This is a mint, as new Eastwood Backlund Model 200 created by retro guitar designer, John Backlund, in association with Eastwood. These guitars are no longer made and they are almost impossible to find used. I’m also including a new Backlund Hardshell Case (worth $200), which make this a smoking deal.
John Backlund’s eclectic design elements of Art Deco and Streamline Moderne gives the guitar a 1950s Americana vibe. With a Telecaster style body it has a great finish and offers very nice fret-work.
This Backlund 200 features a Mahogany body, a solid Maple 24.75-inch scale bolt-on neck and a Maple fingerboard with a soft-C shape. The fingerboard radius is 14-inches (350mm), with 23½ medium jumbo nickel frets, shark teeth position markers and a 1-5/8” carbon nut.
The pickguard (which covers much of the front of the guitar in two sections) is plastic, but has a brushed metal-looking finish. The bridge is a Tune-O-Matic (with flat edges for better comfort while palm-muting) with a through-body tail. There is a slight neck heel bevel (upper frets are easy to access) and an ample belly contour and arm rest.
Both custom-wound pickups are medium output passive, with a humbucker in the bridge position and a blade at the neck. The pickups are very clear and cutting, including the neck pickup. They are not shrill or thin, but simply sizzling and clear.
There are five variations in pickup selection and there seems to be a very nice transition from one to the next. In other words, when switching from a bridge to a bridge tapped you can hear the difference, but it’s not extreme (thus making it very practical when you want a slightly different tone from one pickup selection to the next).
The same is true when selecting a bridge + neck tapped, neck tapped or neck. The Volume control does not roll off suddenly, but produces a very gradual reduction until backing off to about 90% (where it drops much faster). The Tone control has a good range, and due to the crisp clarity it comes in handy (to back off the treble) when playing some higher-gain distortion.
This is a very versatile guitar and you can get a lot of great sounds with it!
Check out this great demo by RJ Ronquillo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSi9U0CQYbw
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.