Luthier
Santa Cruz Guitar Company
- Luthier
- Richard Hoover
- Founded
- 1976
- Location
- Santa Cruz, California. US.
Founded by Richard Hoover in 1976, the Santa Cruz Guitar Company brought boutique guitar making to the forefront of the steel string guitar business.
With the aim of developing a true custom shop, a small team in the hills of Santa Cruz, California, build around 400 ‘heirloom quality’ instruments every year.
“It’s never just going to be business for us. It’s about our values. About making the most perfect instrument for an individual,” says Richard Hoover. “A true custom shop has empathy for their clients; without that, you could push people into something they don’t want and they’ll feel dissatisfied no matter how good it sounds because they just won’t bond with it.”

“We’re a true custom shop. That’s exactly what’s in my DNA.”
Building such a modest number of instruments per year, the Santa Cruz Guitar Company procures the top 1% of tonewoods and employs the world’s most passionate team of luthiers. Expertise and mastery can only be earned through practice, and their luthiers’ combined experience spans over a century.
This custom thing is a relationship. If we're just talking cosmetics, it's not a big problem, because somebody can describe or send pictures back and forth. You can do inlays, you can do wood binding combinations, you can give somebody just what they ordered. Just like a combination plate in a Chinese restaurant. But that's not lutherie, that's just filling an order. And that was the revelation for me that led me to become a custom guitar maker; it’s not just in cosmetics, but in sound.
The Guitars
Santa Cruz Guitar Company offers a wide range of models and upgrades. Here are some of the most popular...
Models
Standard specifications
- Top
- Adirondack spruce
- Back and sides
- Indian rosewood
- Binding
- Ivoroid
- Nut width
- 1-11/16"
- Scale length
- 25.375"
- Tuners
- Waverly
- Bracing
- Tapered
Standard specifications
- Top
- European spruce or cedar
- Back and sides
- Indian rosewood
- Nut width
- 1-13/16"
- Neck profile
- Round
- Scale length
- 25.375"
- Tuners
- Gotoh 510
- Cutaway
- Venetian
Standard specifications
- Top
- European spruce
- Back and sides
- Mahogany
- Bracing
- Scalloped/tapered
- Headstock
- Slotted
- Nut width
- 1-3/4"
- Neck shape
- V
- Scale length
- 25.375"
- Tuners
- Waverly
Standard specifications
- Top
- European spruce
- Back and sides
- Indian rosewood
- Binding
- Ivoroid
- Bracing
- Scalloped
- Nut width
- 1-3/4"
- Neck profile
- V with volute
- Scale length
- 25.375"
- Tuners
- Waverly
Standard specifications
- Top
- European spruce
- Back and sides
- Indian rosewood
- Bracing
- Scalloped
- Scale length
- 25.375"
- Neck shape
- V with volute
- Nut width
- 1-3/4"
- Tuners
- Waverly
Standard specifications
- Top
- European spruce
- Back and sides
- Indian rosewood
- Bracing
- Scalloped
- Headstock
- Slotted
- Neck shape
- V (no volute)
- Nut width
- 1-3/4"
- Scale length
- 25.375"
- Tuners
- Waverly
Standard specifications
- Top
- Adirondack spruce
- Back and sides
- Mahogany
- Nut width
- 1-11/16"
- Finish
- Sunburst
- Tuners
- Waverly
Standard specifications
- Top
- European spruce
- Back and sides
- Indian rosewood
- Bracing
- Scalloped
- Neck profile
- V (no volute)
- Scale length
- 24-3/4"
- Nut width
- 1-3/4"
- Tuners
- Waverly
Standard specifications
- Top
- European spruce
- Back and sides
- Indian rosewood
- Headstock
- Slotted
- Neck shape
- V
- Nut width
- 1-3/4"
- Scale length
- 24-3/4
- Tuners
- Waverly
- Bracing
- Scalloped
Standard specifications
- Top
- European spruce
- Back and sides
- Indian rosewood
- Headstock
- Solid square
- Neck shape
- V
- Nut width
- 1-11/16"
- Scale length
- 24"
- Tuners
- Waverly
- Bracing
- Scalloped