Eastman DG-1 - "David Grisman / Corrado Giacomel" - w/hsc - $3495 List Price
Corrado Giacomel makes his incredible instruments in Genoa, Italy and they have become readily recognized and played by many of the mandolin players today. David Grisman's Giacomel is perhaps the most famous Model, titled the J-5. It has unique aesthetic features that blend the European classic styles with the very familiar F-5 and some of the arte-deco looks from the Gypsy Era. One of Giacomel's J-5's is available to the public for around $10,000. A price which most cannot pay. So Eastman mandolins asked permission to build copies of the now famous J-5 and that's where we get the DG-1.
The DG-1 is a near exact copy of the Giacomel J-5. It has a spruce top, maple back and sides, a maple neck, an ebony bridge and fingerboard as well as an ebony pickguard. It is fully bound on the body, fingerboard and peghead with ivoroid binding with a black stripe. It has an ebony tailpiece, gold tuning machines, block inlays on the upper fingerboard, and a very unique shape that brings a very different instrument to the table. The scale length is 13 3/8" and the nut width is 1 1/8".
This is a great mandolin. It has a wonderful sound and looks surprisingly alike Dawg's mandolin. It is very reasonably priced and plays nicely. Eastman does a wonderful job of building nice instruments that are affordable to the average player. If you want something unique to make you stand out, this is the mandolin for you, and unlike the real Giacomels it won't break the bank. It was too cool not to make guitar of the month...even though it's not a guitar. For more information contact the Olde Town Pickin' Parlor at 303-421-2304.