more info on the Santa Cruz Custom D

I wrote the factory representative Lizabeth, to find more of the history of the guitar. Appears that nearly 70% of all Santa Cruz guitars are special order. So, finding one in a guitar shop is pretty unusual. I checked all of the inventory I could locate across country and found only 2 Dreadnoughts for sale. There were more of the "pre-war" designs but they are designed to be a bit less expensive for the guitarist's first Santa Cruz, differences in bracing, etc.

Here is her response:

That guitar was supposed to be yours. I am glad you tried it out. The funnest part about this job is that the guitars truly do sell themselves, I just need to encourage folks to give them a chance.

The guitar you are now the owner of was completed in 2009. It actually has a funny story. It was made custom for a patron that Richard (the owner of SCGC) knew. This guitar is custom with back & sides made of Black Walnut, custom diamond & squares inlay pattern on the fretboard, a solid F shape peghead, tobacco stained back & sides with a sunburst finished top. All other specifications of this guitar default to the specs of our standard D model (which can be found on our website). The kicker was that the guitar was supposed to have a cutaway but there was an error on the order and it was built without.

We ended-up remaking the guitar for that gentleman. At this time as you know, the economy was taking a hit. We had a few available guitars to sell to stores including this guitar. This one just didn't sell. It sat for so long eventually we felt we could not sell it as brand new.

So, that guitar has now gone to 3 festivals and now is in your hands. Essentially it is a new guitar but due to its age we no longer were offering it as a new guitar to our stores.

Looks like this guitar is one of a kind. From the moment I played it I knew it was made for me. Being at noisy festival I had trouble hearing during the four times I went back to play it. However, I could feel it in my gut, I mean literally, in my chest and stomach. I like have guitars of different wood and the chance to have a Walnut is exciting.

Yamaha LL26   Englemann Spruce/Rosewood          very bright tone
Martin D-15       Mahogany/Mahogany                         bluesy
Gibson J-200    Sitka Spruce/Maple                             deep
Yairi DY-40        Sitka Spruse/Mahogany                     bright
Yairi DY -67       Cedar/Rosewood                                  mid to bright
Santa Cruz          Sitka/Black Walnut                             deep to mid bright
Yairi WK-1-12    Sitka/Rosewood                                    bright

I find that certain guitars work better with certain songs or genre, 70's folk, country, Bluegrass, americana, indie, whatever. I also like to match the tone of the guitar to my vocal range. The J-200 sits below my voice. The Yamaha above. The Santa Cruz very slightly below. Once I get around to recording here I'll be able to explore this more exactly.

Tonight's agenda, Shoot Brock Butler at 8pm and PGroove at 10:30. Been too long since I've seen the band. This should be my 86th PGroove show.