Just like Roland Cazimero, his double-necked guitar breaks the mold of tradition with fans traveling to see it in person regularly

Displayed in a wooden shadow box on a wall of the Kauaʻi Museum in Līhuʻe is a special double-necked, 12-string guitar made of spruce and koa wood that was meticulously constructed over two years until it was perfect.

Since April, pilgrims of the musician who made that iconic guitar “sing” — Roland “Boz” Cazimero — have been flocking from around the state and the mainland to see it up close.

Cazimero died in 2017 at age 66 after a lengthy illness, but his wife, Lauwa‘e Cazimero, said: “His creativity in music and songwriting was deep and still stands the test of time.”

Cazimero and his brother Robert broke through on the record “Guava Jam” in 1969, when they were part of The Sunday Manoa with slack-key guitarist Peter Moon.

By 1975, The Brothers Cazimero had gone out on their own, with Roland on guitar and Robert on upright bass. They released their self-titled debut record that year, leading to decades touring the globe.

“They broke the mold of tradition,” said Chucky Boy Chock, executive director of the Kaua‘i Museum. “It was Hawaiian, but it wasn’t … the ancient way.”

The brothers drew crowds and created enduring fans with their beautiful, soaring music and their entertaining banter, according to a PBS Hawaiʻi story.

During their heyday, the Oʻahu-born siblings released more than 30 albums and compilations, earning 25 Nā Hōkū Hanohano awards and a Grammy nomination for Best Hawaiian Music Album in 2005. The brothers entered the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame in 2006 and two years later received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Hawaiʻi Academy of Recording Arts.

Chock has a personal connection to the guitar. In the 1970s, he was “a broke kid” who dreamed of becoming a detective while attending classes at Honolulu Community College. But he also was immersed in a resurgence of native culture known as the Hawaiian Renaissance, and soon fell in with a group of musicians, including Roland Cazimero, who were providing a soundtrack to the revolution.

“When activists get together, it can be harsh,” Chock said of the climate at the time.

“We were the calm before the storm,” he added. “Music really soothes the soul.”

Chock said Roland could make any guitar sing. But the esteemed musician — who once shocked audiences by playing the anthem of Hawai‘i, “Hawaiʻi Ponoʻī,” on a Fender Stratocaster — wanted a guitar unlike any other.

Enter Mickey Sussman. He is a luthier (maker of stringed instruments) who in 1974 had moved to Kaua‘i at 23 years old after growing up around the rock and roll clubs of 1960s Los Angeles.

Sussman still lives and works in Anahola. His clients have included Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead, Taj Mahal, Lou Reed, Jackson Browne, The Kingston Trio and Larry Ramos, a Kaua‘i-born artist who in 1963 became the first Asian American to win a Grammy Award.

Roland in 1990 challenged Sussman to build the double-necked guitar now on display in the Kaua‘i Museum. As Roland’s first double-necked guitar, it became his signature instrument and transformed The Brothers Cazimero sound.

“With the double neck and two different tuning options, it allowed my husband to flow smoothly and transition between songs when performing,” Lauwa‘e said.

Sussman set to work on the guitar, also his first double-necked version, using a template Roland had drawn on a plywood board. That instrument would be refined over the course of two years until Roland was satisfied.

The final result, weighing about 50 pounds, is a tribute to Sussman’s art. He had used prototype pickups, a spruce top and a koa body. Its two necks were intended to reflect Roland’s own status as a twin: He was born 15 minutes after his sister Kanoe, according to an NPR obituary.

Sussman had harvested the koa, a large tree endemic to the Hawaiian Islands, years earlier in up-country Anahola. Cherished for its red wood, the grain of koa is especially notable for its chatoyancy, a dramatic three-dimensional effect.

“I was exploring up there, and all of a sudden, there was this log in the road,” he recalled. “It was just blinding gold.”

Musicians have long approached Sussman for guitars and ʻukulele made from that very tree.

“The thing about this koa, there’s no denying it: It has this rumble,” Sussman said. “It has this thunder in there … that records very well.”

Lauwa‘e lives on O‘ahu. But to bring Roland’s guitar to Kaua‘i, she believes, was to bring it home. The instrument was born in Anahola and Chock — who once drove Roland to gigs throughout Honolulu — is always nearby.

“Selfishly, I don’t believe anyone is capable of making the guitar sound as well as when my husband played it,” Lauwa‘e said. “I wanted the people of Hawai‘i to be able to enjoy the privilege of having such a gem.”

The Kaua‘i Museum welcomes visitors multiple times each week who have come to the museum to specifically see the guitar.

Chock remembers expressing skepticism, so many years ago, when Roland traced the design of his guitar on that plywood board.

“He responded, ‘I’ll make it sing,'” Chock recalled. “And, that he did — like only he could.”