Thump the low E string and you can feel it in your ribs as it resonates. It’s hard to image a new guitar playing more smoothly out of the case. The setup and action are close to perfect. The cutouts for the two Lollar Dog Ear P-90 pickups are cut to the closest possible tolerances.

Frets are perfectly seated at the neck binding. The guitar’s exterior, meanwhile, verges on flawless. Even in the hardest-to-see corners (and I checked with a flashlight), the laminate maple top and back were sanded smooth and kerfing was carefully bound to the body, with only a few, very small errant glue spots visible at the heel block.

You’ll also notice an unusual amount of attention to fit and finish on the inside. Hold a T64/v sideways up to the sun, peer through the f-hole, and you’ll see daylight shining through the opposite side.

Unlike a Gibson 335 or a Rickenbacker 330, the T64/v is built without a center block-a feature that typically adds sustain and contributes resistance to feedback. And the same flexibility is easy to hear in the T64/v.Ī big part of the T64/v’s tone signature is the true hollowbody design. The variety of tones these guitars contributed to records by these artists alone speaks volumes about the Casino’s versatility. (Paul McCartney had one as far back as 1964.) And Keith Richards used a Casino for some of the Stones’ punkiest early tracks. They helped propel just about every Beatles record from Revolver onward. Though frequently mistaken by casual observers for the more famous Gibson ES-335, Epiphone Casinos might be the most commonly heard thinlines. It’s also an exceptional guitar that feels more expensive than it is-even though, by import standards, it’s not exactly inexpensive itself. Like those famous hollowbodies, the Beijing-built Eastman T64/v is sparkling, exciting, mellow, smooth, jangly, or rowdy depending on your mood, musical mode, and the gear you put at the other end of your cable. But when it comes to thinlines that feel truly alive in hand, few can match the hollowbody Epiphone Casino, its cousin the Gibson ES-330, and, by extension, the very Casino/330-inspired Eastman T64/v reviewed here. And there’s a resonance that can veer from beautifully, tonefully flowering to teetering at the edge of feedback. The larger physical dimensions lend the feel of an old-world instrument. Whether it’s an old Vox, a Rickenbacker, Gretsch, or Gibson, thinlines sound and feel different. If you’ve never had the pleasure of a session with a thinline electric, you’re missing a world of sounds and overtones that are hard to come by elsewhere.

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