Eastman Fullertone Offset ’62 review – “it has a unique sonic voice and retro feel all of its own”
£899/$999, eastmanguitars.com
Eastman’s quest to create something interesting, impressive and different in the affordable bolt-on guitar space with the Fullertone range has been one of the stories of the guitar world over the last 12 months, and for 2026 chief luthier Otto D’Ambrosio is opening his tent to expand the Fullertone concept to new audiences with the new Offset ’62.
READ MORE: With the FullerTone, Eastman Guitars stands at the new frontier of quality affordable electrics
Image: Adam Gasson
Eastman Fullertone Offset ’62 – what is it?
The Offset ’62 is a Chinese-made and more affordable interpretation of the Offset ’62 from the Europe-made D’Ambrosio series, which launched at last year’s Guitar Summit. Over the past several months, Eastman has been working with YouTuber Paul Davids to refine the Offset ’62 concept to make it more suited to the average player’s needs. This entailed moving the toggle switch to the upper bout, changing the forearm contour for added comfort, and moving the volume knob closer to the bridge pickup for ease of access.
The result is the guitar you see before you in both its Dakota Red and Gold launch finishes. The body is a lightweight roasted black limba, with a similarly roasted maple neck with rosewood board. In terms of electronics you get a pair of Gold Foil-covered ToneRider soapbar humbuckers plus premium Orange Drop, 022μF capacitors and CTS 250K pots.
The hardware is similarly premium – you get nice looking and feeling six-in-a-line vintage style tuners, an anodized aluminium pickguard, and in a new one for the Fullertone range, a Jazzmaster-style-but-not Göldo DG Tremolo.
The neck is attached to the body using the innovative single-bolt system developed by D’Ambrosio that gives the range its name, and you also get a padded gigbag for the money – which is a little more than the first Fullertones, it must be noted.
Image: Adam Gasson
Eastman Fullertone Offset ’62 – build quality and playability
Removing the Offset ’62 from its padded gigbag. I’m immediately impressed with the refreshingly original yet knowingly vintage vibe of the instrument.
The roasted maple neck is quite chunky in the palm but it’s smooth satin finish, medium Jescar FW47104-P frets and Fender-esque 25.5” scale length, combined with the 12” radius rosewood fingerboard, contribute to a familiar and instantly comfortable playing feel.
Immediately impressive is the lightweight, sleek and svelte feel in the hands. Despite being a sizable mass, roughly as wide as my Les Paul, it’s original offset design conforms to the Eastman Family in terms of looks and slick contoured body feels even better in person – clearly the real world testing done by Davids has really helped to make this guitar simply melt into your body as you sit and play it.
On a strap, the Offset ’62 sits in a wonderfully balanced position with everything intuitively positioned ready to rock, not true of every offset design, the Eastman is ready to jangle or shoegaze the night away!
Image: Adam Gasson
Eastman Fullertone Offset ’62 – sounds
Unplugged, the Offset ’62 has a Tele-style snap to its attack and plenty of midrange clout to its decay, albeit softened slightly I suspect by the rather intriguing looking Göldo trem. As far as I’m aware, this is the first production guitar – certainly at this price point – to spec this as standard, and it’s an interesting concept.
It may at first look like the lost lovechild of a Jazzmaster Trem and a Burns Accent vibrato unit from the 1960s, but in fact it feels and functions more like a great Bigsby with more immediate response than the classic Fender vibrato used on the Jazzmaster and Jaguar.
I really like both its quirky almost 60s pawn shop aesthetic but also its very musical and smooth operation for everything from gentle chord wobbles to shoegaze sonic vibrato waves, all accomplished with an impressive lack of retuning required. This no doubt helped by the cleverly designed straight string pull over the genuine bone nut to the sleek stepped headstock design.
With a three-way toggle switch placed on the upper bout and a master volume, two tone control setup all neatly mounted on the very cool aluminium early Jazzmaster-hinting pickguard, everything feels nicely laid out under the hands too.
Before plugging in I wasn’t quite sure what to make of the pickups, whilst they may look like Gold Foils, that is obviously a very specific thing construction-wise. Wisely then for , Eastman describe them as ‘Soapbar Humbuckers with Goldfoil covers’ and whilst this may be a smorgasbord of tonal a nomenclature, plugging in to my black panel amp soon revealed a jangly bright toned bridge pickup with plenty of midrange bite and an impressive lack of hum.
Kudos again to Eastman for creating something original again with these pickups, they have the musical airy top end of a good old gold foil with lots of the gutsy midrange of an old P-90. It’s a wonderful combination, and switching to the neck position reminds me of lots of the best bits of a good Firebird neck pickup. A very distinct, immediate tone that’s void of any flub and instead punches though a mix like a much fatter Strat neck pickup.
The middle position is the guitar’s crowning glory however, a beautiful jangle tone into a clean amp that had us switching to our Vox amp for some superb sixties jangle pop tones that bring us into Ricky and Gretsch land. Jumping on a fuzz pedal revealed these pickups handle gain rather well too – with a clear versatile sonic voice of its own that holds together well in all positions. Superb.
Image: Adam Gasson
Eastman Fullertone Offset ’62 – should I buy one?
We truly are living in a golden age of affordable gear. For a guitar as accomplished and great feeling as this Eastman Offset ’62 to be available at this price is a real win for players.
Not only does this guitar stand out from the usual crowd visually, it has a unique sonic voice and retro feel all of its own and could happily accompany you on a career of live playing and recording.
If I’m being picky, I’d like to see the range expanded with more colour options and pickup alternatives, to appeal to more players, but if you want to stand out from the crowd, you really should check one of these out. There’s a huge amount to love about the Offset ’62 – especially at this killer price.
Image: Adam Gasson
Eastman Fullertone Offset ’62 – alternatives
The historic king of the offset, even at this price range is a Jazzmaster and the Fender Player II Jazzmaster takes a lot of beating value wise as does the superb Fender Vintera II Roadworn 50’s Jazzmaster for a little extra cash. It’s nearly triple the price, but the fantastic Duesenberg Bros Landreth Joey’s Guitar features gold foil humbucking pickups, a wide range of tonal modes, and an offset body.
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
