Help! Earthwood acoustic basses

[littleroots]

Hi folks,

I'm new here - good place! Am currently a student of stringed instrument making and, for next year's project, was thinking about making an acoustic bass guitar. By all accounts the only ABG to hold it's own acoustically with other instruments was the Earthwood and I thought I would have a go at making a similar instrument.

From the archives on here I have found some info on materials and some pics that will allow me to estimate sizes etc but have a few questions.

Were the 12 fret to neck models 34" scale?

There is a youtube video that appears to feature one with a 17 fret to body neck - was that a 34" scale too?

The neck looks like a bolt-on, any idea how
this was achieved and what form the bracing took?

Any help much appreciated,

Tim

 

[Marco]

I have an Earthwood that I received with some bridge and bracing issues. I happen to live near a guy, Ron Saul who was involved with building the Earthwoods way back in the beginning and he is now a luthier and a repair genius. He was super cool in bringing the bass back to life and I could tell that he was sentimental about the bass too. He might be really helpful with some building info. Other than BP, I don't think anyone knows more about the basses than him. I sent you a PM of his number.
Mine is a 34" scale and the neck is a normal 3 screw bolt on although it has a tilt adjustment screw. I have no idea about the bracing. It sounds amazing. Super loud, dynamic and thumpy.

 

[Marco]

Some more!

 

[maddog]

Marco, way awesome to share those pics! Nice bass!

good luck Tim. Let us know how it goes.

 

[oddjob]

Marco, that rules!

 

[fly]

you're a lucky man marco.......

 

[Marco]

I do feel lucky to have it. The story behind it is worth the hijack so I'll share. About a year ago, the bass was listed on Ebay for a BIN price under $400. I couldn't believe it, there must be a missing zero or something although it stated it was unplayable due to the bridge and bracing issues. I clicked away as fast as I could, thinking it's a fretless Earthwood in one piece, anything is fixable. A little later the seller contacts me and said he mislisted the bass and he was sorry he wouldn't sell it to me for that price, he was going to relist it. I figured it was a mistake anyway. Whatever.

About 2 weeks go by and I never saw it relisted. Then the seller contacted me and said he was a religous man and his concious had been killing him. His original listing price was not a mistake (he didn't know about the Earthwood magic)but between the time of the listing and my purchase, he got wind of what the last 2 Earthwoods sold for on Ebay and was going to recorrect the BIN price. But despite that, he couldn't bring himself to relist it and he sold it to me.

So I got a broken Earthwood on the cheap, the Earthwood was restored to it's previous glory and the seller kept his honor. It was beautiful.

To top it off, I met a fellow, Ron Saul, who worked on the Earthwood project from the beginning (he still had the jigs and stuff) and got to see him resurrect the bass to it's present glory.

Without question, the bass, lives up to the hype. It's very loud and full and it sounds like an upright. Plus they're beautiful. The body, fretboard and headstock all have binding. And it's fun to play!

 

[littleroots]

Thanks for the information and the great story! Any more data on the construction of the Earthwoods still appreciated.

Tim