2012 Eastman MD 814 Mandolin

Eastman MD 814 Mandolin, 2012, S/N: 120930066

This is an Eastman MD 814 Mandolin. It is an F-style mandolin with an oval soundhole. The F-style features include a solid carved Adirondack spruce top, a solid carved flamed maple back with solid  flamed maple bent rims. The neck is a three piece laminate construction in flamed maple with a mahogany center strip. The fingerboard is ebony with 12” radius, abalone dot markers at the fifth, seventh, tenth, twelfth and fifteenth frets, with a total of twenty three frets. It is triple bound in Ivoroid. The scale length is 13 ⅞.” and the nut width is 1 3/32.” The headstock is triple bound in Ivoroid with the Eastman logo stenciled in gold, an ebony truss rod cover and gold Gotoh tuners with pearloid buttons. The top and back are bound in Ivoriod with black and ivoroid purfling on the top, sides and back.

The rosette has two rings, the inner ring is a single layer of Ivoroid and the outer ring has Ivoroid diamonds inset into a black background in between two Ivoroid lines. The bridge is an adjustable rosewood replacement for the ebony original. A cast tailpiece in chrome completes the top. The interior is braced in an “A” pattern with two parallel tone bars with a supporting cross brace. 

This mandolin has been very well cared for, with a small dent in the top near the bass foot of the bridge and a scratch at the bottom edge of the back being the only notable damage. The previously mentioned replacement bridge is the only notable modification.  

This instrument just received a fresh setup from our mandolin tech and it very much has the voice described in Eastman’s literature: throaty and vocal.