Eastman AR371CE with Neck Pickup Immediately Below Fingerboard?

[Bill Eisele]

I sent a friend a link to the YouTube video of John Pisano and Andy Brown playing together that is in a post for the 2022 Eastman AR880CE John Pisano blonde that's for sale on this website (beautiful guitar). My friend picked up on the really nice tone that Andy is getting out of his Eastman AR371CE and then noticed that the neck pickup is immediately just below the fingerboard with no gap like the other AR371CE's that we have seen around. I can't find another one like it for sale except one that already sold at the Twelfth Fret in Toronto: Eastman AR371 CE | www.12fret.comEastman AR371 CE | www.12fret.com. Was this variation with the neck pickup location specific to a model year or something else? Just wondering?

Thanks,

Bill

[sgosnell]

I think Andy just used whatever was available at the club. That's not his usual guitar, and I don't believe it ever belonged to him. He's been playing a Gibson Tal for years, and that's all I've seen him play other than a Koentopp that he occasionally uses with Don Stiernberg. As for the pickup placement, I have no idea at all. I haven't kept up with that model Eastman.

[thelostboss]

From what I have seen only the early models had that pickup placement, later versions moved it away from the fretboard end.

[lawson-stone]

It might mimic the Gibson archtop pickup positions. The ES175 has the pickup spaced from the end of the fingerboard, while the L5ces and L4ces place the pickup flush with the end of the fingerboard. Endless debates swirl around the reasons for this, the effects of this, and which is better. The Ibanez Joe Pass has a very noticeable space between the pickup and end of the fingerboard that has led to some players avoiding it, while others swear by it.

I imagine the placement on the Eastman models really depends on what Gibson line they are generally emulating, or the preferences of the player who is the "signature" player of the instrument.

[caue amaral]

I think this guitar belongs to John Pisano himself... I imagine it's some prototype or special request sent to him at the beginning of eastman's history with archtops! I never saw one like it again, except in her circle...like in this video from 11 years ago!

[Rob MacKillop]

The 371 was a great guitar, but got dissed because it didn’t sound just like a 175, but it had its own thing, and that thing was very good.

[pingu]

1282124[/URL]]From what I have seen only the early models had that pickup placement, later versions moved it away from the fretboard end.

ok just to get this off my chest
(talking about tone only here
not aesthetics)

what matters is where is the pu in
relation to the virtual 24th fret ….
(most usually the screw poles are under this virtual 24th fret)

commonly jazz guitars have
20 , 21 or 22 fret necks so you will
get different looks

ps
the ibanez jp20 is an outlier

[Bill Eisele]

I think Andy just used whatever was available at the club. That's not his usual guitar, and I don't believe it ever belonged to him. He's been playing a Gibson Tal for years, and that's all I've seen him play other than a Koentopp that he occasionally uses with Don Stiernberg. As for the pickup placement, I have no idea at all. I haven't kept up with that model Eastman.

Yes, I got the impression that it wasn’t Andy’s because I know he generally plays the Tal. Maybe it belongs to John Pisano?

[Bill Eisele]

The 371 was a great guitar, but got dissed because it didn’t sound just like a 175, but it had its own thing, and that thing was very good.

Rob, I think that same kind of thing happens with Heritage guitars where they use the Gibson models as a starting point, e.g., the Gibson ES-!75 and the Heritage H575. One being a totally laminate guitar and the other carved. I owned a 371 and liked it quite a bit. Wish I had kept it.

[John A.]

ok just to get this off my chest
(talking about tone only here
not aesthetics)

what matters is where is the pu in
relation to the virtual 24th fret ….
(most usually the screw poles are under this virtual 24th fret)

commonly jazz guitars have
20 , 21 or 22 fret necks so you will
get different looks

ps
the ibanez jp20 is an outlier

There's actually quite a bit of variation in both pickup placement and space between the neck pickup and the fretboard:
1. 20 frets, neck pickup right up against the fretboard (e.g., L4 and many others)
2. 20 frets, neck pickup at the 24th fret spot (175 and most copies)
3. 20 frets, neck pickup a little bit away from the fretboard but not as far as the 24th fret spot (e.g, L5, and others with a point at the end of the fretboard)
4. 22 frets, neck pickup at the 24th fret spot (most semi-hollows and LP style guitars)
5. 24 frets, neck pickup right up against the fretboard (which pushes the pickup back about an inch from the 24th fret spot)
6. 22 frets, neck in approximately the same spot as a 24-fret guitar (e.g., SG, because of the neck/body joint)
7. The JP 20. which mimics the appearance of the space between the fretboard and the pickup on a 175, but it has a 22 fret neck, which pushes the pickup back almost as far as the middle pickup on a 3-pickup guitar.

IME, all else equal, 2 and 4 sound the same (because they are the same); 1 & 3 are very similar to 2 & 4 (but maybe a hair warmer sounding with a hair less brightness and percussiveness). 5-7 are very noticeably different from 1-4. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing is a matter of taste.

[sgosnell]

I don't think there is any magic in having the pickup's polepieces (if any) under the 24th fret node. Once you fret a string that is gone. However, pickup placement does matter, otherwise bridge pickups would sound just like neck pickups. The further you move the pickup toward the bridge, the brighter the tone will be. Moving it an inch or less doesn't make a huge difference, but it does make some, just as picking at different places on the string will.

[John A.]

I don't think there is any magic in having the pickup's polepieces (if any) under the 24th fret node. Once you fret a string that is gone. However, pickup placement does matter, otherwise bridge pickups would sound just like neck pickups. The further you move the pickup toward the bridge, the brighter the tone will be. Moving it an inch or less doesn't make a huge difference, but it does make some, just as picking at different places on the string will.

Agreed, the "24th fret spot" is not magic because of the octave harmonic (which only exists with an open string), but it does seem to be the sweet spot for placing the neck pickup, and it's helpful as a physical reference point when comparing guitars with different numbers of frets. IME&O, having the neck pickup closer to the neck (to the extent that's physically possible) isn't much different (e.g., it's a small factor in the difference in tone between an L4 or L5 and a 175). But having it an inch-ish closer to the bridge actually does make a lot of difference (e.g., it's a big factor in the difference in tone between a 175 and a JP20, which I think sound much more different from each other than, say, a 175 and an L4).

[Cunamara]

Or the original Gibson Johnny Smith recipe with 19 frets and the pickup right against the end of the fretboard. One of the reasons that Benedetto pattern guitars sound different is that they typically have 22 frets with the pickup against the end of the fretboard, which is going to make it sound brighter than the original GJS.