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| The four-bolt neck joint. |
THE CORVUS II WAS ONE OF A TRIO OF guitars Gibson introduced in 1983 called, “The
American Series.” The American Challenger
and Invader were Les Paul-shaped knock-offs
with flat tops, boring paint jobs, bolt-on necks,
and nondescript features. But wait! They might
have been onto something with the dual-humbucker
Corvus, which was also offered in three
single-coil and sing/hum pickup configurations,
as well as many bright colors. (Mine is the more
common gray version.) The original retail price
for each American Series model was $399.
WEIRDO FACTOR
The Corvus II has a bolt-on neck, which is atypical
for Gibson, but it’s the body shape that
truly makes this model a weirdo. It looks like
a cross between a can opener and a hungry
whale. I discovered that a star constellation
from Greek mythology was named “Corvus,”
but as its shape depicted a crow sitting on a
snake, it’s hardly the model for this design. So
what inspired Gibson to go with this strange
body shape? We may never know…
PLAYABILITY & SOUND
This is a really good guitar. The neck feels like
a Les Paul Standard with 22 nicely polished
medium-jumbo frets and easy access to high
notes. It’s light, balanced, comfy to wear, and
weighs in at just under seven pounds. The plastic-sealed humbuckers have a very rich sound in the combined position, and the neck and
bridge settings are slightly reminiscent of out-of-
phase P90s. The bridge is a combo job with
a one-piece stop tailpiece and brass Tune-omatic
style saddles. The only thing GIbson cut
corners on—other than cutting pie-shaped corners
out of the body for no apparent reason—
is that there is only a Master Tone knob, rather
than dedicated Tone controls for each pickup.
VALUE
Just about any 30-year-old, American-made
Gibson typically fetches two to three grand
and up, but you can still snag a Corvus for well
under a G-note.
WHY IT RULES
This thing is as ugly as they come, and it would
take a bold person to strap on a Corvus II. But,
then again, some of my favorite intrepid explorers—
Annie Clark, Jack White, Martin Gore, Ian
Curtis, and Brian Jones, just to name a few—
have made loud and compelling musical (and
visual) statements with whack job guitars. This
is a great playing and sounding guitar that is
still rather easily attainable.