And another low budget lap steel brand

[Steinar Gregertsen]

Eastwood Guitars have just introduced the "Airline" brand of lap steels, at $349:



More info here: http://www.myrareguitars.com/airlineLAPsteel.html

- I have no connection with the company, just thought they looked cool enough to deserve the attention, though the claim "..We guarantee this will put your existing lap steel to shame." may be a bit... ummm, well....

[John Burton]

I like the looks, well except for the cheap looking nut and cheap bridge.
I'd get one if they were a 'lil cheaper.
349.00 seems high for what it is.

[Brad Bechtel]

Thanks for sharing that, Steinar. I'd agree about the bridge, but I'd love to try playing one. I note they didn't mention whether or not the $349 includes a case, and there's no mention of these lap steels on the Eastwood Guitars web site yet.

[Charley Wilder]

I like the looks, well except for the cheap looking nut and cheap bridge.
I'd get one if they were a 'lil cheaper.
349.00 seems high for what it is.

Pretty well sums up my views. I'd say it has that $200 to $250 look.

[c c johnson]

Wasn't Airline the moniker that monkey ward used for their steels and amps? cc

[Fred Kinbom]

Here is the "mothership" - the National "Rocket One Ten".

Wasn't Airline the moniker that monkey ward used for their steels and amps? cc

Yes - Airline was one of the many "third party" brands of instruments made by Valco (the company that made Nationals from 1941 or so onwards).

Fred

[Tom Pettingill]

I wonder how they got to use the Airline name? maybe bought it out?

In any event, its good to see some more companys get into making steels, always good to have more choices

[Randy Reeves]

those are getting talked about on Harmony Center.
I would pass on these. the jack is mounted in a terrible place and the volume and tone knobs are too far forward.

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

The shape vaguely reminds of the Peavey lapsteel which was supposed to have been in the making some time ago (albeit at a pre-estimated price much lower than this).

It will be interesing to get the first feedback on this one...

[Keith Cordell]

I'd pay the dough if it had a string-thru pickup. It's just another cheap lap steel as is. I am still interested in the Peavey, though, and I have to say that the Eastwood reso-glass guitars are unbelievable for the $$.

[Doug Beaumier]

It's just another cheap lap steel as is.

I agree. It looks like just another junky Asian import, as far as I can see. Save your money and buy an original Valco Airline. You'll get Kluson tuners, quality hand-wired electronics, and a string-through pickup.

[Ben Jones]

I bought an Eastwood "sidejack barritone". It was $275 new (demo model..came without a scratch on it).
The guitar is okay....but just has no soul, no mojo at all, whereas even the cheapest of my other guitars have certain vibe and voice to them. Its also heavy. The nut was cheap cheap plastic, and I swapped it out. This helped things somewhat, but I still cannot really get into the guitar. so yeah...I'd say they have this thing priced at least $100 too high. You can still get real vintage laps for what they are asking.

[Bill Creller]

The boast the their guitar will "put yours to shame " proves that talk is cheap.

The person who wrote that had never heard a bakelite evidently.

[Marc Jenkins]

I just played one of these, and while the jack and knobs aren't in a great place, it sounds pretty good! Especially through an overdriven amp. I hit an open E chord and it rang out for at LEAST a minute. Not joking.

[Alan Brookes]

Once more ...why the movable bridge pieces ?

[Bill Creller]

How do they say "Airline" in China?
I suspect that the movable bridges are regular guitar parts, made by the thousands in China, and they use them because they have them already made.