Gibson Corvus: Weird and Rare guitar
I almost always root for the underdog, I preferred Betamax over VHS in the 80’s, and there’s something that fascinates me about Gibson Corvus guitars. I knew nothing of them (or, frankly, much about any guitars) until I played Guitar Hero 2. In that game, your character earns money based on your success in playing songs. The better (closer to the original) you play, the more money you make. You can spend your loot on ‘outfits’ for your guitar-playing Hero character, you can unlock new songs in the game, and you can ‘buy’ your character additional guitars to play within the game.
One of these special unlockable guitars in Guitar Hero 2 is the Gibson Corvus. Not-so-affectionately known as the ‘can opener’ guitar, the Corvus saw very limited production in the early 80’s – say, 1982 and 1983 only. (Which reminds me of another very cool, under appreciated product close to my heart of the exact same vintage, the Yamaha Vision 550cc motorcycle but that’s a topic for another blog.)
I’ve seen the Corvus with a trio of single coil pickups, or with two humbuckers… I’ve seen them in a natural wood finish, bright, happy yellow, and cyan blue. An identical Gibson guitar is known as the Futura.
If rare is what you’re after, I have no idea what they sound like when played, and even YouTube has no video featuring the Corvus, then this may be a collector’s item. Or it may be, to you, an ugly piece of crap. To each his own. I’m interested to buy one to see the look on the guitar tech’s face when I bring it in for a little tune-up at my favorite neighborhood music shop, American Music in Fremont, Seattle.
But hmmmm… if you were in the market for such a rare, unique guitar, where, just where, could you find one?
If there are any Gibson Corvuses for sale, they’ll most likely show up here:
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By Vincent on Jul 18, 2009
hey how you doing?
do you know where i can buy one of these cause i can’t find one anywhere and i want one.
By Marie on Oct 13, 2009
The Gibson Corvus is a good guitar. It has a nice sound. There are a few times that you can buy Corvuses on Ebay. There is a pretty blue one on there now but I think it is fairly expensive. I am glad to find someone who appreacite a Corvus because I have been researching the one I have and was getting sick of all the negative comments on Corvuses appearance. I happen to think they are awesome looking.
By Scott Grove on May 4, 2010
I have the Corvus III. Gibson had the I (one humbucker pickup), the II (2 humbucker pickups) and the III (3 single coile pickups. The Corvus III is easily one of my favorite guitars of all time. All Corvus models had the bolt on necks. The Futura was the answer to the Gibson purists who are too closed minded to accept anything different. So, they just put out the Corvus one last time with they conventional bridge and tailpiece, instead of the all in one bridge used on the Corvus, then they added a set neck instead of the bolt on and slapped the name Futura on it and then they simply pulled the entire line later that year. Funny thing is that Gibson had already used the name for the first version of the Explorer way back and brought the name back again in the last couple of years for a remake of the off set Explorer again. They couldn’t even come up with another name. But, the Corvus is a great guitar that people just overlooked and it’s good for me because I plan on hoarding all of them I can find. lol
By Faith Hughes on Jun 7, 2010
I have a mint 1982 Corvus in natural. Played very little, because my sons were born shortly after I purchased it. It’s a II, stock, plays like a dream.
Original hard case, mint also. This guitar is solidly
built, even if shape puts people off. You can’t duplicate the sound of this one. Never thought of parting with it, but need some cash. Got laid off.
Can’t be 12 hrs. on it. ABSOLUTE MINT. If interested,
you can email me at faithhughes@live.com. Serious only. I won’t part with it on lowball offer. Haven’t
listed on ebay, so if you want a chance at this one,
let me know. Thanks, Faith