Howie Escape Series Baritone #EB.4.95.23

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This 2023 Escape Series Baritone guitar is made from hard maple, cherry, West African ebony, and curly maple. As with all our Escape Series guitars, it has our U.S. patented Nautilus Shell chambering giving it the unique Howie resonance and tone. It has a 24-fret Ebony fingerboard with a scale length of 29in. The board has a compound radius of 19.4in at the tail down to 12in at the nut.

The shape of this guitar’s hard maple neck is what we call the Howie Medium Line. At the nut the depth is 0.9inches and at the 12th fret it is 0.96in. It was modeled to be as shallow as possible while still maintaining the strength needed for a baritone guitar. It’s not super thin like a 1960s Gibson ES330, and it’s not super “baseball bat” thick like a 1950s Les Paul. It’s right in the sweet spot in the middle. The width at the nut is 1.68inches. At the tail it is 2.2inches.

I chose a unique combination for the pickups on this guitar. The neck pickup is Seymour Duncan’s Jazz humbucker. It has an alnico 5 bar magnet and a special coil wind giving it an articulate, glassy treble response that balances very well with its full, but tight low end. The midrange is scooped which gives it a buttery smooth tonal character. The bridge pickup is Seymour Duncan’s 78 model humbucker. This pickup was created when Seymour Duncan experimented with Eddie Van Halen in 1978 to make a pickup that brings out artificial harmonics and is also wound very hot. The result is a very clear and crisp tone with biting leads. Add to this that I added switches that will coil cut each humbucker for a sweet single coil sound.

The hollow/chambered body design of this guitar makes it incredibly light for a baritone weighing in at just 6.8lbs. Compare this to a typical Les Paul weighing in at 9 to 12 pounds.

The finish on this guitar was done with a catalyzed urethane that is normally used on automobiles. This high-end urethane dries very fast and hard allowing fewer coats and a thinner finish.

The rest of the nitty gritty details are all listed below….

  • Series: Escape Baritone

  • Serial # EB.4.95.23

  • Birthday: 4.30.23

  • Main Body Wood: Cherry

  • Top Body Wood: Curly Maple

  • Neck Wood: Hard Maple

  • Peghead Veneer: Curly Maple

  • Fretboard: Ebony

  • TR Cover: Curly Maple

  • Weight: 6.8lbs, 3.08kg

  • Carve Type: 0.5in Fibonacci

  • Scale Length: 29in, 73.66cm

  • Nut Width: 1.68in, 4.27cm

  • Tail Width: 2.20in, 5.59cm

  • Neck Depth @ Nut: 0.9in, 22.86mm

  • Neck Depth @ 12th: 0.96in, 24.38mm

  • Fretboard Radius: 19.42in to 12in, 49.33cm to 30.48cm

  • Fret wire: 0.09in, Stainless Steel

  • Neck Angle: 3.16deg

  • Torsion Angle: 0deg

  • Neck Carve: Howie Medium Line

  • Peghead Angle: 8.5deg

  • Pickups: Seymour Duncan (78 bridge, Jazz neck)

  • Tuning Machines: Hipshot Locking Gold

  • Nut: Bleached Bone

  • Truss Rod: Custom

  • Bridge: Kluson ABR Wired

  • Tail Piece: Gotoh Stop

  • Strap Pins: Gold

  • Strings: S.I.T. Power Wound Baritone

  • Inlays: White Mother of Pearl, Abalone

  • Pup Rings: White Offset

  • Side Dots: Abalone

  • Knobs: White Speed

  • Finish: DC 2000 Catalyzed Urethane