Stephen Stills of Crosby Stills Nash and Young

The master plan that rock guitarist and singer-songwriter Stephen Stills has is to finish with a full-scale boxed set of potentially mammoth proportions.

"I want to break up the periods of my career and not make one of those big humongous things that nobody can afford," Stills told Billboard.com.

Last monthhe released "Pieces," a collection of outtakes from his short-lived band Manassas, and on Tuesday (October 27) will be the release of "Live at Shepherd's Bush," a CD/DVD set from his 2008 solo tour.

"Part of this is creative, and part of it is business sense and sheer economics, understanding my market and how difficult the business is and avoiding the temptation to be grandiose about it," Stills said. "Let's just do it in pieces, and then we'll put the whole thing together and put it on Blu-ray and that can be the big deal."

Stephen Stills is planning other archival projects, including a Manassas box set. He recently began working with the Jimi Hendrix family's Experience Hendrix company on recordings that the two guitarists made together in the 60's which Stills stated that it "doesn't have as much as people think is on there." Two of the tracks that are almost finished are "Old Times Good Times" and another with a working title.

There will be new music as well since Stills continues working with David Crosby, Graham Nash and producer Rick Rubin on a covers album; during concerts this year the trio has performed the Rolling Stones' "Ruby Tuesday," James Taylor's "Close Your Eyes," the Allman Brothers Band's "Midnight Rider," Bob Dylan's "Girl From the North Country" and the Grateful Dead's "Uncle John's Band."

"Road-tripping all these songs has been really helpful," Stills said, "but the worst thing we could do is rush it. We learn a few songs and then go cut those and see if we can get them as natural as possible. If we can't get the sound right ... in three, four, five, six takes, anything beyond that and you're just not going to have any feel."

Stills has plans to write another album, a follow-up to 2005's "Man Alive!"

"I'm finally feeling some songs and some things to say," Stills said. "I want to work with my quartet and get it down to where there's lots of air and get pretty live performances and not all over-the-top layered parts and doubled vocals." Stills is hoping to perform some of the solo material on the road before hitting the studio.