“Bessie” was born from a swamp ash body, finished in butterscotch blonde. Her neck is hard rock maple with an lndian rosewood fingerboard, frets are medium 50’s vintage style, dot markers made from pāua abalone shell, topped off with a bone nut. The leather pickguard is made by Edison’s friend, Chris Caroll, who also made the guard on Walter Trout’s custom guitar. The pickups come courtesy of Heartland Tone, designed by Joel and made to 50’s specs. Edison says, “thanks to my team, Bessie is born to play the blues”.
Edison has been building guitars for nearly 40 years. He attended the Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery (guitar making and repair) in Phoenix and spent time in the shop of Topeka guitar legend Dan Falley. Edison has contributed several guitars to Jam4Dan fundraisers, given his guitars to many blues musicians, and this is his FOURTH guitar donated for the benefit of the Topeka Blues Society
