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.

Richard Hoover

The Guitars

Santa Cruz Guitar Company offers a wide range of models and upgrades. Here are some of the most popular...

Models

Dreadnought FS H Model OM OM Grand 000 Slope-Shouldered D 00 Style 1 PJ

Dreadnought

The Dreadnought: the design that introduced boutique lutherie. In the early 1970’s, it was the rare player who would consider any guitar smaller than a dreadnought.

SCGC have numerous dreadnought models available: Standard, Pre-War, Tony Rice, Tony Rice Professional, 1934D, Vintage Artist, D-12 Fret, Brad Paisley, D-Law, D-Nershi. Below are standard base model specs.

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

FS

The FS Model was designed in response to the renaissance of alternate tunings for complex fingerstyle arrangements. Comparable to other maker's Grand Auditoriums in size, and geared towards the needs of fingerstyle players.

Dimensions

Lower bout: 16"
Depth: 4-1/2"
Upper bout: 11-1/4"
Body length: 20"

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

H Model

Santa Cruz's H model is a vintage-inspired 00-style guitar, available in 12-, 13-, and 14-fret configurations (the 13-fret seems to be the most popular!).

Dimensions

Lower bout: 14.625"
Depth: 5"

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

OM

The SCGC OM is versatile and 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 SCGC's number one request.

Available standard or in special Pre-War or 1934 series specs.

Dimensions

Lower bout: 15-1/8"
Depth: 4-1/8"

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

OM Grand

SCGC’s OM Grand is a bigger, lusher, louder sister to their extremely popular OM model, comparable to a Martin 0000.

Dimensions

Lower bout: 16"
Depth: 4"

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

000

SCGC's 000 is a 12-fret slotted headstock guitar, modeled after the predecessor to the 14-fret OM. Also available with SCGC's special 1929 series specs.

Dimensions

Lower bout: 15-1/8"
Depth: 4-1/8"

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

Slope-Shouldered D

SCGC's slope shouldered dreadnought include in the 14-fret Vintage Jumbo (standard scale) and Vintage Southerner (short scale), plus the 12-fret RS (short). Standard specs across models listed below.

Standard specifications

Top: Adirondack spruce
Back and sides: Mahogany
Nut width: 1-11/16"
Finish: Sunburst
Tuners: Waverly

00

The 00 is an ergonomic delight. This instrument delivers ease of playability and surprising volume for its size. Certainly not just a smaller version of the 000, the 00 is a specialized tool onto itself, with a 12-fret neck join and short scale.

A popular variation is the 00 Eric Skye, featuring cocobolo back and sides.

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

Style 1

Modeled after the early Martin Size1, the Style 1 is a long, slender parlor-style guitar with a unique voice.

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

PJ

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.