It was only a matter of time before Juliet followed Romeo as the second wave of Eastman’s original design programme
For a company that has had considerable success with its Gibson-inspired electric models, such as the solidbody SB59/v single-cut and the more Junior-style SB55/v and SB55DC/v, not to mention the laminate thinline T64/v, the release of the Romeo looked a little out of place. That is, until we played the guitar. “A thoroughly modern take on the electric archtop, built exceptionally well,” we said after we’d tested it back in issue 459.
Conceived by Otto D’Ambrosio, who heads up Eastman’s USA design and custom shop in Pomona, California, Romeo signalled a shift after Eastman founder, Qian Ni, saw the design in its prototype stage and stated: “This is the way the future of Eastman should look.”
Along with another version, Romeo-SC – which swapped its custom wound Lollar Imperial pickups for a Seymour Duncan Tele-style Vintage Stack at the neck and a full-size ’59 at the bridge – amore dramatic addition followed in 2021: the Romeo LA. It proved that a design like this could move from being a ‘jazz’ thinline to retro rocker with outwardly just a colour change, some different pickups (Seymour Duncan Phat Cats) and a Göldo vibrato. In fact, the carved spruce top of the Romeo was replaced on the LA with a pressed laminate top. If anything, we’d say that Romeo LA has more kerb appeal to a wider audience. But in whatever guise, Romeo has become one of Eastman’s best-selling electric guitars over the past two years.
But where was Juliet? We knew another new-design guitar was on its way – and the first look we got was a design rendering that was emailed to us by Pepijn ‘t Hart, Eastman’s international sales and product development manager, back in March of this year. “Nerve wracking to share our babies publicly,” replied Pepijn after we’d taken a look. “There is nothing harder than designing an original solidbody for the most conservative guitar world where the same designs have been successful for over 60 years.”
Originally, Eastman’s plan was to launch the new guitars at the 2022 NAMM Show in June and simultaneously be able to ship them to dealers. However, the former happened but not the latter. “One of our workshops had been in lockdown for quite a while but has reopened again, so the market launch shifted from June to September,” explains Pepijn.
Finally, though, with a pair of Juliets now in our hands, we can see and hear the fruits of Otto’s an
