Richard Hoover founded his Santa Cruz Guitar Company over forty years ago. In order to maintain full control of the manufacturing process, he has consciously remained at a medium size company ever since. Between smaller guitar makers and larger manufactories, he leaves nothing to chance with about 700 instruments per year.

On the one hand the focus is on the advantages of old vintage Martins, on the other hand Santa Cruz seems to work more consistently on the details, also because of the smaller number of pieces. And so every Santa Cruz becomes something special: resonant and light as a feather, it responds to the tiniest nuances of touch, wonderfully warm basses, sonorously to the velvety silvery shimmering overtones in the trebles and exactly the right amount of midrange for warmth and assertiveness.

The consistently light construction with the scalloped X-Bracing shifted towards the sound hole and the light klusons on the slim headstock are responsible for the woodsy open sound. Santa Cruz guitars in particular sound less dry than many other high-quality guitars. In addition there is the proverbial good playability with flat string position. This makes it an extraordinarily versatile instrument. No matter if fingerstyle, virtuoso flatpicking or song accompaniment between folk, singer/songwriter material and bluegrass up to jazz, this OM doesn’t just go with you, it inspires you to more and goes even further.

And then there is the dignified design, tasteful understatement with ivory-coloured bindings, herringbone, tortoise pickguard and mother-of-pearl logo. By the way, gross motorists beware: with Santa Cruz guitars you shift down a few gears, put on something suitable beforehand and enjoy in small portions, yet the danger of addiction remains. But if you reach out with the plectrum behind your head, you’ll never understand.

This Santa Cruz comes from first hand, but it was played a lot. And so it shows little dents, quirks and other traces of play.

The frets, on the other hand, make a good impression and show only minor signs of play. A sturdy case is included in the scope of delivery.