BUT! I did a straight-up trade for the Fano TC6 and a pair of pedals (JHS "Ryan Adams" VCR & a Janglebox compressor), no money traded hands. So, I stumbled across the Eastman marque back during my search for a Les Paul, and the company and its guitars has nothing but great buzz about them. I read reviews, watched YouTube vids, trolled around TGP and some Gibson/Epiphone-centric forums. My curiosity grew. I realized that one of my great guitar regrets was not buying a 60s-something Casino that was dirt cheap, back in the mid-90s. I tried the John Lennon MIJ version, the "vintage-correct" and liked it, but it was stupid expensive, way past my pay grade.
Whilst poking around, I noticed that Lidgett's Music in Council Bluffs carried Eastman guitars and had one of the Casino variants. I looked over my collection.
"You know, I haven't played that Fano in over six months. At least not for more than a few minutes," I thought. "Why keep it when I don't play it?"
So, I packed it up, went through my pedals, found a couple that were collecting dust and headed to Council Bluffs.
Here it is!
Eastman T64/v, July 12, 2019 by Maggie Osterberg, on Flickr
Bigsby, Eastman T64/v, July 12, 2019 by Maggie Osterberg, on Flickr
Eastman T64/v, July 12, 2019 by Maggie Osterberg, on Flickr
Eastman T64/v, July 12, 2019 by Maggie Osterberg, on Flickr
Eastman T64/v, July 12, 2019 by Maggie Osterberg, on Flickr
Eastman T64/v, July 12, 2019 by Maggie Osterberg, on Flickr
I spent almost an hour playing it at the store (or so Rob, the storkeeper told me) through a sweet Milkman amp. It hit all the sweet spots of my heroes; Ribot, Marr, The Beatles, Wilco, Townshend, etc...
It's loaded with Duncan Antiquities, Gotoh ABR bridge, CTS pots and orange drop caps, shellac and violin varnish finish hand made by expert luthiers in Beijing (yep, a high-end guitar from China!) It out-Casinos any Casino built after, say, 1975.
Damn, I'm lucky!
