Anyone out there with an Eastwood/Univox Hi Flyer?

For guitars of the straight waisted variety (or reverse offset).
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Salfaromeab
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Anyone out there with an Eastwood/Univox Hi Flyer?

Post by Salfaromeab » Sat Jun 28, 2014 3:09 pm

I'm looking at getting an Eastwood Hi Flyer Phase 4 sunburst, the one with P90s and a trem. Thing is, I can't find any shops that stock them, so I can't go and try one out, and reviews online are pretty scarce. So, if anyone here has one, whats it like? Would you recommend one? Is there any reason I shouldn't run out to ebay and buy one right now?

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Thanks in advance!
Last edited by Salfaromeab on Fri Jul 04, 2014 2:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Anyone out there with an Eastwood Hi Flyer?

Post by cyclopean » Sat Jun 28, 2014 4:04 pm

how does this compare to the sidejack?

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Re: Anyone out there with an Eastwood Hi Flyer?

Post by Salfaromeab » Sat Jun 28, 2014 4:15 pm

cyclopean wrote:how does this compare to the sidejack?
Sidejack has a set neck, tilted back headstock, a TOM bridge, binding, and a more 'Morsite' shape, rather than 'Mosrite cop copy' shape, if that makes sense. It also has regular soapbar P90s, the ones on the Hi Flyer look to be humbucker sized(?)
I think the german carve around the edge is different too.

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Re: Anyone out there with an Eastwood Hi Flyer?

Post by Con-Tiki! » Sat Jun 28, 2014 7:31 pm

The first hi-flier reissues they offered were terrible. Hopefully these are better. They at least look the part. Body-shape is closer.
Personally, I would take the same $ and buy an original. I had a phase 1 and loved it.
(Christopher, also)
I've been to one World's Fair, a picnic, and a rodeo, and that's the stupidest thing i ever heard come out a pair of headphones.

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Re: Anyone out there with an Eastwood Hi Flyer?

Post by Salfaromeab » Sun Jun 29, 2014 12:40 am

Con-Tiki! wrote:The first hi-flier reissues they offered were terrible. Hopefully these are better. They at least look the part. Body-shape is closer.
Personally, I would take the same $ and buy an original. I had a phase 1 and loved it.
This is something I would do, but I've had the same problems finding a Univox that I had finding an Eastwood, if not worse. I've been able to find a grand total of one original Hi Flyer for sale in the UK, but its been modified, and its a phase 3 with humbuckers, and I'd prefer a P90 model.

I could get one from the US, but I'm not willing to risk it getting damaged in shipping, or pay the cost of importing it here.
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Re: Anyone out there with an Eastwood Hi Flyer?

Post by sumlin » Tue Jul 01, 2014 2:10 am

Salfaromeab wrote:
Con-Tiki! wrote:The first hi-flier reissues they offered were terrible. Hopefully these are better. They at least look the part. Body-shape is closer.
Personally, I would take the same $ and buy an original. I had a phase 1 and loved it.
This is something I would do, but I've had the same problems finding a Univox that I had finding an Eastwood, if not worse. I've been able to find a grand total of one original Hi Flyer for sale in the UK, but its been modified, and its a phase 3 with humbuckers, and I'd prefer a P90 model.

I could get one from the US, but I'm not willing to risk it getting damaged in shipping, or pay the cost of importing it here.
I have 3 Hi Fliers, they all came from the USA and they cost me less than an Eastwood. None of them arrived with any problems whatsoever. The import cost is 17.5% of the agreed value. Get the sender to write "Japanese Guitar $150" in the customs declaration and you'll pay under £30 to import it.

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Re: Anyone out there with an Eastwood Hi Flyer?

Post by Salfaromeab » Tue Jul 01, 2014 7:19 am

sumlin wrote:
Salfaromeab wrote:
Con-Tiki! wrote:The first hi-flier reissues they offered were terrible. Hopefully these are better. They at least look the part. Body-shape is closer.
Personally, I would take the same $ and buy an original. I had a phase 1 and loved it.
This is something I would do, but I've had the same problems finding a Univox that I had finding an Eastwood, if not worse. I've been able to find a grand total of one original Hi Flyer for sale in the UK, but its been modified, and its a phase 3 with humbuckers, and I'd prefer a P90 model.

I could get one from the US, but I'm not willing to risk it getting damaged in shipping, or pay the cost of importing it here.
I have 3 Hi Fliers, they all came from the USA and they cost me less than an Eastwood. None of them arrived with any problems whatsoever. The import cost is 17.5% of the agreed value. Get the sender to write "Japanese Guitar $150" in the customs declaration and you'll pay under £30 to import it.
How is the Hi Flyer to play? I know its supposed to be very light an thin, but what is the neck like on a one? Also, how well does it stay in tune? I can see myself using the trem a lot...

Just found a Phase 3 on eBay for the low, low price of $7500.
What.
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Re: Anyone out there with an Eastwood Hi Flyer?

Post by Mad-Mike » Tue Jul 01, 2014 11:00 am

I can chime in on the originals and how they play. The First guiter I played when I moved to Seattle was a Univox Hi-Flyer....same spec as Kurt's burst ones pre-modification.

They have a very original tonality to them, being somewhere between a Humbucker and a Strat Single Coil in timbre, with the highs of the single, but the lower mids of a humbucker, very grindy sound with distortion on it. It has that Mosrite twang.

They are very thin guitars, the body, as I recall, was thinner than my 66' Fender Mustang, and the neck is pretty skinny too. Tremolo unit is pretty good though it does have the whole string-unraveling thing Jazzmasters and Jaguars do though (the one I was playing only had five of it's strings on it, the High E unraveled on the guy who played it before me). I remember the frets are also pretty low and thin, and the action was pretty good on it as well, good enough for me to play a few bars of some Metallica songs during my trial run.

This was one of the ones that got away, I wish I'd bought it, the Guitar Shop was asking $325.00 for it, it was gone 2 days later when I went there for strings.

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Re: Anyone out there with an Eastwood Hi Flyer?

Post by Salfaromeab » Tue Jul 01, 2014 12:43 pm

Mad-Mike wrote:I can chime in on the originals and how they play. The First guiter I played when I moved to Seattle was a Univox Hi-Flyer....same spec as Kurt's burst ones pre-modification.

They have a very original tonality to them, being somewhere between a Humbucker and a Strat Single Coil in timbre, with the highs of the single, but the lower mids of a humbucker, very grindy sound with distortion on it. It has that Mosrite twang.

They are very thin guitars, the body, as I recall, was thinner than my 66' Fender Mustang, and the neck is pretty skinny too. Tremolo unit is pretty good though it does have the whole string-unraveling thing Jazzmasters and Jaguars do though (the one I was playing only had five of it's strings on it, the High E unraveled on the guy who played it before me). I remember the frets are also pretty low and thin, and the action was pretty good on it as well, good enough for me to play a few bars of some Metallica songs during my trial run.

This was one of the ones that got away, I wish I'd bought it, the Guitar Shop was asking $325.00 for it, it was gone 2 days later when I went there for strings.
Thanks man, glad to hear about that 'Mosrite' sound, sort of what I'm leaning towards after two weeks solid of Man Or Astro-Man?
Plus the Nirvana connection, too.

Since I don't have a chance to try one out beforehand, and I've only played a handful of 'old' guitars in shops, how does the neck compare to, say a Mexican Standard Tele or Strat?

Still struggling to find a Phase 2, even with international sellers. Oh well, the hunt continues!
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Re: Anyone out there with an Eastwood Hi Flyer?

Post by Con-Tiki! » Tue Jul 01, 2014 3:25 pm

I would say closest to a thin 60's strat or tele, but still different.
I found mine to be totally civilized, tuning was good, the tiny frets very vintagey but I like that.
Thin, lightweight, great sound.
Mine had the p90's and the twin rockers, which was the only thing i didn't love. They were noisy and "clicked" audibly.
(Christopher, also)
I've been to one World's Fair, a picnic, and a rodeo, and that's the stupidest thing i ever heard come out a pair of headphones.

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Re: Anyone out there with an Eastwood Hi Flyer?

Post by Salfaromeab » Fri Jul 04, 2014 2:45 pm

Con-Tiki! wrote:I would say closest to a thin 60's strat or tele, but still different.
I found mine to be totally civilized, tuning was good, the tiny frets very vintagey but I like that.
Thin, lightweight, great sound.
Mine had the p90's and the twin rockers, which was the only thing i didn't love. They were noisy and "clicked" audibly.
Thanks for the insight, I can imagine the rockers being a bit weird. They always looked weird to me, anyway.

Expanding the field slightly, is there anyone out there who can say anything about Hallmark guitars? Specifically the 60 Custom?

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Re: Anyone out there with an Eastwood/Univox Hi Flyer?

Post by secondhand » Wed Sep 13, 2017 12:57 pm

Zombie thread!!!

If you still are looking for some imput...
I have all 3 guitars
Eastwood Phase II
Univox Phase II
Hallmark 60


The Univox, to me, is one of the best guitars (period) I have ever picked up. I love the neck shape and low frets. The tone is bright and versatile. It is spanky and twangy when I want it or airy and acoustic-y. I do a lot of tweeking the vol and tone knobs. Maybe I got super lucky that mine delivers in the sound and play-ability department.

The Hallmark feels nice and the build is refined but I can't get the action low enough. I find the pickups are too dark. I put in 500K pots and still think they are too dark. Will try 1 meg. I bought one of these before and sold it off because of the dark tone. I bought my current one to try some mods to change up the tone but now am stymied by the set up issues.

The Eastwood is not any good at all. Everything about it is sloppy and generic. The trem doesn't work for shit. The sound lacks everything that makes a guitar fun to listen to. If it had a bolt on neck one could consider a swap if they are crafty. Trem is a replica of the original so a straight swap for a Fender style unit would require mods as well. The thing is a boat anchor as well. I wish I hadn't wasted the money.
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Re: Anyone out there with an Eastwood/Univox Hi Flyer?

Post by mkt3000 » Wed Sep 13, 2017 6:47 pm

Here's my old Univox on the day I got her during a business trip in Arizona. It's one of the lightest guitars I've ever owned, and one of the most comfortable necks ever.

I definitely regret getting rid of it.

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