The Eastman El Rey ER2 – The King – is the result of a co-operative design effort between Eastman and Los Angeles luthier Otto D’Ambrosio to produce a new, small bodied but fully operational archtop electric guitar.

In creating the Eastman El Rey ER2, Otto D’Ambrosio chose to put the largest mass at the neck block to emphasise sustain and build the rest lightly for resonance. The compact design draws the bridge towards the tailpiece, bringing the low-position frets closer to the player and that can be very comfortable.

The Eastman El Rey ER2 is designed to produce a full archtop sound from a smaller, much lighter body – it is only 14 inches across, a bit bigger than a Gibson Les Paul. Otherwise it has a relatively typical archtop construction – solid, hand carved spruce top, solid and hand carved flame maple back, solid flame maple sides and neck, and ebony for the fingerboard, bridge base, and tailpiece cover.

For electronics, this model carries two Kent Armstrong HPAG-1G humbucking pickups and has standard wiring. All the metal hardware is gold plated.

The scale length is 25 inches, and the dark classic violin-shaded finish is nitrocellulose lacquer. The fingerboard has Mother of Pearl position markers that look like a nod to the Gretsch ‘Neo-Classic’ or ‘thumbnail’ markers.

This is an early example of the Eastman El Rey ER2. It bears no serial number but was built around 2006. This guitar has been used as intended and it has an amount of finish wear plus expected play wear marks on the top and back.

It plays very cleanly strung with flats, and the light weight and compact size make it very comfortable. This model seems to be popular with Swing style rhythm players, and it’s easy to see why once you pick it up.

A well-fitting grey hard shell case, possibly original in quite good shape is included.

Eastman El Rey ER2 Specifications: