Richard Hoover of SCGC: An education in Lutherie

[Ridgemont]

This is quite interesting. Here is Richard Hoover, founder of Santa Cruz Guitars, discussing modern day lutherie and what makes his boutique guitars, and probably others, different than factory made guitars such as Martin, Taylor, Gibson, and presumably Guild. He emphasizes that factory made guitars are made to spec, while each top of a luthier made guitar is tap tuned to achieve characteristics that are desirable to the specific customer. While I am not completely sure he is insinuating that a factory made guitar is inferior, I do believe that build and tone consistency from a proven recipe makes Factory guitars a very special thing. Heck, Gibson and Martin have been doing it for over 100 years. Enjoy!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbjC9IvF9Wo&feature=player_embedded#!

 

[Scratch]

This is quite interesting. Here is Richard Hoover, founder of Santa Cruz Guitars, discussing modern day lutherie and what makes his boutique guitars, and probably others, different than factory made guitars such as Martin, Taylor, Gibson, and presumably Guild. He emphasizes that factory made guitars are made to spec, while each top of a luthier made guitar is tap tuned to achieve characteristics that are desirable to the specific customer. While I am not completely sure he is insinuating that a factory made guitar is inferior, I do believe that build and tone consistency from a proven recipe makes Factory guitars a very special thing. Heck, Gibson and Martin have been doing it for over 100 years. Enjoy!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbjC9IvF9Wo&feature=player_embedded#!

Richard made a believer out of me, as you know, Jonathan. I believe he spends more time researching hardwoods than anyone. You simply won't find inferior grades on his instruments, and commensurate with their high price tags, SCGC provides outstanding customer support as you would expect them to.

There's a reason they refer to boutique guitars as such. Most of us would agree our Guilds compare to or exceed the quality of other production-crafted guitars.

It isn't a reasonable comparison; however, to A/B production guitars with the boutique brands.

 

[Ridgemont]

I have been a huge fan of every Santa Cruz I have played. Their build and tone are truly spectacular. As I think about this some more, it is making me wonder. If each guitar is tap tuned to fit a specific customer's need, then how does that work for those on the shelves of guitar stores? The ones I have tried were stock models such as the OM and some PWs. Were those tap tuned as well? Were they specified by the dealer to sound a certain way? If I play one PW, will it sound different than another PW that was tap tuned to different specs? Just curious really.

 

[fronobulax]

I can't speak for Santa Cruz but my experience with similarly crafted instruments is that when an instrument is built on speculation - i.e. not to the requirements and specifications of a particular buyer - all of the decisions get made by the builder. So in this case the guitars that end up on dealer's walls were tap tuned (or not) to what the builder thought was best.

Another possibility is that multiple guitars were made for an individual and to their spec, and the ones that the person doesn't buy end up in normal retail channels. I've told the story before, that I was told, about a H&D that was made for Paul Simon. They made two instruments to his specs, he played them both and a friend of mine ended up with the one Paul Simon had rejected.

 

[geoguy]

Neat video, & he seems like a first-rate guy.

I'd be curious to try a Santa Cruz sometime, though I think at some point you're paying more & more for incrementally-small improvements. And that applies to any commodity (performance-oriented cars, for example), not just guitars.

 

[Scratch]

I have been a huge fan of every Santa Cruz I have played. Their build and tone are truly spectacular. As I think about this some more, it is making me wonder. If each guitar is tap tuned to fit a specific customer's need, then how does that work for those on the shelves of guitar stores? The ones I have tried were stock models such as the OM and some PWs. Were those tap tuned as well? Were they specified by the dealer to sound a certain way? If I play one PW, will it sound different than another PW that was tap tuned to different specs? Just curious really.

Purchased my OM/PW 'off the wall' from Hill Country Guitars. Didn't order it... On that particular day, I was just killing time in my favorite guitar store. Owner, Dwayne, has no problem with folks sitting down on one of the couches to pick and A/B his high-end stuff. I had nothing better to do that day so I enjoyed some really nice guitars: Collings, H&D; Allison; Froggy Bottom; early Martins, a vintage Gibson Hummingbird, a nice Goodall and others I don't recall. I kept coming back to the OM/PW and went home with serious GAS. Didn't sleep at all that night and went back the next day to work a trade/purchase. Glad I did; if stranded on a desert island, it is the one guitar that I'd want with me...

60% to 65% of Richard's guitars are custom orders. Others are crafted per store ordered specs. If I recall correctly, Richard said they craft about 700 instruments per year.

Gotta say I've played other SCGC guitars that have not inspired like my OM/PW (which is not a higher end SCGC guitar). Again, I attribute most of that to the pre war/advanced bracing.