One look at the label on the inside of Eastman Guitars' John Pisano signature model guitar says it all: The words "Handmade to my specifications" appear above Pisano’s signature. Pisano has had a hand in every step of the guitar’s design. With a suggested retail price of $----, the John Pisano signature model guitar is a fine crafted instrument that has the artistic integrity of its namesake written all over it.
Pisano gives credit to his friend Ted Mayer for helping with the guitar’s design. Mayer’s a guitarist, artist, computer enthusiast and a designer who also holds an engineering degree. "Without him there'd be no John Pisano model" Pisano said. "We spent a lot of time analyzing and comparing different aspects of different instruments, trying to get things that I thought were good."
The result is a tasteful-looking guitar that focuses on integrating and retaining a solid acoustic sound even when amplified. Its tone is warm and punchy, with lots of bass register clarity – perfect for comping chords and walking bass lines. According to Pisano, much thought and experimentation went into the decision-making process regarding the guitar’s pickup, a custom-designed Kent Armstrong humbucker.
"I wanted to have a built-in pickup," Pisano said. "the sound that I’m looking for is more of an acoustic sound but still electric," he said, recalling the sound of the 1930s-era Gibson electric guitar that Charlie Christian played.
"I had one for a long time," he said. "The quality of it was like a clarity on the bass notes that you can’t seem to get with more modern pickups. You want to look at it as if you can visualize hearing the space between the notes in lower strings; it cuts out a lot of distortion and overtones. I would go to [Spazio] on guitar night with three of the guitars, each with different pickups, and I would play one each set just to compare them under playing conditions. Eventually we just wound it all down to looking at a pickup with less resistance."
The built-in design on the Pisano model is a different approach for Eastman – the company has usually used floating pickups on its archtops – and some may question it. "A lot of people say, 'It’s an acoustic guitar. How can you cut a hole in it?'" Pisano said. "Where that pickup is placed, the wood at that point doesn't have much to do with the vibration of the body. I haven’t noticed any decided difference."
With a 16" lower bout, the hand-carved John Pisano signature guitar features a maple back and select spruce top. Its sunburst finish is complemented by the ebony pick-guard, neck and headstock center piece, all of which create an eye-pleasing flow of ebony from end to end. The guitar is light-weight and extremely comfortable to play, another design aspect that Pisano wanted. "Playing some of the other Eastman 16-inch guitars, the body felt more comfortable," Pisano said. "One thing that I like about the Eastman especially is the weight. I hate to pick up a guitar that weights you down."
Pisano’s signature is inlaid at the 19th fret. The ebony part of the tailpiece features an inlaid frog design, which alludes to Pisano’s lifelong interest in the amphibians. "I've always been a frog collector. When I was a kid, I used to catch frogs and I had frogs around in terrariums. I have a pond at my house with bullfrogs in it."
— Dave Zaworski
