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Reverend Charger 290
Reverend Pete Anderson Eastsider T
VS
Playability
72
Sound
78
Build
62
Value
76
Score
71
FIND IT ON:
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Playability
72
Sound
80
Build
70
Value
74
Score
74
FIND IT ON:
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Reverend Charger 290 vs Pete Anderson Eastsider T

Reasons to Get
Reverend Charger 290 over Pete Anderson Eastsider T

Tone Knobs
2 vs 1
More tone control
Pickups
P90P90 vs SS
Vintage tone with decent versatility
Value Score
76 vs 74
Better price/quality relationship

Reasons to Get
Reverend Pete Anderson Eastsider T over Charger 290

Weight Relief
Yes vs None
Lighter Body
Compound Radius
10" to 14" vs 12"
Balanced playability for chords and single-notes
Pickup Mods
Phase Out vs None
Interesting thin tone when combining pickups
Pickups
SS vs P90P90
Beautiful cleans
Avg. Weight
7.25lbs (3.3kgs) vs 7.925lbs (3.6kgs)
Tends to be lighter

Other Key Differences
Reverend Charger 290 vs Pete Anderson Eastsider T

Bridge Pickup
9A5 Bridge vs Talnico Bridge
Different Bridge Pickup
Neck Pickup
9A5 Neck vs Talnico Neck
Different Neck Pickup

Shared Features
Reverend Charger 290 vs Pete Anderson Eastsider T

Body Wood
Limba
Same Body Wood
Neck Wood
Roasted Maple
Same Neck Wood
Fretboard Wood
Rosewood
Same Fretboard Wood
Headstock
6
Same Headstock
Nut Material
Boneite
Same Nut Material
Strings
6
Same playing style
Body Type
Solid Body
Feedback free
Switch Positions
3
Same pickups versatility
Volume Knobs
1
Same volume control
Number of Frets
22
Same maximum octave
Neck Thickness at 1st Fret
0.85'' (21.6mm)
Same neck comfortability
Neck Thickness at 12th Fret
0.9'' (22.9mm)
Same neck comfortability
Nut Width
1.693'' (43mm)
Same string separation at the nut
Paint Finish
Poly
Resistant paint that ages well
Bridge
Fixed
Good sustain and needs no set-up
Scale Length
25.5'' (647.7mm)
Same string tension and fret separation
Pickups Power
Passive
Cleaner sound and no battery needed
Neck Profile Type
C
Comfortable neck that works for most people
Neck Joint
Bolt-On
Allows you to detach and swap the neck
Type of Frets
Jumbo
You won't feel the fretboard when pressing down the strings

Common Strengths

  • Locking Tuners
  • High-Quality Nut
  • Top Pickup Brand
  • Expensive Wood

Common Weaknesses

  • Neck-Through Build
  • Stays in Tune (Evertune)
  • High-Quality Frets
  • From a High-Quality-Standards Country
  • Luminescent Sidedots
  • Strap Lock
  • 21:1 Tuner Ratio
  • Active/Passive Preamp

Table of Contents

Price History Comparison

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SET PRICE ALERT

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Which One is Better Overall?

After going through our comparison algorithm, the results show that the Reverend Pete Anderson Eastsider T is probably the better product overall with its final score of 74 compared to the Reverend Charger 290's 71 score, although not by a lot.

The Reverend Pete Anderson Eastsider T wins when it comes to sound, build quality. On the other hand, the Reverend Charger 290 has the upper hand when it comes to value for the money.

If you got small hands, none of these instruments will make a big difference when it comes to comfortability.

Which One is Better for Beginners?

If you're looking for your first guitar to learn how to play, the Reverend Pete Anderson Eastsider T is the better choice.

The Reverend Pete Anderson Eastsider T meets 6 out of our 8 criteria items for beginner friendliness, while the Reverend Charger 290 meets only 4. This takes into account the type of frets, scale length, nut width, bridge type, fretboard radius, and neck profile to determine the easiest combination for new players.

New Player Friendliness

Reverend Charger 290
  • Easy-to-use bridge
  • Locking tuners
  • Tall frets
  • Comfortable neck
  • Comfortable shape
  • Comfortable fretboard
  • Narrow nut
  • Short scale

New Player Friendliness

Reverend Pete Anderson Eastsider T
  • Comfortable shape
  • Easy-to-use bridge
  • Locking tuners
  • Comfortable fretboard
  • Tall frets
  • Comfortable neck
  • Narrow nut
  • Short scale

Nevertheless, when it comes to choosing an instrument, you should pick the one more compatible with your personal style. Still, below we'll try you to give you our results as objectively as it's possible to help you decide.

Reverend Charger 290 Overview

  • From Reverend's 2021 Bolt-On series
  • Made in South Korea
  • 6 strings
  • 25.5"'' scale
  • 12" Fretboard Radius
  • Korina body
  • Roasted Maple neck
  • Rosewood fretboard
  • Bridge pickup: 9A5 Bridge (Single Coil/Passive)
  • 1 volume and 2 tone Dome knobs
  • 3-way Switch
  • TOM with Stop Tail bridge
  • Medium Oval Bolt-On neck
  • 22 Jumbo frets
  • Reverend Pin-Lock tuners
  • Weight between 7.45lbs (3.4kgs) and 8.4lbs (3.8kgs)
  • Compare Specs >

Reverend Pete Anderson Eastsider T Overview

  • From Reverend's 2021 Signature series
  • Pete Anderson Signature
  • Made in South Korea
  • 6 strings
  • 25.5"'' scale
  • 10" to 14" Fretboard Radius
  • Chambered Korina body
  • Roasted Maple neck
  • Rosewood fretboard
  • Bridge pickup: Talnico Bridge (Single Coil/Passive)
  • Neck pickup: Talnico Neck (Single Coil/Passive)
  • 1 volume and 1 tone Dome knobs
  • 3-way Switch
  • String-Thru-Body Hardtail bridge
  • Medium Oval Bolt-On neck
  • 22 Jumbo frets
  • Reverend Pin-Lock tuners
  • Weight between 7.15lbs (3.2kgs) and 7.35lbs (3.3kgs)
  • Compare Specs >

Sound Quality Comparison

The wood used in an electric guitar or bass is not as important to determine the final tone. However, some people prefer specific wood types, so we'll take a look at those first. Then, we'll take a look at the electronics to determine the versatility and sound quality of each instrument.

Woods Used in Both

Roasted Maple wood pattern used for guitar building
Roasted Maple
Rosewood wood pattern used for guitar building
Rosewood
Limba wood pattern used for guitar building
Limba

Roasted Maple is just maple without a finish. It's technically cheaper than regular maple, but it doesn't have any extra disadvantages because of this. The color is darker, and it's lighter weight and very stable even when there's a lot of humidity.

Rosewood is an almost purple-looking wood that is used mainly for fretboards since it's heavy, rare, and expensive. It's sometimes used on acoustic guitar bodies to create stronger warm tones. Find out more about Rosewood.

Limba is a relatively rare wood that shows exotic tight dark grain stripes. It comes in white or black. As a tonewood, it is comparable to Mahogany but with richer mids. Find out more about Limba.

Winner: Tie.

Pickup Configuration

The Reverend Charger 290 has an P90P90 configuration while the Reverend Pete Anderson Eastsider T has SS pickups.

P90P90 gives you two P90s for a crunchy vintage tone. The tone sits somewhere in the middle between typical single-coils and humbuckers. They also produce less hum than single-coils, but they don't cancel it completely like humbuckers.

On the other hand, SS is the classic Telecaster configuration. It's used mainly for playing clean or with low-gain distortion, and it's very popular for the country genre because of their brightness. It doesn't give you as much versatility as a Strat SSS configuration, but you might like the cleaner look of a guitar body with fewer pickups.

Pickups Quality

Both come with some of the top pickups on the market. You can't go wrong with either of them. You'll probably never need a pickup upgrade.

Both use Passive pickups. This is what's used for most music genres. They have a regular output and will serve you for both high-gain and clean tones. The alternative (Active pickups) offer a higher output that is mostly used for heavy music.

Winner: Tie.

Versatility Comparison

Some instruments offer you more ways to explore your creativity than others. Below you'll find how both compare when it comes to versatility.

Switch Options

Both are equal when it comes to the pickup switching option.

Only the Reverend Pete Anderson Eastsider T comes with some kind of pickup modification: Phase Out.

When the Phase Out option is activated, the pickups will ''work against each other'', meaning that they will cancel out their shared frequencies. The result is a very thin sound, instead of a full, rich tone. This is an interesting sound for genres like reggae or funk and has also been used in classic Hard Rock.

Reverend Charger 290 pickups switch and push knobs diagram
Reverend Charger 290's switch options
Reverend Pete Anderson Eastsider T pickups switch and push knobs diagram
Reverend Pete Anderson Eastsider T's switch options

When evaluating versatility, we also take into consideration bridge and neck joint type, number of frets, switch options, amount of pickups and more.

Winner: Reverend Pete Anderson Eastsider T.

Final Sound Quality Scores

Reverend Charger 290
Pickups 100
Sustain 75
Versatility 56
Tuning Stability 80
Sound 78
Reverend Pete Anderson Eastsider T
Pickups 100
Sustain 75
Versatility 64
Tuning Stability 80
Sound 80

Build Quality Comparison

When it comes to build quality, we like to take into account everything used to build the instrument. This includes materials, hardware and the quality control expected depending on the country where it was built. Let's see how the Reverend Charger 290 compares to the Reverend Pete Anderson Eastsider T.

Country of Origin

The manufacturing country can tell a lot about the build quality of an instrument. Both in this comparison where made in South Korea.

South Korea was for many years the number one choice for mass-producing semi-premium guitars. They can build excellent guitars for a cheap price. Now, it's less common to find Korean guitars because Indonesia has proved capable of building guitars just as well, but likely for cheaper.

Winner: Tie

Nut Material

If you want your guitar to stay in tune and sound good, you need a well cut nut. Nut quality can be inconsistent even when comparing two copies of the same model. The best way to make sure you're nut will be well done is by getting a nut made by an expert company like TUSQ or Micarta.

In this case, both have Boneite nuts. This is an artificial material made to imitate the favored type of nut: bone. This allows it to sound and feel pretty much like bone, but without the inconsistency of natural materials.

Fret Material

Most fret wire is made of nickel silver. This material eventually wears down after a lot of use and most instruments end up needing a complete fret replacement. However, some expensive models come with stainless steel frets. This is what you should aim for if you can afford it.

Unfortunately, none of them come with stainless steel frets.

Winner: Tie.

Bridge

The perfect bridge for you will depend on your playstyle because they all have advantages and disadvantages. However, some bridges are more expensive—like Floyd Roses and Evertunes—and thus add more value to a guitar.

Both come with a similar bridge: Fixed. It's a simple bridge that is very beginner-friendly since it doesn't require any set-up. You can swap strings easily. It might also give more sustain since it doesn't have complex moving parts that make the strings lose vibration. However, it doesn't have the same versatility as a tremolo bridge.

Since we need to be objective, the most expensive type of bridge will be the winner of this section. In the end, this doesn't matter if you're not going to use the bridge for its original purpose, so choose the bridge that fits your playing style better.

Winner: Tie.

Tuners

They both have locking tuners. They'll help to keep your guitar in tune because they allow you to tune it without wrapping the strings around the posts. This avoids variations in the tuning due to the strings changing position at the post after a bend. They come at the disadvantage of being slightly heavier than regular tuners. Also, it makes it a lot easier to restring.

Winner: Tie.

Neck Joint

Contrary to popular belief, the difference in sustain and tone that some neck joints give to a guitar is simply unperceivable—if they're all well built. However, some of them do have advantages over the others.

Both have a Bolt-On neck joint. This neck is joined to the body by 4 bolts that you can simply unscrew. This allows you to replace the neck or take it off for travel. It's the most common and cheapest way to build a guitar.

Winner: Tie.

Here is the list of features that were considered when choosing the winner in the Features subcategory:

Strengths & Weaknesses
Reverend Charger 290
  • Locking Tuners
  • Expensive Wood
  • Boneite Nut
  • Top Brand Pickups
  • Cheap Fret Wire (NS)
  • Made in South Korea
  • No Neck-Through Build
  • No Push Knob or Extra Switch Option
  • No Weight Relief
  • No Luminescent Inlay
  • No Tremolo
  • No Compound Radius Fretboard
  • No 21:1 Tuner Ratio
  • No Strap Lock
Strengths & Weaknesses
Reverend Pete Anderson Eastsider T
  • Locking Tuners
  • Expensive Wood
  • Boneite Nut
  • Top Brand Pickups
  • Phase Out Pickups
  • Weight Relief
  • Compound Radius Fretboard
  • Cheap Fret Wire (NS)
  • Made in South Korea
  • No Neck-Through Build
  • No Luminescent Inlay
  • No Tremolo
  • No 21:1 Tuner Ratio
  • No Strap Lock

Final Build Quality Scores

Reverend Charger 290
Quality of materials 56
Features 60
Quality Control 70
Build Quality 62
Reverend Pete Anderson Eastsider T
Quality of materials 56
Features 80
Quality Control 75
Build Quality 70

Playability Comparison

Let's now compare their playability. Bear in mind that the instrument will feel different depending on your hand size and play style. That's why you should always test before buying. But if you can't or want a second opinion on it, we can still take a look at each of the important measurements of the instrument for you. This way, we can predict how easy a guitar might be to play, or how different it will feel compared to the other.

Remember that, even though the difference might seem small, every inch counts when it comes to feeling of the instrument in your hands. Any variation can completely change how comfortable a guitar feels in your hands.

Nut Width

Reverend Charger 290 Nut Width
Both Guitars Have The Same Nut Width

The nut width will affect the separation between strings at the nut. In this comparison, both have a nut width of 43mm (1.693'').

This is within the most common range of nut widths for a 6-string guitar. It offers a good balance of string separation at the nut. It's the size that most guitarists prefer as it gives them just enough space to play open chords without muting the strings, but without spreading the strings too wide and making bar chords difficult to perform.

Scale Length

Reverend Charger 290 and Reverend Pete Anderson Eastsider T's Scale Length
Both have the same scale length

The scale length is one of the things that influences playability the most. This is the distance between the nut and the bridge and will affect everything from low action allowance, difficulty to perform bends, fret separation, and even tone.

In this case, both have a scale length of 25.5".

This is the scale used in most Stratocasters. It's slightly longer than the typical 24.75'' size found in Les Pauls, and it's one of the main reasons why Stratocasters have such a bright sound in general. A longer scale also means that the strings will have higher tension. This will help you get lower action without suffering fret buzz, which will also be helpful when playing in lower tunings without having to increase your string gauge.

However, this also means that there will be more separation between frets, which can make it more difficult to play. Also, bending the strings will require more strengths due to the increased tension, but remember that a tremolo guitar will offset this difficulty.

Lastly, remember that you can also affect the tension of the strings by changing your string gauge. You can use a thicker gauge for more tension and a lighter one for less tension.

Neck Profile

Reverend Charger 290 Neck Profile
Both guitars have the same neck profile

No single neck shape is better than others. However, most people tend to prefer a thinner necks because it doesn't get in their way when playing fast and most hand sizes can adapt to it pretty well. However, some people still prefer thicker necks for a better grip, especially if they have big hands.

Both the Reverend Charger 290 and the Reverend Pete Anderson Eastsider T have a C-shaped neck. This is what you'll find in most modern guitars. Most people feel like the thickness of a C neck is simply the less intrusive one for playing fast, while at the same time allowing you to grab the neck easily for resting if you want to.

Fretboard Radius

Reverend Charger 290 Fingerboard Radius
Reverend Charger 290's Fingerboard radius
Reverend Pete Anderson Eastsider T Fretboard Compound Radius
Reverend Pete Anderson Eastsider T's Compound Fretboard Radius

Most guitar fretboards are not flat; they usually have a curve or arc across their width. A curved fretboard will make it easier to perform chords without muting strings, while a flatter one will make it easier to play single notes, which is good for bending and soloing in general. The best fretboards have a compound radius that varies across the fingerboard, but they're not common since they take a lot more work to build.

In this case, the Reverend Pete Anderson Eastsider T is the only one with a compound radius. This is a huge win because it will give you the best of both worlds: a more curved radius in the first few frets for chords, and flatter as you come closer to the body for soloing.

Hand Size Comfortability

Everyone has a different hand size, and that's why it's recommended to try a guitar before buying, even if others tell you that it's comfortable to play. However, we can know whether a guitar favors small or large hands just by knowing its exact measurements.

After taking into account the scale length, nut width, neck profile and fretboard radius, we can conclude that both in this comparison are balanced for most hand sizes.

Reverend Charger 290:
Big Hands
Small Hands
Reverend Pete Anderson Eastsider T:
Big Hands
Small Hands

Fret Size

Reverend Charger 290 and Reverend Pete Anderson Eastsider T Frets Size
Both have a similar Jumbo fret size

Both have a Jumbo fret size. This is one of the tallest frets you can get. You won't feel the fretboard when pressing down the strings. It will give you the best sustain and all types of chords will be easier to play. However, you can end up changing the pitch of your notes if you press too hard, which is something people used to feeling the fretboard do when trying Jumbo frets for the first time.

Final Playability Scores

Reverend Charger 290
Bending & Vibrato Ease 85
Chord Playability 50
Solo Playability 80
Playability 72
Reverend Pete Anderson Eastsider T
Bending & Vibrato Ease 75
Chord Playability 60
Solo Playability 80
Playability 72

Specs Side-by-Side

Reverend Charger 290 vs Pete Anderson Eastsider T
General Reverend Charger 290 Pete Anderson Eastsider T
Brand: Reverend Reverend
Year: 2021 2021
Configuration: P90P90 SS
Strings: 6 6
Made in: South Korea South Korea
Series: Bolt-On Signature
Colors: Black, Blue, Green, Pink, Brown Burst Gold, White, Blue, Gray, Black Satin, Brown Burst Satin, Blue Satin
Left-Handed Version: No No
Body
Type: Solid Body Solid Body
Body Material: Korina Chambered Korina
Bridge: TOM with Stop Tail String-Thru-Body Hardtail
Neck
Neck Joint: Bolt-On Bolt-On
Tuners: Reverend Pin-Lock Reverend Pin-Lock
Fretboard: Rosewood Rosewood
Neck Material: Roasted Maple Roasted Maple
Decoration: Dots Dots
Scale Size: 25.5" 25.5"
Shape: Medium Oval Medium Oval
Thickness: 1st Fret: 0.85'' (21.6mm) - 12th Fret: 0.9'' (22.9mm) 1st Fret: 0.85'' (21.6mm) - 12th Fret: 0.9'' (22.9mm)
Frets: 22 Jumbo Nickel Silver 22 Jumbo Nickel Silver
Fretboard Radius: 12" 10" to 14"
Nut: Boneite Boneite
Nut Width: 43mm (1.693'') 43mm (1.693'')
Electronics
Bridge Pickup: 9A5 Bridge (Single Coil / Passive) Talnico Bridge (Single Coil / Passive)
Middle Pickup:
Neck Pickup: 9A5 Neck (Single Coil / Passive) Talnico Neck (Single Coil / Passive)
Switch: 3 Way 3 Way
Knobs: Dome Dome
Pickup Mods: None Phase Out
Volume Controls: 1 1
Tone Controls: 2 1