Delta 6 Eastwood Guitars – Two Guitars In One

I bought this guitar almost a year ago. I was very intrigued by the result of such instrument. I knew the traditional Dobro guitars, but I’ve never seen hybrid guitars like this one, a sort of mix between a 335 Gibson and a resonator guitar.

I love this instrument. I am far from being a traditional blues guitarist by any means. This guitar is traditionally designed to play the blues and to use a bottleneck. Even though I love this kind of music, I do not play it. This is not my cup of tea. As you can see in videos posted on this site, I’m jazz rock or jazz fusion type of guitar player. Call it whatever you want, it doesn’t matter. Let’s just say that I do not use this guitar as the majority of guitarists who play it.

In my case, I use the Delta 6 as a semi-acoustic guitar, among others. I love the opportunities that allow the combination of two Pickups: Piezo and traditional. I appreciate that the pickup switches have been replaced by a blend pot to mix both pickups.

Eastwood Guitars are specialized in vintage guitar remake. The Delta 6 is the reproduction of the Mosrite Californian built in the 60s. The policy of this company is to reproduce instruments from the past, but with the quality of today’s hardware, and also by improving the craftsmanship as much as possible. What makes them sound better than the original guitars they copy. You get the vintage look and sound with the performances of modern instruments. Sound quality and playability.

I especially love the neck pickup, a P90 from Gibson. I use it for conventional guitar sounds, that is to say, clean or crunch. Even if it’s a P90, the sound is totally different from a regular hollow body. It sounds especially good with a crunch sound, and surprisingly, there’s no feedback despite the huge opening of the resonator. I use a lot of effects with this guitar and they all do very well. The only effect I do not use is a heavy distortion box. With heavy distortion, the guitar starts feed-backing and even if I manage to block the Larsen, the sound is not too good … Given the amount of guitar I own, this is not a problem. 🙂

The 50-% mix Piezo/P90 setting is very close to an acoustic guitar. Wish is particularly great. Just changing the blend pot setting, and you switch from an electric guitar to an acoustic guitar. That offers a non-negligible advantage. Ie; softer strings and playing styles impossible on a real acoustic.

The Piezo volume is much lower than the neck pickup. This can easily be adjusted by simply adding a booster or a compressor, to compensate volume differences. This is the most traditional sound of this guitar. It allows you to play with a  Dobro sound and style. This is perfect for playing with a bottleneck.

I really like this Piezo pickup to play the blues or to get a sound close to a banjo, depending on pedals used. I’m also able to get dirty sound using the Piezo. This is very interesting, although I do not use it often. I play regularly in solo using the p90 neck pickup and a 50% Piezo/P90 setting for rhythmic or acoustic parts. I also like to use a Zoom A3 to increase the acoustic sound.

I subtitled the article: “two guitars in one,” I should have written “three guitars in one.” An electric guitar, acoustic guitar, and dobro.

In addition to the demo video, I recorded a piece featuring the Delta 6.
I wrote this composition almost 20 years ago, just before returning from Canada.
I immediately thought it was the perfect guitar for this song.
You can listen to my unconventional use of the Delta 6, and see by yourself that this guitar sounds amazing, even if I don’t use it for what it’s make for.
You can listen to the song Bad Habit by following this link.

Delta 6 details

• Body: Laminated Maple
• Colors: Sunburst, Black
• Pickups: P-90 Neck, Piezo Bridge
• Switching: 1 Volume, 1 Tone, 1 Pickup Blend
• Controls: Blend Pot
• Bridge: Trapeze Tail
• Neck: Bound Maple, SET Neck
• Finger Board: Rosewood, Dot Markers
• Scale Length: 25 1/2″ (648mm)
• Width at the Nut: 1 5/8″
• Hardware: Gotoh style Style Nickel/Chrome
• Strings: #9-#46
• Unique Features: Spider Resonator Cone with Piezo Bridge Pickup

Some links to get the Delta 6 Eastwood Guitars

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• Eastwood Delta 6 Guitar – Sunburst @ Amazon

Pictures & video: Hervé Senni

Delta 6 Eastwood Guitars Demo – Resonator Hollow Body Guitar

This post is also available in: French