Submitted by ghost (see all reviews from this person) on 5/26/2018

Where Purchased: Eastwood Online

Year Purchased: 2018
Price Paid: $599 ($US)

Sound

This is an Eastwood Delta-6, 27 inch electric resonator 6-string baritone guitar. Tuned to ADADF#A, it allows me to play open-g chords, plus plenty of low notes available. Use three amps (Egnater Tweaker, Fender Accoustasonic 40, Peavey Rage) with Digitech RP360XP inline. Sound is beautiful and adjustable, with loudness completely optional due to combination of P-90 magnetic and piezo below the saddle pickups. The electrics are mostly missing the typical clicks and pops that plague piezo pickups (due to finger or pick contact with the strings and guitar body). Eastwood baritone resonator adds a deep delta sound, but somewhat inhibited as it is not a hollow guitar so resonator sound is somewhat dulled. Can play regular guitar, or as in my case open-g chords, with some notes an octave lower, which adds a nice rich lower tone. Variety is what you want to make of it, play regular rhythm and lead, delta blues, slide, add some bass, all optional and to a great extent depending on your strings. I really like this guitar, and as much as I like my strat and Fender reso, it may become my main "go-to" guitar due to its wide range of options.

Sound Rating: 8

Setup

It came tuned to BEADF#B which is a perfect fourth or five semitones below EADGBE. I tuned to ADADF#A which allows open-g chords. Action is perfect, and highly resistant to changes in tension due to heavier strings and alternate tuning. I recommend lighter to medium baritone strings, or for ADADF#A an individual string setup such as what I am using (14-17-26w-36-48-64). I use regular John Pearse electric nickel wound strings, which are longer than the usual guitar string, so they fit my 27 inch baritone without problems. The existing tuner holes do not allow anything larger than a 70 gauge string, so you can't play serious bass with this guitar. The piezo pickup and one-piece saddle make on-the-fly tension screw spider-cone adjustments impossible, so I tightened the tension screw 1/2 turn beyond spider-cone contact and that seems to have worked out well for the strings that I am using.

Setup Rating: 8

Appearance

This 27 inch Eastwood Delta-6 baritone is beautiful, with a laminated maple sunburst black appearance. It is hollowed out enough to allow the resonator cone, but is otherwise not a hollow guitar in spite of its appearance. The neck is maple with rosewood dot markers. No blemishes were noted, although the trapeze tail bridge mounting hole was stripped, requiring a larger screw replacement.

Appearance Rating: 10

Reliability

The hardware appears solid and reliable, and looks like it will last. The finish appears sturdy and tough. It should be reliable for gigs, without a backup being required. By its nature, it fills a niche somewhere between a regular scale-length guitar and a bass guitar, although it cannot function as a full-on bass.

Reliability Rating: 9

Customer Service

I am not aware of any particular warranty for this guitar. Eastwood does have a customer service available, but I found their information and advice regarding the resonator somewhat lacking.

Customer Service: 5

Components

The guitar itself appears all-around solid. The resonator cone seems a little cheap, and is screwed into the guitar body. The body is hollowed out just enough to allow the cone to sit inside thus adversely affecting the full potential of the resonator, and in no way would this guitar qualify as an acoustic resonator. Without amplification, it is nowhere as loud as an acoustic resonator guitar.

Components Rating: 8

Overall Comments

With its magnetic and piezo pickups and its resonator, it goes beyond what a standard electric baritone guitar can provide. I enjoy mixing open-g chords with the deep notes that this guitar can provide. 

Overall Rating: 9