The Wonderful World of The Santa Cruz Guitar Company
If you missed our interview from this year's Winter NAMM show, here it is again...
This absolute gem of an OM Custom from Santa Cruz Guitars out in Santa Cruz, California features walnut for the back and sides, with a beautiful lightly coloured cedar top.
Richard Hoover and his team really have done a stellar job with their take on a truly iconic acoustic silhouette, bringing together sustainably sourced woods and consistently outstanding workmanship to make a truly magical instrument.
The tone of this fantastically versatile instrument is characterised by the crisp trebles, present, punchy mids and a supportive and full bottom end. Overall it is a very balanced sounding guitar, with a huge dynamic range. So whether you're fingerpicking lightly or digging in with a flatpick, the guitar sounds lively and harmonically rich.
The Mahogany neck topped with an Ebony fretboard makes for a very familiar and comfortable player. With a mellow V shape throughout, it feels exceedingly smooth across the board and with the superb finishing of the frets and woods the playability really is flawless.
The guitar comes with a Santa Cruz fitted hardcase.
- Body Wood Type: Walnut
- Back Stripe: Zipper
- Binding: Ivoroid
- Top Wood Type: Cedar
- Rosette: Walnut
- Bracing: Scalloped Bracing
- Peghead: Solid Square
- Peghead Binding: Ivoroid
- Overlay Material: Ebony
- Headstock Inlay: SCGC
- Width at Nut: 1-3/4″
- Neck Shape: V with Volute
- Fingerboard Side Dots: Black
- Inlay: 2mm dots
- Width at 14th Fret: 2-3/16
- Binding: Ivoroid
- Scale Length: 25.375
- Finish: Clear
- Pickguard: Tortoise
- Tuners/gears: Nickel Waverly
- Built: 2016
- Top Wood: Sitka Spruce
- Back Wood: Indian Rosewood
- Scale: 25.375"
- Nut Width: 1 3/4"
- Frets To Body: 12
- Neck Wood: Mahogany
- Fretboard: Ebony
- Bridge: Ebony
- Bracing: Scalloped
- Headstock Shape: Slotted
- Headstock Overlay: Ebony
- Headstock Inlay: SCGC Mini Logo
- Tuners: Nickel SCGC Open Gear Tuners with Ivoroid Buttons
- Inlays: Diamond & Squares Short Pattern
- Rosette: Ivoroid
- Purfling: Herringbone
- Body Binding: Grained Ivoroid
- Fretboard Binding: Grained Ivoroid
- Headstock Binding: Grained Ivoroid
- Backstrip: Zipper
- Pickguard: Tortoise Style
- Nut Material: Bone
- Saddle Material: Bone
- Saddle Spacing: 2 3/16"
- Bridge Pins: Ebony
- Neck Profile: V (no volute)
- Body Depth: 3.25-4.25"
- Lower Bout Width: 15"
- Upper Bout Width: 10.875"
- Waist: 9.25"
- Pickup: Fishman Rare Earth
- Case: Sant Cruz Ameritage
Santa Cruz PJ Acoustic Guitar, Brazilian Rosewood & German Spruce - Pre-Owned - £5,250
This stunning PJ parlor model by Santa Cruz is a 2005 build and features a sensational set of Brazilian Rosewood for the back and sides paired with a German Spruce top.
The PJ’s parlor-style body was the pinnacle of the art of guitar making up until the late 19th century. This was the optimal size for tonal perfection. The reason guitars got bigger was to make them louder. With amplification and modern recording techniques, we can once again embrace sound quality over sound quantity.
The PJ is all about pure tonal sophistication. Every tried and true technique of lutherie is used to enable this guitar to fulfill one’s creative spirit. Genuine and elegant presence comes from each position on the fretboard, while a 24-inch scale and 12 frets to the body make the PJ effortless to play. This instrument holds songs, compositions and possibilities to last a lifetime.
This guitar is in excellent condition and includes a hard shell case.
- Top: German Spruce
- Back and Sides: Brazilian Rosewood
- Year Of Build: 2005
- Rosette: Simple Ivoroid and black line
- Body Binding: Ivoroid with black-white purfling
- Neck: Mahogany
- Fretboard: Ebony with micro dots in pearl
- Head Veneer: Ebony
- Fretboard binding: Ivoroid with black-white purfling
- Tuners: SCGC Nickel Open back with Butterbean buttons
- Bridge: Ebony pyramid
- Pins: Ebony with pearl dot
- Saddle: Bone, Drop-in
- Nut: Bone
- Nut Width: 1-3/4"
- Scale Length: 24"
- Condition: Excellent
Santa Cruz OM Custom Acoustic Guitar, Sepele & Moon Spruce - Pre-Owned - £8,250
This Santa Cruz OM Custom features a gorgeous set of Sapele Mahogany for the back and sides with a Moon Spruce top.
In the 1920s, the Orchestra Model was originally intended to be a large guitar capable of being heard over other orchestral instruments, hence the OM name. Although it fit the bill, its relatively large body was soon eclipsed by the mighty dreadnought. Fortunately, the OM had secured its place in history as a powerful and versatile voice for public performance. Santa Cruz was among the first modern builders to reintroduce this now smaller bodied favorite at the beginning of the Eighties.
Our practice of combining the most desirable attributes of old and new, rather than copying, made for a very successful introduction of the Santa Cruz Guitar Company to a whole new audience. With some irony, this acclaim encouraged the venerable originator of the OM to reintroduce the model to their line. Eric Clapton’s historic performance on the debut of MTV Unplugged set us on a course for another 25 years of success with this now perennial favorite.
The OM is delightfully versatile. Our OM players range from blazing flat picker James Nash to John Mayer and Elvis Costello. The Santa Cruz Guitar Company OM provides clean, loud mid-range and trebles that are complimented by a slightly predominant bass. Deeply appreciated for fingerstyle and contemporary flat picking work, the OM is our number one request.
- Sapele back sides
- Moon Spruce top
- Adirondack bracing with hot hide glue
- Koa body, neck and peghead binding
- Koa rosette
- Purfle combo top border
- Buffed neck
- 25.375" scale length
- Ebony fingerboard
- 'V' shape neck profile with volute
- Waverly Nickel (4060) tuners
- Tortoise shell pickguard
- 1 3/4" nut width
- Regular 2 3/16" string spacing
- 21 frets (14 fret neck join)
- Includes hard shell case
This is a lovely pre-owned Santa Cruz Guitar Co. OOO in Brazilian Rosewood and Engelmann Spruce, built-in 2001 with a serial number of 1173...the ultimate acoustic blues guitar.
This instrument has a quick and responsive attack paired with a crisp and clean snap that can only be expected from Brazilian Rosewood. The playability and tone are wonderful.
This guitar is in really good condition for a guitar that is 17 years old, with one repaired side crack that is solid. There is one spot on the top of the guitar that has faded, and we're not sure what caused the fade. The guitar is in otherwise excellent condition. Please email us or call for an in-hand description.
- Santa Cruz Guitar Co.
- OOO-12 fret body
- Brazilian Rosewood
- Engelmann Spruce
- 42 style abalone body inlays
- Brazilian peghead overlay
- 42 style fingerboard inlays
- Bracing/Voicing Scalloped
- Neck Peghead Slotted
- Peghead Binding Ivoroid
- Overlay Material Ebony
- Headstock Inlay SCGC Mini
- Width at Nut 1-3/4″
- Neck Shape V (no volute)
- Fingerboard Side Dots Black
- Inlay Diamond & Squares Short Pattern
- Width at 14th Fret 2-3/16
- Scale Length 25.375
- Back & Sides Clear/Buffed
This guitar is the Santa Cruz Guitar Company’s take on the 13-fret deep body design originally found in Gibson’s Nick Lucas guitar. This instrument was built with beautiful figured mahogany back and sides, and an Italian Spruce top with Koa bindings, giving it a classic yet unique aesthetic that really sets this guitar off.
The combination of a deep body 13-fret makes this guitar incredibly versatile, responding immediately to even the lightest pluck, as well as more vigorous flatpicking. This guitar has an incredible depth of tone, and is wonderfully balanced from string to string. The H13 is a model that would fit it nearly any musical situation.
- Italian Spruce Top
- Figured Mahogany Back and Sides
- Figured Mahogany Neck
- Adirondack Bracing
- 45 Style Fingerboard Inlays
- Koa Binding
- Brazilian Rosewood Headstock Overlay
- 1-3/4″ Nut Width
- Ameritage Hard Case