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I think you guys will dig this one. I give you: Crowhill Saturn 7 number 1. This is a body and headstock design by myself, and brought to life by Erik Smith/Crowhill Guitars. The body design went from a simple sketch to a full scale graphic template. Using these woods and designing something from ground up has been a desire for a long time. The level of detail I wanted was something that not many custom shops could offer. I was also looking for an intuitive builder with an open mind because I wanted the advice and knowledge of an experienced luthier. I found that with Erik. After looking at his other stuff, I wanted him to be able to adhere to his own style as much as fulfill my ideas. Never have I worked with a builder who had such naturally good ideas and the skills to pull them off. Sometimes I felt like we shared a brain on this build. I hate to throw that 'artist' term around sometimes, but it applies here. It was nothing but a pleasure to work with Erik from the first day to the last. He offered regular updates and addressed any concerns or issues along the way. He has a very laid back method but a work ethic that I've not often seen matched. If he told me something was being worked on that day, it was. His start date on the build was precise and the completion date was right on. Put it this way, it took Cedar Creek nearly as long to build the case for this guitar as Erik did to work his magic (building the case was the only thing Erik did not do himself). Just pure awesome all the way and quite possibly the best custom shop guitar experience I've ever had in all my years. I have not received all the nice studio pics from Erik yet so I went ahead and took a few of my own in too bright sun with my grossly inadequate skills and cheap camera. I've included a few of his studio pics too though.
Specs:
Burl Maple Top with Pink Ivory Stringers and Burl Maple headstock veneer with cutaway to reveal black limba neck underneath. Wenge secondary top, Wenge binding with bubinga accents around Pink Ivory Fretboard, 3-piece neck thru using limba and wenge with bubinga accents, black limba body sides. Abalone Virgo Sigil with Saturn Inlay, BKP Painkiller set with camo covers, Sperzel tuners, tone pros TOM bridge, Duncan straplocks, stainless steel frets, 3 way toggle volume, tone. Kill switch. Cedar Creek Form Fitted Custom Case.
Headstock:
I'm very happy with the design overall. Looks dangerous but has some class with the bevel reveal. It turned out more different from other similar designs than I thought it would. I will be totally content to use this design on #2.
Fretboard:
Beautiful and so freakin' unique. The feel is slicker than anything I've played on. It feels very dense and smooth and almost not like wood... perhaps that's why its called ivory. The color compliment between the pink and the burl is precisely how I envisioned. The binding looks great against it as well, which was something I was a little unsure of it clashing. Fretwork looks good and clean.
Inlay:
Done pretty much exactly as I pictured. Dig the Saturn and how its kind of purplish. The most awesome part of it is how Erik managed to get the perfect piece so it looks 3D shaded on one side.
Neck:
Here's a biggie. You can never know how someone is going to carve a neck on a brand you've never played. I gave some specs of what I like (love Carvin's neck profiles) and gotta say its very close. Its a more even profile end to end than a lot of stuff I've played, less tapered. As for the wood, looks lovely all over the place.
Thin layers of bubinga:everywhere:
I'm loving how it looks along the fretboard binding/headstock. I was just like whoahhhh.... what cool fine details. I like how it looks along the neck binding too.
Body:
1. There is so much going on that you could stare at this thing for hours on end and still see new little swirls and grains. The top is nothing short of the best, most gnarly, figured tops I've ever seen. Its mind boggling in its complexity and variance. Side to side it all looks matched, but there's all these little independent woody vortexes happening. The wenge was something I didn't guess how it would look. That's really unusual with how the body is beveled out and it almost gets a tortoise-shell appearance. I've never owned anything like this. The pink ivory stringers break it up interestingly but don't pop out too much. Dig the limba back side as well and its a great contrast and compliment to the top.
2. As for the shape, I can't think of much we could've done better to my liking. If we were to ever do another one of this shape, I might consider tweaking a curve or two on the lower wing end and/or making the entire body maybe 3/4 to an inch wider starting in the middle. I was going off a 6 string body so I probably should've done this to begin with. For those wondering, the body is pretty close in size & scale to a Jackson Warrior. It has more of a soft arch top, more than beveled. I'm not a fan of really hard lined arch tops and I like how smooth this is. It feels comfortable to lay my picking arm on. This is the sharpest guitar I've ever owned and I've owned some pointies. These points are SHARP.
Fit & finish:
I often look for attention to detail on buffing on pointy guitars because it seems like most people don't/can't get in all the tight spots very well but this is nicely attended to everywhere. I'm one of those people who looks for imperfections and potential problems. I noticed a little bit of a tool mark on the edge of the bridge pup cavity and there are small hand built imperfections and it struck me how rare it is to see that kind of thing nowadays with mass produced and cnc'd stuff. Its so cool to get something so epic that's 'new' and yet is really handcrafted. Erik's attention to detail is fantastic because I kind of expected more of those little hand imperfections and I can't find many.
Hardware:
Black looks great. Gold prob would have looked good too. Tuners look cool. Dig the heck out of the pickup look. They fit in very well with the top. Enough difference to not get lost, but mesh too. The handmade matching knob and switch tip were a nice little surprise, and that Erik actually included extras was great. That knob rolls smooooth. The kill switch is a fun little toy. Not something I needed, but I will find a diabolical purpose for it. Burl cavity cover. Neat. And that sucker is snugly fitted.
Play/Sound:
Never had the BKP's before. I find they have a bit too much bass through my rig, but at the same time they don't woof out, so not too bad. They are more articulate with the heavier strings than some other 7 string pups I have and I like that very much. I don't find them too remarkable either way on clean channels, in fact they may be strangely subdued, which I didn't expect. I still need to tweak settings/experiment but overall I'd say its a very balanced sounding guitar, leaning towards the warmer, earthy end of the spectrum and with an organic lushness to it. It sounds lovely to my ears. Since the shape is something that's close to some of my other customs, there isn't much to get used to. Its different and new, but nothing my body doesn't adjust to. I don't find any issues at all with where things lay on this design.
The Great Purple Housing Unit:
Cedar Creek makes a nice case. I've never had one before. They let you choose your exterior and interior and even all the latches/handles/etc. Pretty sweet. Love the purple inside. Exterior looks great. The guitar fits perfectly and is exceptionally well protected. Case is unruly in weight and size but its not all that far off from some of my Jackson cases. Based on quality, I'd definitely go with CC again.
In Progress build pics here:
Specs:
Burl Maple Top with Pink Ivory Stringers and Burl Maple headstock veneer with cutaway to reveal black limba neck underneath. Wenge secondary top, Wenge binding with bubinga accents around Pink Ivory Fretboard, 3-piece neck thru using limba and wenge with bubinga accents, black limba body sides. Abalone Virgo Sigil with Saturn Inlay, BKP Painkiller set with camo covers, Sperzel tuners, tone pros TOM bridge, Duncan straplocks, stainless steel frets, 3 way toggle volume, tone. Kill switch. Cedar Creek Form Fitted Custom Case.
Headstock:
I'm very happy with the design overall. Looks dangerous but has some class with the bevel reveal. It turned out more different from other similar designs than I thought it would. I will be totally content to use this design on #2.
Fretboard:
Beautiful and so freakin' unique. The feel is slicker than anything I've played on. It feels very dense and smooth and almost not like wood... perhaps that's why its called ivory. The color compliment between the pink and the burl is precisely how I envisioned. The binding looks great against it as well, which was something I was a little unsure of it clashing. Fretwork looks good and clean.
Inlay:
Done pretty much exactly as I pictured. Dig the Saturn and how its kind of purplish. The most awesome part of it is how Erik managed to get the perfect piece so it looks 3D shaded on one side.
Neck:
Here's a biggie. You can never know how someone is going to carve a neck on a brand you've never played. I gave some specs of what I like (love Carvin's neck profiles) and gotta say its very close. Its a more even profile end to end than a lot of stuff I've played, less tapered. As for the wood, looks lovely all over the place.
Thin layers of bubinga:everywhere:
I'm loving how it looks along the fretboard binding/headstock. I was just like whoahhhh.... what cool fine details. I like how it looks along the neck binding too.
Body:
1. There is so much going on that you could stare at this thing for hours on end and still see new little swirls and grains. The top is nothing short of the best, most gnarly, figured tops I've ever seen. Its mind boggling in its complexity and variance. Side to side it all looks matched, but there's all these little independent woody vortexes happening. The wenge was something I didn't guess how it would look. That's really unusual with how the body is beveled out and it almost gets a tortoise-shell appearance. I've never owned anything like this. The pink ivory stringers break it up interestingly but don't pop out too much. Dig the limba back side as well and its a great contrast and compliment to the top.
2. As for the shape, I can't think of much we could've done better to my liking. If we were to ever do another one of this shape, I might consider tweaking a curve or two on the lower wing end and/or making the entire body maybe 3/4 to an inch wider starting in the middle. I was going off a 6 string body so I probably should've done this to begin with. For those wondering, the body is pretty close in size & scale to a Jackson Warrior. It has more of a soft arch top, more than beveled. I'm not a fan of really hard lined arch tops and I like how smooth this is. It feels comfortable to lay my picking arm on. This is the sharpest guitar I've ever owned and I've owned some pointies. These points are SHARP.
Fit & finish:
I often look for attention to detail on buffing on pointy guitars because it seems like most people don't/can't get in all the tight spots very well but this is nicely attended to everywhere. I'm one of those people who looks for imperfections and potential problems. I noticed a little bit of a tool mark on the edge of the bridge pup cavity and there are small hand built imperfections and it struck me how rare it is to see that kind of thing nowadays with mass produced and cnc'd stuff. Its so cool to get something so epic that's 'new' and yet is really handcrafted. Erik's attention to detail is fantastic because I kind of expected more of those little hand imperfections and I can't find many.
Hardware:
Black looks great. Gold prob would have looked good too. Tuners look cool. Dig the heck out of the pickup look. They fit in very well with the top. Enough difference to not get lost, but mesh too. The handmade matching knob and switch tip were a nice little surprise, and that Erik actually included extras was great. That knob rolls smooooth. The kill switch is a fun little toy. Not something I needed, but I will find a diabolical purpose for it. Burl cavity cover. Neat. And that sucker is snugly fitted.
Play/Sound:
Never had the BKP's before. I find they have a bit too much bass through my rig, but at the same time they don't woof out, so not too bad. They are more articulate with the heavier strings than some other 7 string pups I have and I like that very much. I don't find them too remarkable either way on clean channels, in fact they may be strangely subdued, which I didn't expect. I still need to tweak settings/experiment but overall I'd say its a very balanced sounding guitar, leaning towards the warmer, earthy end of the spectrum and with an organic lushness to it. It sounds lovely to my ears. Since the shape is something that's close to some of my other customs, there isn't much to get used to. Its different and new, but nothing my body doesn't adjust to. I don't find any issues at all with where things lay on this design.
The Great Purple Housing Unit:
Cedar Creek makes a nice case. I've never had one before. They let you choose your exterior and interior and even all the latches/handles/etc. Pretty sweet. Love the purple inside. Exterior looks great. The guitar fits perfectly and is exceptionally well protected. Case is unruly in weight and size but its not all that far off from some of my Jackson cases. Based on quality, I'd definitely go with CC again.
In Progress build pics here:
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