Start to finish these guys have been great to deal with. I jumped at the chance to buy this guitar as soon as Jake was kind enough to send the photos over. It’s amazing the quality of guitar you can obtain when you steer away from the big name brands. Plays incredible, sings beautifully, and comes with all the bells and whistles that make dropping c. 1k on an instrument feel justified. Highly recommend Richard’s guitars and will no doubt be coming back for another Eastman.

Excellent guitar, excellent service , very well set up by Richards Guitars

Great shop and great service!!! Safe and fast shipping. But the best thing….the guitar was wonderful!!!

A gem of a guitar from Eastman bought unseen and unplayed based on reviews, including Richard's and my own experience of Eastman mandolins. The guitar is amazing value for the money, the quality and sound is way beyond anything else at this price. The hard case is gorgeous too. It's a big instrument with a wide chunky neck and the string spacing is quite wide too, just be aware of that. Suits me fine but others have commented it would take getting used to.
The onboard electronics are fantastic, running this through an amp with reverb and some delay it produces magical sounds, unplugged in the garden, with other guitars, and strumming big open chords demonstrates how many rich harmonics come out of this instrument in comparison to similarly priced bigger brands. And it'll only get better over time. It arrived well set up and ready to play.
I dropped a star because it took three weeks to arrive after being told a week and a half. I know it gets checked and set up but there weeks seems a long time and I'd have thought that there's room for improvement in the shop's processes before and after set up and QA. I would buy from Richard again, though as I like the differences and the independent attitude that is so different from box shifters.

I had been looking for a decent 12 string for some while and following Richard's video recommendation for the best 12 string under a grand, and a guitar he had fallen in love with as it was so good, I purchased the Eastman AC330-12E.
On first tuning adjustment I had the ping of a string in a tight nut slot. Hmm, so much for £100 added value set up. Then I realised there were a number of lumps under the scratch plate, so much for Richard's personal inspection and playing of each guitar sold. So I then had a close look around and goodness me, the saddle string spacing looked like something I would expect from a guitar in a christmas cracker. See the pics. I wondered what else I would find so I put it back in the case.
Jon was very helpful and we agreed to swop for another AC330-12E, no apology though, just one of those things. Having a day or two to think it over I wondered just how much faith I had in Eastman and Richard. Not much. I cancelled the whole deal and asked for my money back. Which I did, no problem, minus postage, which made me smile.
I tried on several occasions to talk to Richard but he was always too busy.
All very sad. Two generous stars because I got my money back without any issues. Thanks.

Best 12 string I have played - great hand made Eastman al solids and ebony fretboard with great Matrix pick up. Sound great hrough my Acus 6T. Chris;s set up fatastic as usual

John Treadwell

Its great guitar please

I first came and took a look at this guitar in Richard's shop in mid 2019. It was one of those guitars where you get carried away playing it and don't want to put it down, always a good sign! It had a big and lush sound and was relatively easy to play (for a 12 string), having a similar string spacing to my Taylor 414ce, so not a huge adjustment to make playing wise.

Then however, I found out that in order to change the battery for the line output, you had to take off the strings to get to it, and furthermore there was no indication of the battery level, so if you were going to use it live (in my case church), it might just give out on you without notice and you'd have no chance of changing the battery, at least not before anyone listening had gone home.

So I tried out some other 12 string guitars from other suppliers which were in a broadly similar price bracket as follows:
Takamine EF381 SC (~£1100), this had a good sound though not as rich and big as the Eastman, this I think may have been due to it having laminated back and sides versus solid wood on the Eastman. But it did have a great preamp with all the bells and whistles and easy to change battery with indicator. However I did feel the action, although good was not quite as easy as the Eastman, though I wasn't trying them side by side so can't be sure on this. Finally though, I wasn't convinced it was worth the extra cash just for the convenience especially when the sound wasn't as good to my ears.

Next I tried a Yamaha LL16-12 ARE (~£799). This had a great action, i.e. was quite easy to play, possibly the easiest of the bunch BUT, for me the string spacing was too narrow so was no good for my as I'd need to develop a new playing style to get used to it and I prefer a slightly more spaced out fretboard. The sound was loud and strong but maybe a little constricted, slightly "boxy" and the passive output, though not needing a battery, was quite low so might need some kind of DI box in some situations.

I also tried out a Martin D12X1AE (~£729) - I didn't really like the action or the sound of this and thought it a bit overpriced to be honest, and a Takamine P3DC (~£1130) - again, similar territory to the other Takamine, this was a lovely guitar, but I didn't think sufficiently better value than the Eastman for the extra outlay.

So, to cut a long story short (maybe a bit late for that), I went back and ordered the Eastman and love it. Of course I have to live with the inconvenience of the battery placement, though my model has an L.R.Baggs Element Active System VTC pickup instead of the Fishman Matrix (not sure if this is a permanent spec change) and it looks like the battery compartment can be dislodged from it's velcro sticky and be got at by only loosening the top four strings.

So, all in all, I 'd say a great guitar for the money, recommended.

Beautifully crafted guitar that's looks and sounds amazing! The mahogany and spruce construction is stunning and the detail of sound is articulate and a joy to hear.
Great set up and playability for a 12 string where I can play nice big fat chords and inversions and single line decorations all up and down the neck. Thankyou Richard and all the team for your service and care!

Superb instrument which sings like a bell and I am really looking forward to performing with it. Richard was very helpful in discussing whether this what I should choose. It's a real snip at the price which doesnt mean that it is cheap but looks worth many times more. I already have a Guild 6-string and was considering a GUILD 12-string but it couldn't be better than this one!!