"We are truly a custom shop, and pride ourselves on the ability to hand make any aspect of the guitar to meet the design and acoustic preferences of our customers and dealers. Our only limits are physics and good taste."
~ Richard Hoover
There's one word that sums up Santa Cruz acoustic guitars: tone.
Since 1976, Richard Hoover has been on an unending quest to build guitars that maximize tonal output, dynamic range and unsurpassed refinement and elegance.
Sustainable & Responsible
Downed trees, sunken logs, old tenements, building beams, master carpenter inventories… Santa Cruz finds the most resonant, best-sounding wood possible by responsible means. Tonal qualities improve with age due to the resins that crystallize once the wood is removed from a living tree. They use this secret to enable their new guitars to possess a legitimate vintage sound from the start.
Hand Voicing & Tap Tuning
Most modern guitars are assembled from pre-shaped parts which possess random frequencies that can cancel out overtones and limit sustain. No wonder you have to search for “the good one.” Santa Cruz employs the techniques of master violin luthiers to voice and tune by hand, manipulating the dimensions of the top and bracing. This creates consistent harmony, sustain and sophistication of complex tone on every instrument they build.
400 Guitars Per Year
At this modest number, Santa Cruz procures the top 1% of tonewoods and 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 solid foundation has enabled Santa Cruz guitar makers to become the best in the world at their specialties. Santa Cruz Guitar Company combines the timeless heritage of violin lutherie with a working camaraderie and ongoing symbiosis with some of the world’s top experts in acoustic science.
Santa Cruz Guitar Co. FAQ
Common questions about Santa Cruz acoustic guitars - the builder, the craft, and where to try one near Boston.
Where can I try a Santa Cruz guitar near Boston?
The Music Emporium in Lexington, Massachusetts is an authorized Santa Cruz Guitar Co. dealer and keeps one of the deeper Santa Cruz selections in New England. Players from across the region come to our showroom near Boston to compare models side by side - including custom configurations and rare editions. We are open Monday through Friday 11am–5pm and Saturday 10am–5pm.
What is Santa Cruz Guitar Co. and who founded it?
Santa Cruz Guitar Co. was founded by Richard Hoover in 1976 in Santa Cruz, California. The company builds roughly 400 guitars per year - a number deliberately kept modest so they can procure the top 1% of available tonewoods and maintain a team of luthiers whose combined experience spans over a century. As Hoover puts it, Santa Cruz is "truly a custom shop," with the ability to hand-make any aspect of a guitar to meet a player's or dealer's acoustic preferences. Their only limits, he says, are "physics and good taste."
How does Santa Cruz source their tonewoods?
Santa Cruz is unusual in how aggressively they seek out aged, legally sourced tonewoods: downed trees, sunken logs, old tenements, building beams, and master carpenter inventories - any wood that has been removed from a living tree for decades and allowed to naturally age. The reason matters tonally: once wood is cut from a living tree, resins in the cells begin to crystallize, and this process significantly improves resonance and tonal complexity over time. By using aged wood, Santa Cruz gives their new guitars a legitimate vintage voice from the start, rather than waiting for the instrument to open up over years of playing.
What is tap tuning and how does Santa Cruz use it?
Tap tuning is the practice of tapping the top and bracing of a guitar while it is being built and listening to the resulting tones - a technique borrowed from the world of violin lutherie. Santa Cruz luthiers hand-voice and tune each instrument by manipulating the dimensions of the top and bracing until the frequencies are in harmony with each other. This contrasts with mass production, where tops and braces are shaped by machine to standard dimensions with no individual adjustment - resulting in what Santa Cruz describes as "random frequencies that can cancel out overtones and limit sustain." Tap tuning is why you don't have to hunt for "the good one" in a Santa Cruz.
What Santa Cruz models does The Music Emporium carry?
Our Santa Cruz selection spans new and preowned instruments across body sizes including the 0, 00, OM, and Dreadnought, with tonewood combinations featuring Adirondack, German, and Sitka spruce tops over mahogany, rosewood, and Brazilian rosewood back and sides. Current inventory includes Tony Rice Pro models (both new and used, including Brazilian rosewood examples), 50th Anniversary Limited Edition instruments, and a range of used examples from 2004–2023. Check the page or reach out for condition details and pricing on any specific instrument.