

The price is about half of the Eastman making it a very good value. It is a limited edition model (Original OM Model, AVM1NT Limited Edition Artwood). Ibanez has added the OM shaped guitar to their line of acoustics (right image). The price isn’t that different from the Larrivee OM. The image is for the sunburst finish but it’s also available in a natural finish. The Eastman E20 Orchestra Model is shown on the left.

I tried some of their acoustics in guitar shops. I own one of their jazz guitars (AR371ce). The next one is from one of my favorite guitar companies, Eastman.


There are now many acoustic guitars available for under $1000, even under $500 which have solid tops and, accurate angles and excellent construction details.Īn example of a nice replica of the OM style at about half the price is available from Larrivee (image to right).This is the Larrivee OM-40 Legacy in Rosewood and is about $1425 1. It wasn’t just that many had poorly bolted on necks and laminated (plywood) tops but even the better of the lot were poorly setup with inaccurate neck angles, poorly polished and finished frets, high nuts and high saddles. Once upon a time low priced guitars were junk, nearly toys. There are better values in acoustic guitars today than at anytime in my life. The guitar on the left currently sells (ballpark price) for $2900. It sound’s great whether you play with a pick, fingerpicks or bare fingers. But if I had to do it over I think I would choose something else. Of course it has a solid spruce top with X-bracing. It has a 25.4″ scale length and 1.75″ nut width with rosewood back and sides and ebony fingerboard. The guitar has 14 frets to the body which is the norm now days.
