Eastwood RS-II (Elliot)
Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2025 5:20 pm
Over 10 years ago, I ran across this Eastwood RS-II for sale. I already knew that it was a forum guitar, a special run of 12 set up for members of the LeftyFrets.net forum. I joined that forum just a little too late to get one, or I would have been in on that order. Oh well, here was one now, and the seller said it belonged to The Cars' Elliot Easton. I knew Elliot had one, having read the thread on the forum about setting up for and receiving the guitars, but I didn't know he sold it. In fact, he was the one wrangling other members to create the forum guitar. I emailed Mike Robinson at Eastwood to ask about the guitar and this seller, and Mike graciously confirmed that was Elliot's guitar, which he traded in because he didn't like the tone. On the forum, he opined the pickups were too low, and after I bought the guitar, I agreed. They sounded thin. So I didn't play this guitar much, but I thought it had a lot of promise, being a full hollow and looking nicer than it had a right to.
Fast forward to today, I decided to open it up and see what I could do. Don't let the screw configuration fool you, the 4 corner screws don't mount the assembly like humbucker rings do. They hold the pickup assembly together. The 2 centered screws are the mounting screws, pretty much like soapbar P90 screws, but at the ends. Taking the 1st one out, I saw some stiff foam, but not enough. I decided to leave the foam in place and just add another layer of foam to allow greater height adjustment. Worked out well.
Now those pickups can be raised as high as I want, and woah, they really like being close to the strings. Closer at least than any other guitar I have. But at this height, the tone is completely different. No longer thin, they have bite and warmth, and it's fun to dig in a bit. I'm very glad I decided to finally give it the setup I think it deserved all along. I love how much pickup height can change a guitar's tone. Great guitar now, not just a looker.
And as Elliot said on that other forum, "If we didn't want an atomic space-age sputnik hollowbody with a lightning bolt pickguard we would've picked a different guitar"
And as Elliot said on that other forum, "If we didn't want an atomic space-age sputnik hollowbody with a lightning bolt pickguard we would've picked a different guitar"
