I'm bringing back this thread to show some pics of the completed Edwinson Performance SC/MS Baritone guitar. This one stands (almost) alone in my entire 21 years of building guitars, in being a multiscale Baritone, with a scale length spread of 26.75"-27.5". This could be called a short-scale baritone, as it can be strung with regular medium gauge strings, or a heavier set of Baritone strings. With Mediums, it plays great in D-Standard, down to C-standard. Baritone strings will take it down to B or A. So it's a pretty versatile scale spread, and should be awesome for either standard intervals, or any of a broad number of open tunings.
Right out of the starting gate, it has a big, airy, expressive voice, aided and abetted by the Mastergrade Cocobolo and the silky, amazingly responsive German Spruce top. It has amazing clean sustain, great evenness across the range, a large, spherical projection, and lots of overtones already developing. Just picking a simple E minor- A minor- B7 pattern sounds deep and profound! I think once it's played in a bit, this guitar will be one of my best sounding guitars ever.
I wish I had been able to hang onto this guitar for awhile longer and explore everything it can do, but it was already way behind deadline, and I didn't want to make Tim wait any longer for it. He's been so patient and kind, it was important to get this guitar in his hands before the end of the year. I shipped it off to him this morning, and it is due to arrive at his front door on Wednesday afternoon. I hope it's not delayed!
Here are some photos of the newly Fledged Performance MS Baritone:
This is one of the most beautiful specimens of Cocobolo I've ever seen. I'm so glad Tim chose this set for this guitar. This is his third Edwinson guitar, and he more than merits something this special.
The mosaic theme of the rosette is repeated throughout the rest of the guitar, including the segmented back inlay, the back of the neck, the heel, the end graft, and the 12th fret inlay. That mosaic mash-up at the 12th fret is meant to depict chaos resolving into order... Or, a random idea manifesting into tangible reality.
The headstock on this guitar is the Omega style, which I designed for multiscale guitars. The main functional aspect of the Omega is having straight string pull from the nut to the tuner posts. I think this improves tuning accuracy, by not dragging the strings around a divergent path. Plus, I think it looks pretty cool too. It's been very popular with my custom build clients since I designed it in 2016.
Another repeating element on the guitar is the blue Azurite stone, encircled by copper rings, inlaid into the back, the neck, and fingerboard fret markers. There are also blue purfling lines throughout.
I'm very happy with the way this guitar turned out. Hopefully, Tim feels the same about it. I owe him a great debt of gratitude for his kindness, patience, and generosity, as long as I've known him.
Thanks for looking, folks!
12-13-2021, 09:44 PM
