Avi has asked me to describe this project. I'M ken Potts, Avi's luthier partner here in Lahaina, Maui.
This will be Avi's personal guitar. R and D if you will for what will be the Kavi OM CTW model.
There are a few things somewhat different from standard procedure with this Box on a Stick. Because of the cutaway design he wanted, we ended up with an almost Spanish heel approach. This has resulted in a fairly massive heel block, which I anticipate will be an acoustic plus.
Also, you'll notice the intersection of the X bracing has what appears to be a glop of Sh#*t on it, rather than cloth mesh and glue. This is actually two part epoxy brought to "BONDO" like consistency, I always wondered how this would work, and tried it on an all Koa Dreadnaught I built, (Pictures are here on this web site ). Although, to the eye it might draw a knee jerk reaction, acoustically, it's a winner, and structurally, impossible to break or separate.
A long time luthier friend of ours, Bob Gleason of Pegasus Guitars in Hilo, HI. once said he wanted to try an X brace behind the bridge to try and counter the behind the bridge bulge often seen on guitars. I don't know if he ever got around to trying it, but we're trying it here. Keep in touch for results.....
Lastly, Avi wanted a neck like a Maple neck Strat with no fretboard. What a frickin nightmare to build that was. But, it's done. I can't stand it, but he likes it. O well... The peg head angle is quite a bit more severe than standard. The idea being to get slotted peg head string pull across the nut without having to build a slotted peg head. We'll see how this works.
