Justin Townes Earle signature guitar
Nashville, TN — Recording King’s collaboration with the late Justin Townes Earle on a special edition signature model is available now, with royalties going to JTE’s wife and daughter.
Recording King developed the Justin Townes Earle Signature model in direct collaboration with Justin before his passing in 2020. Lovers of his percussive style will be able to recognize his dry, woody tone from the first strum.
“We’d been working on this project with Justin since about 2012,” says Artist Relations Director Ashley Atz, “He’s such a great songwriter, I think sometimes his guitar playing didn’t get enough attention, but he was a killer guitar player. He could play bass, rhythm and lead on just one instrument, so he needed a guitar that was really dry sounding with really short decay, to make room for the upper register lead-style stuff that he was playing.”
The classic small-body tone of the JTE Signature starts with the solid Sitka spruce top. RK’s exclusive CrossLap bracing gives it extra tight bracing tolerances, allowing the top to resonate more freely for outsize projection.
JTE loved the early RK Dirty 30s guitars, and specifically requested the traditional floating bridge and gold tailpiece for his signature model. To reflect his style and attention to detail, Justin outfitted his signature model with gold hardware (tailpiece and tuners), tortoise body binding and tuner buttons.
JTE’s carefully selected parts all combine for an elegant, attention-grabbing guitar with dry, vintage-sounding quick decay, particularly well-suited to Justin’s frailing-hand style of play.
For players who appreciate Justin’s artistry, the JTE Signature offers the perfect combination of vintage small-box tone with one-of-a-kind style.
Each instrument includes 3 JTE signature collector’s cards with classic lyrics delivering a message from Justin himself.
Atz says “We were so sad he didn’t get to actually see and hold the finished product before he passed, but I can tell you this, he’d be so excited right now to know we finally got this across home plate.”
