2017 catalog

10
THE THINLINES SERIES
EASTMANGUITARS.COM
something they liked better. We finished that day,
and they were happy enough to ask me if I happened
to be free next week to come back and do some
more. I said sure, of course. The week went by and
I didn’t hear anything. Another couple of weeks went
by — nothing. I pretty much gave up on it and wrote
it off. Then about five weeks after the original
session, I got another call from Walter. He asked
me if I remembered the session I had played and of
course I said yes. Then he told me that they were not
going to use anything I played that day. He paused
and I said, OK. Then he said he wanted me to come
back in and play on several other tunes. So I went
back several times and ended up on four tracks of
the Two Against Nature record.
YOU HAVE CERTAIN MODIFICATIONS
MADE TO SOME OF YOUR GUITARS.
WHAT ARE THEY?
I typically have several things done, even to brandnew
guitars. I prefer a single master volume control,
so if a guitar has more than one volume control
I have it rewired. I often replace the frets with a taller
and wider fret size. And I usually find I have to install
a little network of a capacitor and a resistor to create
a high pass filter on the volume control, too. I don’t
like the way a lot of guitars seem to lose their
high-end response when you roll back the volume
control. This network fixes that. I also often relocate
the pickup selector switch, and make room for the
master volume to be closer to my right hand,
because I tend to use the volume control a lot.
WHAT DREW YOU TO EASTMAN?
The first time I played an Eastman guitar was when
I was subbing for Scott Kuney in the Broadway pit
of Spamalot. He didn’t want to leave his valuable L5
in the pit, and had bought an Eastman archtop to
replace it there. I played it when it was brand-new,
and right away it felt better and sounded better than
the L5 to my ears. But the astonishing thing was that
when I went back a couple of months later and
played that same guitar, the difference in tone was
incredible. In that short amount of time, with all the
music happening in that space with eight shows a
week, it had blossomed in an unbelievable way, and
sounded huge. I was very impressed, obviously,
and never forgot it. Years later, when I happened to
be in touch with Eastman, I jumped at the chance
to check out some of their instruments.
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE
SOUND OF YOUR E10OOSS AND MD604?
I love the double O because of its big tone in that
small body size. It’s very alive, like all the Eastman
instruments I’ve heard (good wood and workmanship!),
and I find it very useful for recording applications
because, unlike the mostly larger acoustic
guitars I’ve owned, its low end is extremely focused
and more controlled.
The oval hole mandolin has always been a favorite of
mine — I prefer it to the brighter and more cutting
f-hole styles. And the Eastman mandolin sounds like a
little cannon! It’s really alive and loud, but it has a richer
tone than the f-hole mandolins I’ve played before.
Herington plays the Thinline
T184MX, Mandolin MD604,
and Traditional E10OOSS.