Built by one of Spain’s larger makers, the Alhambra Crossover CS3-S-E8 is aimed at players generally from the steel string world who need a cutaway, crowned fingerboard and a pickup system. The ‘Crossover’ concept is a relatively new development for the nylon-string world and appeals to many players, particularly those in Latin Jazz genres who need to amplify their instruments.
Cutaway
Here is a Halcyon Grand Auditorium Cutaway with a Lutz Spruce top and figured Walnut for the sides, back, body binding and head plate, and built by Ed Bond in East Vancouver around 2020. Aside from the Lutz Spruce and Figured Walnut, the body blocks and neck are Mahogany, with Ebony for the fingerboard and bridge.
Introduced in 1949 and until the introduction of Seth Lover’s humbucker in late 1957, the Gibson ES-175 Single pickup archtop electric sported a single P90 in the neck position. The Gibson ES-175 Single and Double pickup models went on to become a workhorse guitar, used on countless stages, studios and performances. It was discontinued in 2019 after a production run of 70 years.
This Eastman AR-503ce Archtop Cutaway Electric in sunburst, built during 2014 and in very good, clean condition. Generally positioned as a lower cost model, the Eastman AR-503ce uses a traditional full-depth single-cutaway design with arched solid, carved Spruce top, but with laminated Maple for the sides and arched back.
The Taylor 514ce-N, now discontinued, was a ‘crossover’ instrument, aimed at delivering the tone and touch response of nylon strings to the steel string player. Typically, crossover guitars have a cutaway body, narrower crowned fingerboards, pickup and preamp systems, and lower action than concert-style classical models. Some models have ‘thinline’ bodies as the volume produced by the body is exceeded by a supporting sound system.
The Gibson Byrdland appeared in 1955 as a custom order for Billy Byrd and Hank Garland. These two were top Nashville session guitarists who wanted full archtop tone, but in a more comfortable thinner body and a shorter scale length – 23.5 inches, rather than Gibson’s standard 24.75 inches – to allow easier access to complex chords fingerings. The Byrdland was the first of Gibson’s thinline archtop guitars, with many more to follow. The design was so successful that it was quickly promoted to production status.