Masterbuilt Magic from Otto D’Ambrosio and the California Coast
From the minds of Eastman Guitars’ master builder Otto D’Ambrosio and his team of top-notch luthiers, the SC’52 Lollartron emerges in an ode to the California coastline, character, and heart of rock ’n’ roll. As a member of the D’Ambrosio series, the SC’52 Lollartron is an instrument of unwavering craftsmanship and a dedication to a unified vision of the solidbody electric guitar’s future. The groundbreaking FullerTone neck carve and its 2-bolt, long-tenon construction conjure heaps of resonance and sustain, rivaling set-neck designs while maintaining the feel and versatility of a bolt-on axe. Premium tonewoods comprising Phoenix Pine and flat-sawn roasted maple that both come straight from Oregon culminate in a musically complex foundation that soars to daring sonic heights via coveted hand-wound Lollar Special T and Lollartron pickups from Jason Lollar. Utilizing top-tier hardware sourced from around the globe, this rock-solid 6-string is teeming with style and substance, leaving Sweetwater’s Guitar Gallery aghast at its marriage of powerful, pliable sound and uncompromising master-grade craftsmanship.
Sonic foundation to fulfill an unwavering vision
Aiming for nothing less than the best, Eastman and Otto understand that a solid foundation is essential, and no effort has been spared with the SC’52 Lollartron. It all starts with the body made of Eastman’s Phoenix Pine. This variety results from Eastman’s and Otto’s efforts to give the trees victimized by Oregon’s wildfires a second life, rising from the ashes like its namesake. Sonically, pine is prized for its pliability, offering resounding warmth and focused voicing across the spectrum. Though it’s teeming with musicality that shares properties with basswood, alder, and swamp ash, it’s something entirely its own.
Serial 25112
Serial 25112From Oregon, a flat-sawn roasted maple neck supplies full-spectrum clarity, smoldering warmth, and natural note-separating capabilities that ensure every chord, riff, lead, and lick is articulated with discerning definition. Up top, a roasted maple fretboard multiplies these properties, further expanding the scope of performance possibilities that lie dormant within the SC’52 Lollartron, waiting for the right player to take up its adventurous mantle. For added panache, the pearl-silhouetted headstock logo is inlaid on an additional piece of flat-sawn roasted maple with a matching step-down bevel.
Hand-wound pickups from Jason Lollar
In a bid to leave no sonic stone unturned, Otto and Eastman sought to outfit the SC’52 Lollartron with a sound befitting its out-of-time and globetrotting aesthetics, and one name answered the call: Jason Lollar. Jason and his team’s lauded US-built pickups are hand-wound, and the guitar’s dyad of tone-crafting tools supplies heaps of versatility across its distinctive SH layout. The neck-mounted Lollartron is a humbucker with musical magic that channels a fabled ’63 hollowbody for its baseline. For singing trebles that prioritize your notes’ fundamentals and a full-bodied tone that bridges power and presence sans mud, the Lollartron is a malleable force of vintage-inspired panache that reacts sensitively and with nuance to your every flourish.
Mounted in the bridge position is a Lollar Special T. Like its single-coil sibling, the Royal T, the Special T pulls from the best of S- and T-style sounds but was explicitly crafted for bridge-mounted deployment and angled for optimal performance. Opposite to the Royal T’s chimey brightness, the Special T is darker and hotter, channeling the spirit of mid-century Fullerton-era character. It keeps your mids focused via the mild yet impactful bump to the compression on the midrange frequencies. Low-end presence is enhanced by its brooding and smoldering profile, while highs are smoothed over and refined, preserving definition while eliminating any cloying or piercing. This pickup pairing evokes a distinctive character with a wealth of vintage style, reimagined to hit harder and darker while maintaining power and precision. The Gavitt single-conductor wiring features vintage cloth, powering 250K CTS pots for the Master Volume and Tone controls, with Orange Drop Sprague capacitors and a Schaller Megaswitch 3-way selector collectively offering a suite of sonic-contouring capabilities that’s always on tap.
Serial 25112
Serial 25112Worldwide support for uncompromising control and quality
Otto’s uncompromising commitment to quality took him around the world. Japanese-built Gotoh 510 tuners were selected for their resonance-amplifying properties, thanks to the adjustable poles that his team refined to deliver the perfect string pull. Strings are guided through a hand-cut, unbleached bone nut, traversing a 25.5-inch scale and ending at the nickel-shaded Gotoh BS-TC1 bridge. A celebrated entry in Gotoh’s In-Tune series, each saddle is fully reversible, yielding more precise intonation and unwavering stability that eclipses vintage-style construction. What’s more, each saddle can be used in any position, expanding the brilliance, harmonic depth, and near-endless sustain of the titanium-brass assembly.
Collectively, these methodically selected appointments — alongside the resonance-focused construction of the 2-bolt, long-tenon neck system — elicit sonorous performances across all 24 frets that sprawl the fingerboard’s 12-inch radius. What’s more, the roasted maple used in the neck was chosen for its increased dimensional stability and expanded harmonic character over non-roasted maple, while its FullerTone Medium Round–shaped profile adapts to players of myriad styles, comfortably supporting unceasing speed, precision, and control. By using roasted maple, the SC’52 Lollartron is more resilient to the elements and less likely to succumb to warping or twisting, resulting in more time with the music and fewer trips to the workbench.
The D’Ambrosio difference
Eastman’s D’Ambrosio series guitars emerge through the pioneering vision of master builder Otto D’Ambrosio, paying homage to the California home that inspired him to build the future of the solidbody electric guitar. Across single-cut, double-cut, and offset models, Otto and his team of top-tier luthiers channel the ineffable ethos of the “Eureka” state’s evocative coastlines. Amid Otto’s bid for aural innovation, the groundbreaking FullerTone neck beats at the heart of this progress. It utilizes a 2-bolt, long-tenon design that redefines the interrelationships of resonance, sustain, tone, and energy that culminate in a guitar’s sonic profile, with neck-to-body contact being an unrivaled three times greater than conventional bolt-on designs. Every instrument in the series is anchored to swamp ash or Phoenix Pine.
Serial 25112
Serial 25112The latter is sustainably salvaged from Oregon wildfires to give the timber a second life, rising from the ashes, while the former is selected for its naturally lightweight properties, invoking the saccharine resonance that’s commonly reserved for rare, sought-after vintage instruments. From here, California guitar-scene mainstay Wildwood MF deploys its celebrated approach to woodworking via CNC-fueled precision. Then, boutique pickup purveyor Jason Lollar endows each instrument with hand-wound heat. Sourcing Gotoh 510 tuning machines from Japan, brass blocks for MannMade USA tremolos, and the patented brass-and-stainless-steel pairing and construction method of Halon Vibrola tailpieces from Athens, Greece, D’Ambrosio series instruments capture an unrivaled fusion of vintage-inspired, time-tested quality, with modernist-aligned design philosophies. You’re getting a masterclass of craftsmanship, quality, and character that brings an uncompromising vision to life, resulting in a guitar greater than the sum of its parts. This is the D’Ambrosio series.
Eastman Guitars SC’52 Lollartron Features:
- Handbuilt in CA by master builder Otto D’Ambrosio
- Cutting-edge neck-to-body construction includes 30% greater contact than traditional bolt-on approaches, amplifying tone, sustain, and stability
- Phoenix Pine body repurposes wildfire-felled Oregon lumber for a 2nd life of sonic refinement that’s warm, flexible, and focused across the spectrum
- Flat-sawn roasted maple neck and roasted maple fingerboard, both from Oregon, endow your sound in full-spectrum brightness and ember-like warmth with natural note-separating accuracy
- Hand-wound Lollar Lollartron humbucker and Special T single-coil pickup yield a versatile mix of dark presence, smoldering heat, and vintage-inspired style
- Schaller Megaswitch 3-way toggle, Orange Drop Sprague capacitors, Gavitt single-conductor wiring (with vintage cloth), and 250K CTS pots ensure high-resolution sound shaping
- Neck and fretboard have a hand-rubbed gun oil finish for rich, adaptable audiovisual aesthetics
- Medium Round–shaped neck accommodates players of numerous styles, with satisfying in-hand heft that supplies comfort, control, and precision
- 12-in. fretboard radius dovetails into the body’s single cutaway for uncompromising access to all 24 frets that span the 25.5-in. scale
- Roasted maple neck features increased dimensional stability to bolster it against twisting or warping, making it an ideal tour titan
- Hand-cut, unbleached bone nut keeps your sounds buzz-free
- Japanese Gotoh 510 tuners feature adjustable poles to guarantee rock-solid stability and support ideal string pull
- Gotoh BS-TC1 bridge features In-Tune saddles, built from brass and titanium for rich harmonics, near-endless sustain, and all-around brilliance with exacting intonation
