Specifications

Manufacturer:
Eastwood Guitars, eastwoodguitars.com

List Price:
$1,029.00

Originally published in Guitar World, 30th Anniversary 2010 issue

The Eastwood Airline Map bass is an ultra-cool looker that has all the charm and tone of a retro classic with dependable modern construction.

In today's bass market, 34- and 35-inch-scale instruments are the standard, but there was a time when short-scale basses were plentiful. Longer scale lengths produce a clearer fundamental tone, which is one reason why shorter, 30- and 32-inch-scale basses went the way of the dinosaur. But the thick, sweet and round tone of the short-scale bass has made a comeback in recent years, opening the door for the reissue of offbeat classics.

The Eastwood Airline Map bass is one such example. Built on a 30 1/2–inch scale, the bass is based largely on guitars made by Valco, the Sixties instrument manufacturer responsible for the budget Airline, National and Val-Pro brands. While the Eastwood bass gets its name from Airline, it takes its styling cues from the 1962 Val-Pro 85 bass and National Newport guitar, two instruments whose “Reso-Glass” (acrylic resin and fiberglass) bodies were shaped somewhat like a map of the continental United States. But the Airline Map has more than just visual appeal: it pumps the thump in a big way and sports many modern improvements that make it gig worthy.

FEATURES

Unlike the Valco guitars, the Eastwood has a chambered mahogany body. The chambering opens up the resonance, giving the Map a hollowbody-like tone but with great midrange focus. It also keeps the weight low: my review bass weighed in at 7.8 pounds. The black-finished body is capped with very slick deco-style white-and-black pickguard, while the white binding offsets the top’s carved contours, giving the guitar a classy “tuxedo” vibe. (Seafoam Green and white finishes are also available.) The tuners are chrome Grover-style closed-gear machines with a 3/8-inch post, and the plastic nut is 1 5/8–inch wide, just slightly bigger than a Jazz bass. The slots were cut a bit too narrow for the strings, but a higher quality bone nut would bring this bass up to pro standards. The bolt-on maple neck has a body-matching finish with white binding and a 22-fret rosewood fingerboard with big block inlays.

The two chrome-covered alnico humbuckers are placed for good tonal variety and blend. The neck pickup booms with authority, while the bridge pickup is super-tight and focused. Together, they give a full-range, complex tone that is surprisingly effective and versatile. The three-way pickup selector switch is placed near the upper horn (right around the state of Pennsylvania) and has a groovy retro-style metal surround plate. The pickups are controlled with a basic volume/volume/tone arrangement, and while the chromed plastic knobs are cheap, they’re effective and look good at a distance.

The Tune-o-matic-style bridge offers good intonation adjustment, but it’s two end-post height adjusters don’t allow for individual string-height changes. The string ends are held in chrome trapeze tailpiece, and due to the 32-inch distance to the nut, medium-scale strings work fine on the Map.

PERFORMANCE

One look at this bass and you know right away you’re not going to hear anything that resembles a Fender, but within the species of short-scale basses, the Airline more than holds its own as a prime example of old-school low-end punch. The smaller scale length and nicely proportioned neck make playing the Airline a pleasure. I found it easy to adjust my muscle memory from long-scale basses, but guitarists who want to try their hand at playing bass will find the Map feels comfortable immediately.

The Map comes strung from the factory with roundwounds, but I replaced them with flatwounds to bring this baby in line with its historical imperative. With the factory strings, the Airline produced a grinding rock tone that many might prefer, but to me the bass cried out for flats. The lower-tension strings let the bass relax and the tone develop more naturally.

The neck humbucker is a beast. It surprised me with its high output and gargantuan tone, and it would fill out the bottom in classic rock, blues, country, reggae or any style where lowrider bass is appropriate. Played with a pick, the Airline had a sound reminiscent of the early, hollowbody tone of Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh.

With the selector in the middle position, the voice narrowed a bit, but the improved articulation made the tone more suitable for faster, intricate lines, while it retained plenty of bottom. With a pick, you get a crisper attack that works well for palm-muted licks. The bridge pickup alone produced incredibly tight tones that might be too thin to support a band, but they’re great for solos and become super nasty when you add a little overdrive.

THE BOTTOM LINE

The Eastwood Airline Map bass is an ultra-cool looker that has all the charm and tone of a retro classic with dependable modern construction.

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