Our latest guitar acquisition is a cross-over nylon string guitar made in 2005 by John Buscarino. This is his Grand Cabaret model with a number of special woods and appointments. This instrument was purchased through the wonderful (and highly addictive) Dream Guitars shop and website run by Paul Heumiller in North Carolina. Full specs can be found at their website here. Dream guitars had two instruments that caught our attention and we schedule a live demo with them to see and hear the two instruments through an uncompressed video link. 
There were several features in this instrument that tilted the decision. A wider nut and the cedar top were the more critical, aside of its fancy woods and appointments. What is a crossover guitar?
All posts by carlos ibanez
Scientific publishing (2/2): A better way forward
The current system is broken, as argued in an earlier post. Given the arguments exposed there, is there a better way forward? I believe there is, and some ideas on how to go about it are presented below. Much of what is being proposed here represents the complete opposite of many of the fundamental principles of the current system: forums instead of journals, acceptance instead of rejection, commentary instead of review, disclosure instead of anonymity, community engagement instead of expert wisdom, live papers instead of dead papers.
Like it or not, we live in an on-line society; certainly most part of research communication and dissemination take place on-line. The word “journal”, in all its physicality, feels very much obsolete. For an on-line world, and for other reasons that will become clearer later, the word “forum” seems much more appropriate. “Neuroscience Forum” instead of “Journal of Neuroscience”. “Cancer Research Forum” instead of “Journal of Cancer Research”. How’s a Forum different from a Journal?
What’s in a label?
We have a small vineyard in Mendoza. Vineyards make wine and wine has to be bottled and bottles bear labels. So, what’s in a label? As we begun thinking about this, there were some elements that had to be there. The Andes mountains. A pleasing and elegant off-white background. Our names in a modern font. And the place, Valle de Uco (aka Uco Valley). What else? Tradition has it that family wines carry the emblems of the family. And so the Marketing team at The Vines Of Mendoza took inspiration from those emblems and prepared three designs for the three wines we are producing with the 2023 vintage, Malbec Reserva, Malbec Grand Reserva (barrel fermented) and a Blend.
“Bonding Hydrogens”
“Bonding Hydrogens”, the second advanced track from forthcoming vol. 4 of Chromatographies “Acoustic Ribosomes”, is an acoustic guitar meditation with a pastoral flair that evokes the open spaces of the green pampas. It is available for download at Chromatographies’ Bandcamp page.
Scientific publishing (1/2): The current system is broken
I have been honored to serve as Chief-Editor of the section in Cell and Molecular Neuroscience of a prestigious journal, until I resigned this month. It was time for me to leave space to someone with a stronger belief in the peer-review system. In my case, this has been slowly eroding during the past years, as I witness a steady decline in scholarship, transparency and basic respect across the publishing enterprise and its actors. Failed scientists become editors of powerful journals but their shallow competence limits them as over-qualified secretaries. Researchers with little time to spare accept to review papers, but end up providing senseless and superficial evaluations of dismal scholarship.
Science is a lifestyle
When I was about in the middle of my undergraduate studies, I decided that I needed some laboratory practice. So I joined a lab that was studying Drosophila genetics. The Prof. there, his name was Enzo Muñoz, was an old-school geneticist, with rather conservative views. We spoke often. He was talking about science. I remember one thing he said once: “There are no boring topics in science, only bored scientists.” I thought at that time that he was defending himself a little bit.
Later I understood that he was actually talking about something more profound. Nothing in science is boring. There are scientists that may get bored about something, but that does not make that topic a boring one, it only says that those scientists have been unable to find a way to crack that problem or make progress in that topic. Or they simply did not understand its depth.
The Casimi C5S baritone is here!
The Casimi C5S baritone guitar is finally here. Ordered in Mach 2021, and finally finished now, in mid September 2023. Matthew Rice and Matthias Roux are Casimi Guitars, based in Muizenberg, outside Cape Town. They are in high demand and only make a handful of instruments per year, hence the long waiting list. This is a multiscale instrument, also called “fan-fret”, with the 6th string at 28” and the 1st at 27”. To be noted is the tilted bridge, and the perpendicular fret at the fifth position. It features a sound port on the top side as well as subtle arm and chest bevels.
As for woods, the top is made of Moonspruce, a master grade spruce that is harvested at a particular moon phase. The back and sides are African Blackwood, a hard tone wood similar to Brazilian Rosewood. Bindings are made of beautiful koa. The neck is mahogany and fretboard is ebony with golden Evo frets like our Buendia 12-string. The nut and saddle are Black Tusq.
From wine lover to wine maker…
During a visit last year at Francis Mallmann’s restaurant “Siete Fuegos” in Valle de Uco, Mendoza, Argentina, we were introduced to the private vineyards at The Vines, a 600 hectares estate were wine lovers have the possibility to own 1-10 acres of a professionally managed vineyard to make wine under the guidance expert, top rated Argentine winemakers, such as Mariana Onofri and consulting winemaker Santiago Achaval.
And so it was that earlier this year we purchased one acre of Malbec planted in 2007 at this wonderful place and began the long journey from wine lovers to wine makers. Our Wine Making Plan for 2023 includes three types of Super Premium Malbec: one barrel fermented and two fermented in steel tanks, one half matured in first use French oak barrels and the other in third use barrels. The first harvest took place this March and the blending session will be in November later this year. We look forward to taste our (still very young) wines and experiment (we’re scientists, right?) with different combinations among them and together with other varietals, such as Cabernet Franc. We wanted to make this a very personal voyage and so our label simply carries our names, IBAÑEZ – MOLINER, and the design team is helping us coming up with a label that embodies our personal esthetics and inspiration. The Wine Making Plan for 2024 is already on the way and the focus will be to widen our portfolio with one harvested rosé based on Cabernet Franc and a young and fruit-forward Malbec from our own grapes. We hope for a great harvest in March next year. More soon…
“Peace On The Chromosome”
“Peace On The Chromosome”, an advanced track from forthcoming vol. 4 of Chromatographies “Acoustic Ribosomes”, is a slow, extended meditative improvisation in the style of an Indian raga. It is available for download at Chromatographies’ Bandcamp page.
New guitar build commission: the Casimi C5C Baritone
I had been intrigued about baritone guitars for many years. Like most of us guitarists, I greatly admired the beautiful record that Pat Metheny had done on solo baritone acoustic guitar “One Quiet Night”, where he employed only one instrument, made to him by Linda Manzer. I got exposed to more baritones through the Chords of Orion YouTube channel and recordings, as well as Dream Guitars. DG’s owner and guitar guru Paul Heumiller is a great fan of baritones and also a strong supporter of the multiscale or fanned-fret approach to baritone guitars. Sometime in March 2021, I watched Paul Heumiller presenting a new baritone instrument built by Matthew Rice and Matthias Roux from Casimi Guitars, located right outside Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa. This was their C5C model with African Blackwood back and sides and a moonspruce top. The guitar shape, the many unique design features and the gorgeous woods were simply stunning. I began doing some enquiries. It turned out that Heumiller had decided to keep that instrument for himself.