Clutch31 Posted November 30, 2018 Report Share Posted November 30, 2018 I bought a custom guitar in the late 80's. Upon unbolting the neck, I found "NOVA Custom U.S.A." burned in the pocket. I have been searching and have thus far been unable to find any information. Hopefully one of you could shed some light on it's origin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtisa Posted November 30, 2018 Report Share Posted November 30, 2018 Google didn't take long to pull some results. Nova appears to have been a company set up by John Buscarino in the 90s to build customised Strat and Tele lookalikes. He still builds but has stepped away from solidbody guitars and now mainly makes acoustics and archtops. You could try contacting John via his website to see if he can tell you about it Google images returns a few examples of Nova electrics here and there. From what little discussion there appears to floating around about them, they appear to be (have been) well-regarded. This thread appears to offer some information about the history behind Nova, but it is buried amongst the derailers and could be nothing more than hearsay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clutch31 Posted November 30, 2018 Author Report Share Posted November 30, 2018 Thanks for the info! While I had seen the Buscarino name pop up during my searches, I was hesitant to associate this particular guitar body to the the name. I didn't find the info you shared here and it seemed a bit of a stretch. I just reached out to John Buscarino himself and he graciously responded. He told me that this particular guitar was not one of his builds as the finish was textured. He stated that all of his builds were high Gloss Lacquer or Polyester finishes. He said this body was a replacement body he sold through Allparts. (He also made and sold replacement necks.) I also Googled music stores in Huntsville Alabama where I got the guitar and seeing "T-Shepard Discount Music" jarred my memory. I recall T-Shepard was on the headstock of the original neck. My ex-wife broke the original one day when she was pissed at me so I replaced it, and her, LOL. T-Shepard has been building guitars for many years and he built this one using a Buscarino NOVA Custom U.S.A. part. Well, while I don't have an actual Buscarino custom, I do have a small piece of the history. Much appreciate the help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.