Confessions of a former Earthwood fanatic
I had an Earthwood, purchased in 1989, I think, from House of Musical Traditions in Takoma Park, MD. Based on the serial number and a couple of emails to Sterling Ball, it was one of the last made in 1985. While it was great for an ABG, it is still an ABG with all of the problems inherent with trying to get an acceptable bass resonance from a body that small (yeah, I said small in the same paragraph describing an Earthwood). It certainly had a distinctive sound and was quite the head-turner. Compared to other ABG's I've played, it was better by leaps and bounds - still the best mass-produced ABG.
I kept the bass for over ten years but three things prompted me to eventually get rid of it:
-Size: really uncomfortable to play for long periods (and I'm a big guy), impossible to find a decent case, and tough to even get a stand.
-No cutaway: probably the real achilles' heel for this instrument. Virtually impossible to play above 12.
-Pickups: the hot dots were probably the bomb in the mid 80's, but sounded like crap to me.
While I know a couple of these problems could have been fixed via modification, I felt the instrument was much more valuable as a collector's item than a gig-worthy instrument. So, off to Gruhn it went. As it happens, I was just on the phone with a custom builder friend of mine (David Berkowitz) discussing the design for my next ABG...
bacoo
