David Grisman and Eastman Strings have collaborated on a new mandolin line, "The Dawg Collection by Eastman." Eastman Strings has enjoyed unprecedented success with their mid-line professional instruments since their preliminary foray into mandolins five years ago, following up over a decade of established popularity with their orchestral string instruments.

This project is a unique blend of new and old. The recent addition to Grisman's personal stage gear, a contemporary design Giacomel J-5 by premier Italian builder Corrado Giacomel is the inspiration for the first release, its quirky Cubist design the talk of many musicians the past several months since the meeting of the two. The prestigious J3 and J5 originals sell from $9,025 to $12,500.

Mandolin pioneer David "Dawg" Grisman elucidates, "I don't think the world needs another attempted Lloyd Loar mandolin copy. I've always enjoyed the diversity of obtainable voices from many other worthy designs, past and present, like those I explored sonically (and historically) on the Tone Poems series of CDs for Acoustic Disc. I'm also very impressed with Eastman's commitment to both quality and value, in addition to their interest in producing some of these fabulous instrument designs."

The second entry, the DG2 ($2695 List Price, Street Price TBA) also based on a rare example from Grisman's personal collection, is inspired by classic instruments from the "Golden Age of American Luthiery," a Bacon Artist Model made in the 1920s. "These fine mandolins had labels signed by mandolin virtuoso William Place, Jr., several years before the idea was appropriated by Lloyd Loar," and available in January 2009.

The first model in the series, the DG1 (List Price $3495, Street Price TBA) will be available on November 1, 2008, through Eastman Mandolin Dealers. We are looking forward to a special sneak preview soon. JazzMando research assistants are standing by to personally test the DG1 and document our impressions online for you in our Builder's Spotlight.

We'll keep you posted!

Take the online Eastman Workshop Tour.

Pre-order from our favorite Eastman dealers (and JazzMando site sponsors):
Acoustic Vibes Music
Fiddler's Green Music Shop

Posted by Ted at November 6, 2008 9:11 AM