Eastwood Sidejack Pro JM Review

Cost: $1099.00 new but look for savings HERE from Reverb

Can’t thank Michael from Eastwood Guitars enough for also sending this surf rock meets punk rock monster!

Overview and Final Score: 8.2

Inspired by the Mosrite guitars made famous by Johnny Ramone, Eastwood’s Sidejack Pro JM is marketed as an exciting alternative to Fender Jazzmaster guitars. Much like all of Eastwood’s vintage, pawnshop inspired offerings, this guitar mixes modern playability with historical design and aesthetics. With some familiar features such as a Jazzmaster-style bridge and 25.5 scale length, the Sidejack is sure to feel less foreign than it looks.

Sound: 7

Featuring two Eastwood designed M90 pickups, the large single coils do sound like a lovely mix of Jazzmaster pickups and more traditional P90’s. However, Ramone fans should take notice this is not just a copy of Johnny’s guitar, which featured a Tele-style bridge pickup and a neck mini humbucker. Overall, the guitar is capable of producing some great tones, including treble-rich surf tones via the bridge and middle positions on the 3-way selector. However, as you creep up in gain, the guitar begins to sound a bit thin. This should be expected as they aren’t overwound P90’s or even the Gibson-style ones that helped create punk rock. However, once boosted with pedals such as a Tube Screamer or DS-1, the guitar’s overdriven tone started to improve. At the end of the day, don’t expect to push the tubes on your amp hard with just this guitar. The neck pickup was incredibly muddy, something I was surprised about in this price range, making most of the tone knob settings useless.

Playability: 9

The action came just a bit too high on the guitar, another surprising observations for a $1000+ instrument, but otherwise, the guitar’s playability was smooth and comfortable. The guitar featured a Fender-like C style neck which felt really familiar and easy to play. The medium jumbo frets came well polished and sanded, and played with ease all over the neck. The nice thing about this vintage Mosrite shape is the easy access to the upper frets, something that even more “shredder” or “lead”-friendly guitars sometimes lack. The guitar is deceptively large and heavy, something more slighter framed guitarists may want to avoid, but the body does not feel as bulky when played sitting down.

Finish and Construction: 9

One of the upsides of that heavy, large body is how sturdy it feels. Despite its size, which is closer to an ES-335 than to a Jazzmaster, the guitar is fairly thin, with a slightly raised top that feels great. Furthermore, a lot of the sustain, and full bodied clean tone of this guitar likely comes from the weight of the tone-chambered Alder body and German carved top. The sunburst finish was spotless, but I much prefer the look of the natural finish, and I assume they all come with similar quality. This guitar is certainly going to wow audiences with the shape and color options available.

Value: 8

Ultimately, this is a top notch instrument with killer looks and unique tones that will suit indie rockers or surfers best. Considering the M90’s lack some of the aggression of more traditional P90’s, punk and rock players should be aware that it will take help from boosts, drives, and distortions to really shape the guitar’s tone. With only a few small issues such as high action, and a muddy neck pickup, the guitar is arguably a little bit overpriced to not be more finely set-up out of the box, or well balanced tonally. Of course, these are more minor issues, which is why it is still a good value and should definitely be worthy of serious consideration if you’re looking for a Jazzmaster or similar alternative.