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’s a crossover guitar?

Crossover is a term used for modern nylon string guitars that bridge the classical and modern traditions. Typically, a crossover instrument will have lower action, a narrower nut, thinner neck, a cutaway and other features.

Cedar gives this instrument a warmer tone which I particularly like. It was less loud than the second guitar tested (with spruce top) but in the end, the tone won and we brought this one home.  Back and sides are from Tasmanian Blackwood, an acacia, and the fingerboard is snake wood, a rare and expensive wood with a stunning reddish look and intricate pattern. Headstock plate and bridge are also snake wood.

Venetian cutaway, carved soundport (pic above), arched back (a unique feature in Buscarino Cabaret instruments), and a K&K pick up complete the package. We are recording a  couple of pieces with this instrument for the upcoming vol. 4  of Chromatographies entitled “Acoustic Ribosomes”, a long time in the making.