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Mandolin

Eastman MD315

Name: Eastman MD315
Brand: Eastman

Eastman · MD315 F-Style Mandolin

Price: 999 EUR – 1.019 EUR

Price history

Cheapest seen Most expensive seen

Availability: 2/10 (Very rare)

Eastman's step into F-style: the same hand-carved solid spruce top and maple back/sides as the A-style MD305, but in the scrolled, pointed body shape bluegrass players associate with the mandolin's classic sound.

Where available? Go to the best price – 1.006 EUR About this instrument

About the Eastman MD315

The MD315 shares its tonewoods and core construction with Eastman's entry-level MD305 - a solid, hand-carved spruce top over solid maple back and sides - but moves to the F-style body: the scrolled upper bout and two points at the lower bout that define the bluegrass mandolin silhouette established by Gibson's F-5 in the 1920s. The extra body cutting doesn't change the top's vibrating area much, but it is more labor-intensive to carve and finish, which is most of what separates F-style pricing from A-style.

Neck, scale and hardware carry over from the MD305 spec sheet - maple neck, ebony fingerboard at a 12-inch radius, 13 7/8-inch scale, bone nut - with the added F-style scroll requiring more precise carving around the tighter curves. Finish is satin rather than gloss, ivoroid binding runs around the top with a maple headstock inlay and pearl dots, and a single-acting truss rod lets the neck relief be adjusted, something not universal on mandolins at this price.

Where to buy

Platforms

eBay 1 Reverb 2

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Reverb 1.006 EUR Best price View details
eBay 1.019 EUR View details
Reverb 1.021 EUR View details

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Source: https://reverb.com/item/94977911-eastman-md315-f-style-mandolin-w-gig-bag-classic-finish-serial-n2401566

Sound character of the Eastman MD315

Tonally this sits very close to Eastman's A-style MD305: same solid hand-carved spruce top and solid maple back/sides, so the same bright, articulate, sustain-rich bluegrass mandolin voice. The F-style scroll and points are mostly a visual/labor difference - they don't meaningfully change the vibrating top area - so the extra cost buys the classic silhouette, not a different sound.

Bright Resonant Crisp

Technical data for the Eastman MD315

Top	Solid spruce, hand-carved
Back/Sides	Solid maple
Body style	F-style
Neck	Maple
Fretboard	Ebony, 12" radius
Scale length	13 7/8"
Truss rod	Single-acting
Finish	Satin

Price history for the Eastman MD315

Cheapest seen: 999 EUR · Most expensive seen: 1.019 EUR

Cheapest seen Most expensive seen

The history of the Eastman MD315

The F-style shape itself traces back to Lloyd Loar, Gibson's acoustic engineer who designed the Gibson F-5 in 1922 - the archetype nearly every F-style mandolin since has followed; Eastman's MD315 brings that body shape and hand-carved-top construction to a price point well below a vintage or Gibson-built F-5.