Musik Indonesia

Most new guitar companies are focused on creating low-cost products, while a few are firmly committed to serving the high-end market, whose well-heeled players are willing to spend more than $2,000 on a high-quality instrument, as long as it delivers something that is truly inspiring. The new Eternity Guitar Company combines both attributes by manufacturing inspirational instruments at all price levels. While its lower priced products are made in China, Eternity’s high-end instruments, like the Master Custom Legend ET that I reviewed this issue, are designed and built in the United States by master luthier John Carruthers, a legend in the guitar community.

FEATURES

Carruthers rendered the ET’s body in ash and used a superior chambered design that allows the wood’s full tonal characteristic to shine while it avoids the pitfalls of a semihollow design. The guitar’s two alnico-magnet pickups are custom wound in-house to accentuate the body’s full lows and smooth balance. Likewise, the heavy-duty cast hardware supports a controlled tonal response that is free from feedback-causing overtones.

The ET has a bolt-on “C”-shaped lacquered maple neck. It’s not a fat stick, but it’s substantial enough to stabilize the body’s resounding resonance when the strings are hit hard. The rosewood fingerboard has 22 frets and a flat, 14-inch radius that accommodates modern styles. The compensated scale length maximizes intonation accuracy, and fretwork and setup were outstanding.

PERFORMANCE

Don't let the Eternity’s familiar shape and pickup layout fool you—the guitar sounds nothing like a Telecaster. To the contrary, it’s loud and reverberant; warm, mellow and particularly clear tones are this guitar’s forte. Unlike a lot of chambered-bodied guitars, the ET is capable of stout, thumping power chords and firm chunky lows. These qualities remain even when the guitar is used with distortion, and no matter what I did, it was impossible to make the ET feed back or sound noisy. The neck pickup was very open, round and devoid of the muddy tone and thin highs associated with similar-looking pickups. Bridge pickup tones were gutsy and fat, with no honking midrange.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Eternity's Master Custom Legend ET is for the player who wants a Telestyle guitar that has the punch of a solid body and the subtle echoing resonance of a chambered design. The flat fingerboard, long-sustain and exceptionally well-behaved pickups are aimed at flattering modern styles and equipment.

Originally printed in Guitar World, December 2008

Eternity's Master Custom Legend ET is for the player who wants a
Telestyle guitar that has the punch of a solid body and the subtle
echoing resonance of a chambered design.