mattharris75

Yeah, I've already checked that. My forearm lays nicely across the middle of the upper bout. The way I'm going to carve this thing, it should be quite comfortable. The body will be very narrow where the forearm passes over the body. The way the guitar sits relative to my body, at least in a seated playing position, makes it almost feel like an 'ergonomic guitar'.

Made a little progress the last few days. This past week I worked on getting the body edge sanded. It's 95% of the way there now. Decided how I'm going to handle the heel area, rough cut and sanded that, then cut the neck pocket. I now need to clean up the body around the neck pocket area, and get the extra material cut away. Also made a paper pattern that gives me a rough idea of how I plan on handling the pickguard. The top edge of the pickguard will change depending on exactly how the carve turns out on that edge of the guitar. The plan for this week is to 100% finish the edge sanding, and get a control cavity template made, and by next weekend get the 1/2" 45 degree bevel cut around the entire body. Then it will be ready for finishing up the pickup cavities and the additional body carving. You can get a general idea of where I'm leaning for the carving based on some of the pencil lines on the body. I'm actually starting to think now, believe it or not, that this is going to turn out to be a pretty cool little guitar.

You guys are confirming what I had been thinking. I've never carved a guitar with sharp bevels before, I've always been into the really organic look. Oh well, I guess I got myself into this mess by drawing up the sharp, pointy, metal version of the Corvus.

I'm having a bit of a dilemma, and would love a few opinions. I'm trying to decide whether or not to use a roundover bit on the edges and do smooth carves, such as the original Corvus, or use a chamfer bit on the edges and do the carving flat and precise. What do you guys think would look best, based on this particular take on the Corvus body? I am really torn. This 'flying by the seat of your pants' building is kind of fun, usually I have these things completely decided and laid out before any wood gets cut. Also, as far as progress is concerned, I've got the body edges sanded mostly smooth, I'll get that 100% finished tonight. I've also got everything drawn out on the body blank, dimensionally accurate and just about ready to begin drilling/routing cavities.

Looking great. The tuner shelf looks like it was meant to go there. I think a black neck on this build would definitely give you the 80's vibe you're looking for.

The pic shouldn't be stretched. Do you mean that it looks lengthened from an original Corvus design? It's possible it's slightly longer, but not by much. I imagine the somewhat different proportions are playing tricks with your eyes. I spent last night watching NIT basketball and partaking of some fine Russian River brew. So, tonight I'll get back on this and work on getting the body smoothed out and start working out the design kinks.

I like the neck joint. Glad to see it worked with ferrules for you. I was hoping to be able to contour that area quite a bit, but figured I wouldn't be able to use the original mounting holes in the neck if I did so. No big deal I suppose. I'm still debating between that approach and making a custom neck plate that follows the design of the guitar. We'll see. Looking forward to seeing how the headless tuner setup works out on this.

Thanks guys. More progress. This weekend I got the 3 plates for the body blank joined, then got the blank glued up, as seen in the first picture. I printed out my full sized pattern, fussed with it for a bit, then got it traced onto the blank and bandsawed the body shape (Picture 2). I've done a little spindle sanding to remove a little extra stock and start getting things smoothed out a bit, but still have quite a way to go with that. I'll continue to work on that this week. Once I got that done I grabbed the bridge and neck and threw everything together to get an idea of how it's going to look (pictures 3 & 4). I'm quite pleased with it so far. A couple issues I'm still thinking about. How far do I want to set the neck into the body? Honestly, a regular bolt-on neck with this body style just doesn't seem to be a good idea aesthetically. But, Gibson did it, and so can I. The deeper I set the pocket the less of a protrusion from the smooth curve of the top of the body I will need. Of course that will dictate upper fret access somewhat. I also would prefer not to use a neck plate, but don't believe I'll have enough real estate to use neck ferrules, so I need to do something a bit creative and make a custom neck plate that fits the design of the guitar or something of that nature. Anyone have any opinions on either of these issues? Also, continuing this from an older topic in the tools section, this was the first time I've used my new bandsaw on a 2" thick hardwood blank. It performed admirably, although I think I still need to tweak the tracking and blade guides, and buy myself a better blade than the crappy stock piece. All things considered it left a smooth and square cut, as can be seen on picture 2. So, Avenger, it's not quite re-sawing 6" maple stock, but I think that set up correctly, this saw would have no problem with that. Enough chatter, on to the pics:

I just got back from vacation yesterday and have begun my Corvus Build-off entry. Yes, I'm calling it the Telus, and yes I realize that is the name of Canada's phone company. To me it sounds like it could be the name of a Greek god, it has elements of 'Tele' and 'Corvus', and I was just in Canada 2 days ago, so it all works together. My plan is to do a modern interpretation of the Corvus shape, and combine it with Telecaster 'innards'. I do have a design plan, as shown in the image below, but I will be playing it by ear somewhat. I'll print out and cut out the shape in paper, but will not make a template, rather using a spindle sander until I get the body where I like it. The design is still very much up for interpretation, and I will play with it as I go, but this gives me something to shoot for. The extra lines seen in the design plan are the carving lines for the front and back. This may be the aspect of this build that is most likely to change. I'm using a mid-ninties MIM Fender Tele neck and electronics. The body will be a sandwich of hard ash, walnut, and hard ash. It's going to be roughly 2" thick. The weight of the ash and the thickness should help offset the neck-heaviness inherent in this design. The grain will be filled with black epoxy and finished with a matte Tru-oil finish. The pickguard will be matte black plastic. Today I got all the body wood cut, planed, and jointed. I'll begin gluing things up this evening. On to the pictures:

As far as finishing with Tru-oil goes, it does sink back a bit, but that is not dis-similar to nitro lacquer. I've had best results by finishing it with a 50/50 top coat once the layers underneath are perfectly smooth, then just buffing with the finest grits of micro mesh sanding papers. Tru-oil will show witness lines, so you do have to be careful about buffing/sanding through a layer when doing final finishing.

Thanks for the info. I'm going to have to give this a try, if not on a guitar than at least on a furniture project. All your builds make me want to hop in the car and drive up to your shop to check all your stuff out in person.

Orgmorg, I really love the finish/texture on the back of this guitar. I have seen this same finish on the back of some of your other guitars. I was wondering, how do you achieve the mottled texture, and what finishing process do you use?

Matt LOOKS like he's in, but hasn't come out and said it yet. (hint hint) I'm in. I'm already drawing up some ideas. I'll be in Victoria, British Columbia until next Thursday, so you won't hear anything from me until then, but I am officially in.

I am in complete agreement with Drak's previous post. People need to run with this as a starting point and see where creativity takes them! That's what will really make this fun and interesting! I guess it's what I've been trying to say in my previous posts, but I haven't expressed it quite so clearly.

Frankly, this is all for fun, and if anyone takes it so seriously that they would rail on you for building a nicer guitar and going 'over budget' because they so badly want to win, well then they've got other problems. I say you build it to whatever spec you want to, and if you beat me, so be it. I'd rather have you in the competition and building what makes sense for you from a financial/business standpoint than not have you in the competition at all. Of course I can't speak for everyone, but that's how I feel. I hope that this competition brings out some creativity, and that we see a wide variety of ideas about what a Corvus can be. Whether that's a high spec finely crafted instrument or someone deciding to build it from parts they found in the trash, it's all about doing something cool and interesting. I think that given the shape that we're working with, people will be inspired to take a lot of different approaches, and I don't think that somebody that spend a thousand bucks has an advantage over someone who spends fifty bucks in this particular case. This is almost like a high concept guitar art competition. We're not seeing who can 'out-bling' each other, we're having fun while creating something cool and different.

Wez, just converting pounds to dollars doesn't really portray an accurate picture of cost, to me. Sometimes things are just more expensive in different parts of the world, regardless of monetary conversion. I don't see why the budget, or any rule for that matter, has to be that strict. People should follow the 'spirit' of the rules rather than the letter. This is just for fun anyway, it's not like we're competing for a cash prize or something. I don't think we have to worry too much about people going overboard on building a 'corvus'.

Can't wait to see how this one turns out. Looks like it's going to be very impressive!

Do we need to commit to this by this weekend? I'm definitely leaning towards participating. However, I'll be out of the country and away from the net for close to a week starting Friday. It's been too long since PG has had a build-off, even a failed one.

That may influence me to participate. I have some hardware laying around, and a rather interesting take on the 'corvus' in mind...Although it depends on the final rules. I won't be using exotic wood, but there's no way i'm painting a guitar a solid color! Also, in my mind, another month would be very helpful. I'd prefer the build to be relaxed and fun rather than stressing over getting it finished.

I'd LOVE to. Wanna work out a deal for you to make me a headless neck? I think it's time that you step into neck building. It's not that hard, and very rewarding. BTW, Wez, the union jack scratch plate looks killer!

Cool! I'd love to see whatever you come up with.

I'm guessing the answer is a no on this one? That's a shame. I may have to give Kirei a try next time I build a bass.

I was watching a TV show recently and saw Kirei board for the first time. It's an interesting looking material that is basically a pressed sorghum plywood with the grain exposed on the face. I was curious if anyone had ever seen an example of a guitar or bass made with a Kirei top. It looks like it could be a really cool looking top on a funky modern single-cut bass or some other similar application.

Erik, got my fretboards today. They look amazing! Can't wait to use them, thanks for everything!

Here you go. My first guitar. Walnut body with a maple/walnut/maple laminate neck, rosewood fretboard bound with curly koa. 25.5" scale, P90 pickup, etc, etc. As long as you take your time, do your research, be methodical, and don't rush steps, you'll be fine. Enjoy the journey, don't get too fixated on the destination. Good luck, and have fun!