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Hoping I could get some insight and opinions here. I've got a 2012 Eastman T-145 SMD-SB I'm thinking about either trading in or selling, but I don't know what it's worth.
It's a interesting guitar, solid spruce top, thinline 1.75" solid flame maple back and sides. Fully hollow. Dual humbuckers. Cool guitar but my playing doesn't really make much of it's strengths.
I'd appreciate anyone's insight. Thanks!
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I sold a single pickup T145 a few years ago for $2000. I still regret selling it. I can't say what they go for now, but I would tend to doubt that the value has gone down, considering general inflation.
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You didn't show any pictures or state the condition of the guitar which makes it hard to advise a price.
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GC will give you a price… it will be less then they will resell it for. It is a good starting point. You get to then choose: take the easy path, or put some work in and get more money. The last guitar I sold to them was priced fair.
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If the guitar is in excellent condition, how about asking 80% of the new price?
e.g. Ask $1,600 for a $2,000 instrument. I would start there. If you get no action it is priced too high. If it sells relatively quickly you have priced it correctly.
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post some photos. I've always liked that instrument.
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As vintage guitar lovers know all too well, the original selling price has little to do with current selling prices. The T145 has been out of production for some time, so inflation has become an issue in prices, both new and used. What it's worth is however much a buyer is willing to pay, and I have no actual recent information on what they've been selling for recently, if there have even been any for public sale. I bought mine used about 10 years ago, and sold it about 4 years ago, IIRC. Time seems to pass quickly when you're having fun, and I've been having a lot more fun since I retired. My only suggestion is to try to find sales of that model in the recent past, on any marketplace, and try to extrapolate based on the condition of the sold examples and of the guitar in hand. My sample size is too small and out of date to set an accurate price.
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Hey, thanks everyone. I didn't even think of Guitar Center as an option an reference. I've been considering swapping for a smaller body Eastman acoustic and Guitar Center isn't a dealer so it didn't cross my mind...
I'll get some photos later this weekend.
I did just restring, setup, intonate and clean her up. Nothing like a fresh setup to make you second guess swapping a guitar... I bought it new 11 years ago and It's unlikely I'll ever find another of these.
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IMO the T145 is one of Eastman's better offerings, ever. I like the thin body, and it's very loud acoustically, although not a lot of bass response. That's actually a good thing for amplified guitar, I'm not a fan of boomy bass. They don't seem to be available on the used market very often, so I would recommend keeping one if you have it. One thing that made the sound slightly disappointing when I first got it was that the factory miswired the pickup. I discovered that after going through multiple aftermarket pickups, and not being totally satisfied with any. When reinstalling the original to prepare for selling it, I discovered that the wrong wires were soldered together according to the diagram from the Armstrong site. After rewiring to the correct configuration, the sound was far better, and I wished I hadn't agreed to sell it. So check and make sure it's wired correctly. Incorrect wiring works, but it sounds somewhat deader, not as vibrant.
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Hmm, I'll have to look harder at the wiring. I haven't noticed an issue but honestly, I play this thing acoustically more often than not and it wouldn't surprise me at all for a mistake liek that. I did have to resolder a coupled connections on the pots. This is an ordeal as everything electrical has to come out of the guitar, and back in, as complete piece, and there's a ground wire back through the body to the tail piece. It could be easy enough, but there is zero slack in the wiring since loose wires would absolutely rattle acoustically.
Mine seems unique in that it came with a Les Paul style gotoh bridge piece. Not the typical carved wooden bridge you see on most floating bridge Eastmans, thought there are a few Eastman models with this. But in my instance, this bridge was super flat ~16" + radius. But my guitars fretboard is 12" radius. Nothing time and a couple small files didn't fix. I chalk it up to Eastmans growing pains back in their earlier days.
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Still thinking about trying to find a current value if sales stats are not available.
If you can remember what you paid for it, I would add 35% to that amount to account for inflation from 2011 to 2023.
That would give a guestimate of what the price would be for a new one now in 2023 if they still produced them.
Then maybe ask 80% of that amount. (Assuming the guitar is in excellent condition) (Maybe 75% if in very good condition.)
e.g.: (Just an example, I don't know what you paid for it.)
Paid in 2011: $2,000
Projected 2023 new selling price if still produced: 2,000 x 1.35 = $2,700
Asking price: $2,700 x .8 = $2,160 or $2,700 x .75 = $2,025
Of course there are other factors that come into play, but this might be a place to start price wise.
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I haven't seen a T145 with a metal saddle, but I can't say that I've seen everything. Even the ebony bridge on mine was too flat, and that seems to be the norm on factory guitars, just as too-high nuts are. That's one reason I prefer a wooden saddle - it's easy enough to get the correct radius. I think the lingering issue of flat-radius saddles on tighter radius fretboards may be just the inertia of tradition. You would think factories would buy saddles which have the same radius as their fretboards, but you would be thinking wrong. I dunno, it is a puzzlement.
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Finally got around to taking some photos. Thanks for all the input!
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