I found that hilarious for some reason lol. To hell with the naysayers, do more of those!! Lol..
Great playing Lucas, thanks for creating this film.
Eastman is representing. This and the ‘59 have me salivating
So glad to see you enjoying that guitar!
You have me convinced, this is the guitar that I want!
Such a great guitar, brilliant review thanks
I would definitely buy 1 for my collection if I could play it . Awesome sound and looks
Dude you rocked that guitar. Sounded great. Great playing as well. Subscribed. 👍🏼
Thank you!
Killer man. Ive only ever seen 1 video of yours. And it was a few years old. Just ran into this one. Cant forget you. Your the guy with the legend amp
Now I'm the guy with TWO Legend amps! I'd buy another but my Dad apparently owns all of the others :P
I've had this guitar for over a year. I have more expensive guitars than this one. Not one comes close to the quality, feel, sound of this guitar. Extremely resonant and light. Very versatile. Best music purchase I ever made.
Ditto 👍
Also me.
This sounds super sweet Lucas. I really like the way it looks too and the acoustic sound is incredible! I like when people make different shapes that aren't just straight copies of the traditional models.
If there's anything about it that I think is a bit strange it's that they didn't do a separate volume for each pickup but did do a separate tone.
I have had mine for 9 months now and it is killer. Feel and tones are off the hook. You can play anything on this guitar. It is its own design and isnt meant to be nor is it a clone of any other guitar. Did I mention it is light as a feather...
Dear God those luscious swampy tones with the slide.
That Romeo is just so beautiful! Eastman has been getting a lot of attention of late and after seeing this guitar I know why! What a beauty! Plan to own one of their guitars in the future! Gotta try one!!!
It's a fantastic instrument, as has been the case with every Eastman I've tried.
It's always cool to see true excitement over an instrument you love versus the CZcamsrs who are just demoing a guitar they say they love. Love your playing style too!
Thanks :)
I'm incapable of pretending to like something, even if I wanted to :P
Just back to say this video sold me on my favorite guitar for the past few years. Kudos!
Glad I could help, Eastman makes great instruments!
Excellent demo and great playing! This sounds great - 9:13. Like the body size and shape, for sure. Will certainly have to take a closer look.
The Vertex Ultraphonix and this guitar play really nice together!
I've seen some Greco les pauls with headstock similar to this one . Looks like top notch guitar ☺
Very fine guitar, I've spent some time with one. The Fret-King Elise (the plain old Black Label version) came long before it and plays and sounds just as good for half the $$ - definitely worth comparing. Love your playing Lucas -
Sweet slide action dude
THOSE TONES THO!
Eastman makes great guitars and mandolins and I did love the sound. There’s some about the top part of the upper bout which doesn’t look quite right to my eyes. I could get used to it I suppose.
Man, can you imagine how great it'd be if Eastman eventually get around to making their own version of an Explorer? I recently started getting back into playing guitar after not playing for a long time, and I've promised myself that I'd treat myself and buy a new guitar as a present if I stick with it for at least a year. I'd been dancing back and forth between various candidates from EVH, Charvel and PRS up to now, but at this rate- I'm saving up for an Eastman SB59/v. Love me a good singlecut and for the money, it really seems like nothing competes with that guitar. Though admittedly the PRS S2 McCarty SC594 seems pretty great too... just not the apparent "Custom Shop" quality that Eastman seems to always deliver.
Sounds like a sweet guitar!! Even some epiphones blow my mind with their quality. Im a usa made fan like everyone else but some china made models are spot on and what you get here for the price is staggering! Compared to a gibson usa es-339 i would choose this romeo. I like es-339's but they dont come this decked out and i like the idea of the spruce top. Cause you kinda want a hollowbody to sound very acoustic not even plugged in and this does that. Very good use and part choices. Definitely a custom shop without the custom shop price tag. Rock on!
Thank you Lucas for the great review and serous GAS. Can you please confirm whether the neck edges are rolled?
singing with the slide !
I have been looking at this guitar and the Eastman T186MX. Your video might have mean leaning towards the Romeo. Great review.
Same! I ordered the T186MX and Romeo over a year ago to my local guitar shop and the Romeo just arrived today. Still no word on the T186mx. I think I'm just going to go with the Romeo!
Very diggable axe. Lively and flexible, with a lotta poke-y clarity and punch.
Merges a fair bit of the Gibson thinline signature harmonic "bloom" with the snap and punch of a 'hotrod'/humbuck'd tele, keeping most/all of the virtues and mitigating potential drawbacks
.... a legit "vintern" character, if you will.
It appear that Eastman only make amazing sounding and feeling guitars.
I've had 3 sent to me now and they are all amazing. Fretwork, electronics, finish, they are just stellar instruments.
The neck lead sounded like slash but slightly airer probably due to the solid spruce top.
fantastic guitar...maybe too chimeish for me, should be the spruce top. I'd like to see with a cedar one
Nice review would love to see a review on your Eastman T486 I've always been interested in the es-335, 345 guitars I.E Chuck Berry and such
It's actually a T59/v, but I'll be doing a video on that one soon as well. It's fantastic!
@@LucasFowler nice I been looking at the T59/V as well they look fantastic love the Antique Amber ones ....looking forward to seeing that review always have loved 335ish guitars but without the "You Know What" price tag and bad quality
Very interesting. Similar build to the PRS Hollowbody with its post under the bridge and spruce top/mahogany back & sides.
Sounds lovely! Great playing man.
Something I've noticed about hollows and semi-hollows especially on stage though is an uncomfortable punch to the ear thing, can't quite define it but hear it here too, anyone know what's going on?
Those kind of guitars definitely have a ring to them that comes through the amp. I don't usually notice it when I'm playing with other people, but in the room I hear it.
How does the access to the upper frets compare to the T59 and SB59?
You're a killer guitarist.
How does this compare to the one with the single coil?
I have an SB59V that I love to death......but that thing is in a world of it`s own
Thanks and goodbye Gibson. You are finished. You have no one to blame but your selves. Sad.
Eastman is the best guitar builder at the time.Very, very.
Hi Lucas. Great demo. I’m about to pull the trigger on one of these. I’m gonna have to order without trying the thing but it looks to be exactly what I’m looking for - something unique that sits between a tele and a 335, and can do the jazz thing with just a little more body than a tele. Any thoughts? Also, how do you find it stands up a year since the demo?
Oh yeah thats almost exactly how I would describe this, between a Tele and a Byrdland maybe. It will do the jazz thing just fine or you can really make it snap. It still sounds and feels great. And it feels so "alive" when you play it with some volume :)
@@LucasFowler Thanks Lucas. Looking forward to getting my hands on my Romeo - it’s being delivered next week. Excited to see if I can get it to do some John Schofield overdriven jazz tones...
Those may be called “butterbean tuners”
Still love it? I'm considering getting the SC version
Absolutely. It's a fantastic guitar that I never get tired of!
Excellent Demo as always! Love my Eastman SB59! Im expecting delivery on a Greco EG700. Im in the Charlotte area. Do you setup guitars locally? Would love to get some PlanetTones dropped in.
I do some tech work, though I haven't been doing as much lately since I've been really busy with this stuff. If you're just wanting wiring stuff done I highly recommend my friend Kaleb at Matthews Guitar Works. He does incredibly good harnesses and wiring and he's a Planet Tone dealer as well. He's in Yadkinville, I'm north of Winston-Salem.
@@LucasFowler Oh wow! Thanks for the response! I will definitely look him up. Everyone in this neck of the woods are booked for months and as a lifelong drummer I don't feel comfortable working on any of my guitars. Thanks for the reference and I love the channel. Its time to get your Dad back over for an unboxing!
Jason Bone
Find me on Facebook at Mathews Guitar Works and we can talk about what you are wanting.
@@MathewsGuitarWorks I don't do Facebook but I found your email on the Planet Tone Website. Thanks!
Jason Bone
Yea man. Hit me up and we’ll talk. Thanks!
I didn't like the neck when I checked it out.. It would be nice if they took a page outta Ibanez's book and make guitars with flatter necks built for speed and comfort !
I like the protecting the guitar, then you take some sandpaper to it and make look Relic'ed bahahaha
This or Eastman 484?
Unless you just really like the look of the 484 or something, this is the best guitar Eastman is making IMO.
Good looking guitar. If only it has solid mahogany back and sides. Why did they cheapen this?
Pretty much all guitars of this style are laminate and also with laminate tops as well (including gibson 335's). I've no idea why, because if we were looking at acoustics, we would want solid timbers. At least this Eastman has a solid spruce top.
Laminate is stronger than solid. That’s why they do it. Grains from each piece are typically glued in opposite direction for strength and stability.
Not much content in this guitar.. well.. not much showcasing a range of styles which this guitar clearly can handle.
After buying my Epi Casino I just love love hollow body guitars and Eastman just spec like bosses so I think this could be the perfect guitar..
So it doesn’t have p90’s but I can really hear the feel you are getting from the body type.
These now are coming up for around 800 bucks which is just hard to pass tbh.
I had a chance to try one yesterday. I was truly jonesing for that guitar. I compared it to my Ibanez AM153. The Romeo is nice but it is so similar to the 153. Sounds were exactly the same. Playability the same. Frets of similar quality. Tuners not as good on te 153, easy upgrade. Some might think the 153 more beautiful. The big difference, new the Romeo is now $2,499. The 153 is $999. Needless to say I didn't by the Romeo. Hopes this helps you all in your search for your favorite guitar.
Sounds great, they used high quality parts and build but for $ 2300 shouldn't be great
I love the tones but the head stock is meh... the color is kind of odd too., Maybe it's just the camera but it kind of looks a paint job you would find on a cheap guitar. I have seen a similar one on a Les Paul and it looked cheap there too lol. I think had they done it in a transparent paint it would look much better. I like the sound hole design too. The head stock reminds of the old Galveston guitar company style only backwards lol. It also looks like the Epiphone only they cut one corner off lol. I LOVE the looks of that fret board all nice and ebony and polished up! I bet it feels Suhhweet on the fingers!
It plays so well!
@@LucasFowler Yeah I was watching you and it seemed like it. Believe it or not I can sort of tell if a guitar is truly playing as nice as a guy says it is just by watching him. It has to be someone I know and have seen play a lot though, there are certain little things that people do when they like or dislike a guitar and you seemed to really be enjoying this but also it seemed so effortless, lol if that makes sense. I really want to get myself a nice hollow body one day, I have a Peavey JF1EX that my son bought for me a few years ago and despite all the negative reviews it seems to get I really enjoy the guitar and have not had any issues with it. Ok, that's not totally true lol, when I first got it there was an issue with the high e getting caught under the 4th fret wire, apparently it had sprouted just a touch. I dropped just s touch of super glue in under it and quickly tapped it with my plastic hammer and the problem was solved. One day I think I may put in a better set of pups, the ones in it are great but on certain settings they can be a little muddy, especially the neck, (the neck duhh right? lol) even though I know it's just a veneer top man this flame maple vintage sunburst sure looks sweet. The first every brand new Gibson Les Paul I purchased was vintage sunburst and I hated it! Lol, it was such a dull color but this veneered Peavey looks really nice. Hey Lucas that brought a thought to my mind of a question I don't know if you have ever answered on the channel - maybe you could even turn this idea into a video? What guitar(s) do you have or have had or maybe even your dad or friends have/had that the reviews all seem to indicate the guitar is no good, but you, or those others, disagree with those reviews and actually really like the guitar(s). I think that might be an interesting video and maybe even get some others to "testify' on video. Like go to their house, yours is getting boring, lol no J/K, sort of do like a "roving reporter" type of a thing? Now, my idea is to not use guitars, necessarily, that people compare to other similar brands and give yours a bad time. For example if let's say you owned a Les Paul knock off and people were comparing it all the time to a real, Oh I mean "authentic" Gibson. I know you have a few LP copies, but that's not why I mentioned that lol. But I am more talking like a situation I have with this Peavey or even a few others I own. All the reviews are bad, or the majority anyway, but yet you got/have one and find that your experience is just the opposite of those reviews or just guys complaining online about it. You and the misses haven't been doing too many "together" videos, did those not do well with the viewers? I personally liked most of those, especially like that taste testing one you guys did, I found that hilarious for some reason lol. To hell with the naysayers, do more of those!! Lol..
It does sound good but damn if that's not the UGLIEST guitar to leave the Eastman factory!🤣