Inside the Warren Ellis Series: Eastwood's Most Iconic Collaboration
by Ellen Angelico
If you’ve ever seen Warren Ellis play, you can tell there’s something special about him. The energy he puts into his performances is almost alien, like he’s tapped into some kind of cosmic spirituality. He’s known for his work with boundary-pushing rock groups Dirty Three, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, and Grinderman. He’s an accomplished film scorer, a critically acclaimed author, and even opened a wildlife sanctuary in Indonesia. This is a guy whose creativity is so vibrant and powerful, it can’t be contained.
It only makes sense, then, that his instruments would be as innovative and original as the man himself. Eastwood’s Warren Ellis Series was born out of several conversations between Ellis and Eastwood Guitars president Mike Robinson. Ellis wanted an electric tenor guitar with a wide fingerboard and a big sound. Robinson was initially skeptical about the market for such an unusual instrument but decided to trust Ellis and bring the concept to life.
Almost 15 years later, the Warren Ellis series is one of Eastwood’s most popular and has expanded to include everything from basses to mandolins. The designs are inspired by folk and classical music traditions, but they are anything but stodgy. They’re guaranteed to spark creativity. Read on to find the Warren Ellis Series instrument that’s right for you!
Warren Ellis Tenors: For Those About to Experiment, We Salute You
Tenor guitars are where it all began for Warren Ellis and Eastwood. This first collaboration is still one of our most popular: the Warren Ellis Signature Tenor. This simple, beautiful design set the course for all Warren Ellis instruments to follow. It’s got a single pickup—a specially-voiced blade single coil in the neck position—with just volume and tone controls. Per Ellis’s specs, it is tuned G-D-A-E (low to high) and has a 1 5/16” nut width to accommodate his wild bending technique. It was a tenor like none other when it came out, and it’s still inspiring players to this day.
Sometimes you can't beat the original. It's the Warren Ellis Signature Tenor.
An instrument with a single neck pickup was perfect for Ellis but many players craved more versatility, so Eastwood released the Warren Ellis Tenor 2P. Built on the same great body shape, it adds a warm-sounding mini humbucker in the bridge and individual on/off toggles for each pickup. Today, this model is the cornerstone of Eastwood’s tenor lineup: excellent playability, an electronics setup that can do it all, and a full-featured left-handed version.
The Warren Ellis Tenor 2P is available in a host of cool finishes.
Following the success of these tenor designs, Eastwood sought to delve deeper, literally, with a tuning one fifth below standard tenor tuning. Enter the Warren Ellis Tenor 2P Baritone, which took the Tenor 2P and increased the scale length to 26” to accommodate a lower C-G-D-A (low to high) tuning. The Warren Ellis Tenor 2P Baritone also comes in a left-handed version. Baritone tenor tuning not expansive enough for you? Try the Warren Ellis 5, which adds a high E string to the tuning. Between the fifths and the extended range, this instrument is a great fit for classical, heavy metal, and jazz. We love seeing where these instruments take players’ creativity.
The very handsome Warren Ellis 5 in repose
Warren Ellis Mando Family: Welcome to the Jangle
Tenor guitars aren’t the only fretted instruments traditionally tuned in fifths. There are also mandolins! Mandolins have the same tuning as tenor guitar, but an octave higher and with pairs of strings tuned in unison courses. Of course, when it was time for the Warren Ellis Series to expand into the mandolin family, there was no need to hew to tradition. Take the Warren Ellis Octave Mando. The design is just like the Warren Ellis Tenor 2P—including the 23” scale length—but with octave courses on the G, D, and A strings, and a unison course on the E string. Think of it as a “12 string” version of the Warren Ellis Tenor 2P: all the tonal versatility folks have come to love with a little extra chime.
It only made sense to offer the “mando” treatment to the Warren Ellis Tenor 2P Baritone as well, and that’s why Eastwood released the 25” scale Warren Ellis Mandocello. This instrument has the same rich, deep tone of a tenor baritone with a little extra sparkle on top from the octave courses on the C and G strings (The D and A strings feature unison courses). Naturally, this tone machine was too cool to let righties have all the fun, and a left-handed version is available in the classic Vintage Cream finish.
When it came to making an actual mandolin in the Warren Ellis Series, Eastwood took a slightly anti-chime approach and removed the unison courses for the Warren Ellis Mandostang. The result is a super clean, streamlined mandolin design. Having four individual strings instead of courses makes this instrument easy to keep in tune, and it’s a great fit with wild effects and distortion. Mandolin players who dare to step into the tonal world of electric guitar should take a close look at the Warren Ellis Mandostang.
The Warren Ellis Mandostang also makes a comfy couch instrument!
Warren Ellis Guitars: Keep on Rippin’ Into the Future
Guitars are our bread and butter here at Eastwood, so eventually it was time to add some good ol’ six-strings to the Warren Ellis lineup. Eastwood took the design of the Warren Ellis Tenor 2P, keeping the 23” scale length but expanding the nut width to 1 9/16” to accommodate two more strings. It’s a narrow nut and short scale length by guitar standards, which makes the Warren Ellis 6 a super fun instrument to pick up and play. Don’t be fooled by its size, though—this is no toy. It’s built to the same quality standards as the rest of the Warren Ellis lineup: professional, playable, and inspiring.
The Warren Ellis 6
Slide guitar virtuoso Ry Cooder is a cutting-edge musician just like Warren Ellis, and Cooder popularized modifying Strat-style guitars with gold foil pickups in the neck and lap steel pickups in the bridge. With the Valco branded Lap Steel String-Thru Humbucking pickup in mind, Eastwood designed a guitar with this now-classic pickup combination, and the Warren Ellis Series was the perfect foundation. Meet the Warren Ellis CDR, a 25 1/2” scale length six-string guitar that sounds fantastic played slide or fingerstyle. Players especially love the feel of the roasted maple neck. Its medium C shape and a soft satin finish feel like an old friend the moment you get it in your hands.
The Warren Ellis CDR
Rounding out the Warren Ellis lineup is the Warren Ellis Bass Guitar. Eastwood describes it as putting the “guitar” in “bass guitar,” and it’s easy to see why. It has a short 30 1/2” scale length and a narrow 1 1/2” nut width, which will not feel prohibitively large to guitar players, as some bass models can. It features a bass-voiced version of the Warren Ellis blade pickup, which sounds great through a bass amp but comes to life when paired with effects and played like a guitar. The Warren Ellis Bass Guitar (also available left-handed) weighs in at a back-friendly 8lbs, so you can go ahead and say “yes” to that four-hour set.
Ready to Take the Plunge?
Just like the man himself, the Eastwood Warren Ellis Series is not for making the same-old, same-old music. These instruments are for sonic adventure and experimentation. While Eastwood is perhaps best known for recreating vintage designs, the Warren Ellis Series represents the future of musical instruments: engineered for creativity and exploration, with everything you need and nothing you don’t. If you’re ready to shake up your sound and get inspired, take a closer look at the Warren Ellis Series at Eastwood.