The dust has settled, the solvent evaporated, the contacts are solid and clean. Got down to the final set up on Earth II today.
This was the second build using a lot of curly maple I’d been trucking around for 20 years (yes… 20 years). 5 piece neck through design, 25.5” scale, 24 frets, Dusenberg les trem II, hand made p/u surround, … it’s got about everything I could throw at it.
While similar in construction to Earth I, better balanced and a chunkier neck up towards the nut. I achieved “fast” with earth one, but wanted more meat by the headstock… it just seems to add to my expression in that area.
The heel is wonderful and gives full access without sacrificing strength. The strap button on the upper horn is a tiny bit inboard from where I want it giving a bit of nose dive but miles better than the SG type nose dive on Earth I.
The volute, which I’ve never minded as some do, sits right where it needs to be but doesn’t impede chord formation or movement at the first fret. I think on the “for sale” version, I’ll likely reduce the headstock dimensions a bit, cut the headstock angle by a few degrees and bring the A,D,G,B tuners in a bit. I’m not super concerned about my playing but I can see some heavy angles up there. As nice as they look, they could cause issues for other players.
Likely out of sentimentality, I wanted as much tonal control as I could have. Will I use it? Probably. Will it be worth it? My playing is always a question. Having grown up playing a 58 Gibson ES225 TDC and graduated to a 62 Les Paul Standard, I did an awful lot with those guitars. In fact, I still play the 58 regularly and love everything it does. However, the one thing I can’t shake is the lack of a middle single coil. I’ve never owned a Strat but have played a ton of them and that single pickup has nearly swayed me a thousand times. So there it is. The boost? I don’t know. I’ve played a lot of BC Rich guitars as well and found places for it consistently.
The tremolo, well… I had that crappy sideways on my 62, a slightly nicer Lyre on my 66 SG Custom and somehow, I miss the hell out of it. Also, it melts my cold, old heart to think of how long Jeff Beck must’ve spent playing with his tremolo. Dude had a vocabulary that shocked me when I finally heard it through. I’m no Jeff Beck which is good and bad (Rest easy, Brother) but, I know I’ve found use for the trem before. It’s a little more sustain suck on a lot of guitars but the sheer mass of this design keeps it ringing. .. and being a Dusenberg, if I don’t like it, pull the roller bridge and tremolo and bop a stop bar and ABR type bridge on there and it’s gone.
Anyway, back to other setups, repairs and whatnot. The next full hand built will be a lil more standard… and for sale. (6 guitars is enough for one schlep). Likely a combination between this and Earth I.… maybe a set neck? Whaddya think?
Custom Job 
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