West Corinth Studio Eat Your Heart Out

This is the first commercially available custom guitar from Isaac Willis of West Corinth Studio in Vermont. He's made several acoustics and electrics for his family's use. I purchased this from Isaac through Etsy and am writing this review because he's in the process of building at least 5 new similar guitars (as of 3/09) and I think he will become a legendary guitar builder.

From Isaac's description:

"Semi-hollow "strip-built" body rings forever with endless sustain. Triple bookmatched bird's eye maple top, the same in figured walnut for the back. Curly walnut fingerboard, bound and inlaid with bird's eye maple. Hot, handwound vintage PAF's, coil taps, phase switching, bass bypass on vol, locking tuners, jumbo frets, and more."

"Eat Your Heart Out" is made out of about 75% salvaged cherry and walnut, for a very eco-friendly guitar. Constructed entirely by hand, with extensive use of hand tools for a true one of a kind.

Technical statistics: Body: 5 ply laminate with 3 ply cherry core, 3/32" hand made veneer top and back. 18 1/2 X 13 1/4" across lower bout. Total weight: 8 1/4lbs and just over 1 1/2" thick semi hollow body. Body routs are similar to the Warmouth Telecaster semi hollow body.
24 9/16" scale (Gibson short scale) 21 frets
Manlius Guitar PAF's (humbuckers) Hot wound Fat Diane's (Manliusguitar.com)
inlaid 2 ply walnut pickup rings
inlaid 3 ply pickguard back of which is shielded w/ copper
push-pull volume and tone pots for coil tap and phase switching
Grover self locking tuning machines
Nashville tune-o-matic bridge w/ chrome/steel tailpiece
Pickup cavities and bottom of control cavity have copper sheeting shields laminated in place. Shielded wire used throughout.
Bolt on neck with approx 2 degree neck angle.
Neck is slim just under 13/16 at the nut
String spread 2 1/8" at bridge, 1 15/16" at 21st fret and just under 1 1/2" at the nut
Neck width is 2 1/4-1 3/4" with a 12" fingerboard radius
Hand polished clear shellac finish

For more info on Isaac's guitars check out http://wcswood.blogspot.com/

I've been playing rhythm guitar for 25 years as a semi-pro (10 years) and strictly for fun ever since(classic/alt/punk rock with a lot of comping and melodic chording a la Keith Richards, e.g.)I learned early on that the best way to test an electric guitar is by playing it NOT plugged in for a while first: it gives you the sense of tone, sustain, balance that are the most important factors of what a great guitar should sound like. In this area the WCS design has no equal in my opinion. The routed semi-hollow body (no f-holes) rings like a true "solid body acoustic", and the Fat Diane PAFs from Manlius Guitar (check out their reviews under the pickups category) are the most "musical" pickups I've ever played (like other reviewers have said).

The neck, with the Federal-style Shield headstock design reminds me of a great acoustic--12" radius, walnut, with gorgeous heart inlays and fb binding in curly maple. Just drop-dead gorgeous. This is truly a strummable solid-body, just hit a G chord with your ear against the beautiful walnut back and it's Spinal Tap--go out for a cup of coffee and come back, it'll still be ringing.

The push-pull coil splitter and phase switch effectively triple the number of tonal variations--I can go from the sweetest Strat disco/funk comping with the bridge p/u split to the creamiest, Zep-style, eternal sustaining classic rock sound.

I know the trend has gone toward "hotter is better" for many people, and realize how personal this is. I also prefer 10s as I'm a chukka-chukka player and not a shredder, so I don't know how you metal gods would fare with these guitars, but this is literally the tone I've been searching for these past 25 years, and I quite seriously wouldn't consider buying from another luthier...it took me this long to find the perfect guitar!

I've owned many guitars and amps--vintage Gretsches, 64 Epiphone Wilshire, 62(?) Epiphone Century, LP Junior; old and new Marshalls, Fenders, Ampegs...played/tried/tested 100s of rigs like any good head--this is my dream guitar.

Set-up was perfect, a low, even smooth 1/16". Absolutely perfect intonation, neck is extra strong and rigid.

Isaac uses mostly recycled/discarded wood that he selects carefully and obsessively, which I absolutely love because I always abhorred the incredible amount of waste in mass-produced guitars. Isaac uses a "NT Headstock" like those Taylor acoustics, with a super strong finger joint to attach the headstock to the neck, rather than use a much larger single block for the neck (and wasting most of it). I mention that because it seems to bother some people, but lordy I couldn't care less and actually prefer it this way.

I found no flaws anywhere, in the electronics, hardware--and the craftsmanship is unbelievable. Everything is tight, quiet, and solid. No problems yet.

This thing is built like the proverbial brick sh*thouse. It weighs slightly more than a strat, and way less than a LP standard or custom. The balance is unbelievable.

I will be using this live, for rehearsals, to scrub my back in the bath. It's absolutely rock solid.

Isaac is a one-man operation and he has been totally responsive, full of good karma and kindness, and has been a dream to correspond with. He stood behind this guitar 100% and gave me a 15 day full refund so I could get it checked out by my local set up guy.

Been playing 25 years, 10 semi-pro, the rest just for kicks. over the years i've owned several semi-hollows (Gretsch and Epiphone), solid ('64 epiphone wilshire, gibson LP Jr.) and a ton of vintage and new amps--marshall, fender, ampeg, etc. I've tried 100s of guitars and amps, from the cheapest Squiers to original D'Angelicos, and I love PRS, Fenders, you name it--but I have literally waited a quarter century to find this guitar. It's a one of a kind to it's technically irreplaceable, but I will only be buying my guitars from Isaac from now on. He's incredible.

Please contact me if you want more info about the guitar or would like to see pics.