2009 santa cruz guitar comapny om-sitra spruce

Santa Cruz Guitar Company was founded in 1976 by master luthier Richard A. Hoover in Santa Cruz, California — built on a single conviction: that guitars should be composed, not assembled. Working from a modest workshop in Santa Cruz's Harvey West neighborhood, Hoover and his small team of luthiers produce somewhere between 400 and 500 guitars per year, each one hand-voiced, tap-tuned, and built with the kind of attention to detail more associated with fine violins than production acoustic guitars. In an era of CNC-driven mass production, Santa Cruz has remained deliberately, almost stubbornly, small — and the guitars are better for it. Players including Tony Rice, Eric Clapton, David Crosby, Joan Baez, Brad Paisley, and Ben Harper have chosen Santa Cruz instruments, and Hoover himself has said that a truly great guitar must be designed to outlive its first owner.

The OM — Orchestra Model — has been one of Santa Cruz's signature instruments from the beginning. Developed in response to the fingerstyle and flatpicking players who gathered around Hoover's shop in the 1970s (Tony Rice and David Grisman among them), the SCGC OM combines the articulation and balance associated with the smaller body size with surprising projection, bass response, and sustain. The scalloped bracing — a refinement of pre-war Martin construction — keeps the top light and responsive, producing the rich overtone complexity and note separation that Santa Cruz guitars are known for.

This 2009 example, Serial #3862, is a Sitka spruce top over East Indian rosewood back and sides — the classic OM tonewood combination — with a mahogany neck, ebony fingerboard, and ebony bridge. Waverly tuners, herringbone top purfling and rosette, ivoroid body binding throughout, and a tortoise-style pickguard complete an instrument that is as beautiful to look at as it is to play. An LR Baggs pickup has been installed for amplified performance.

At 17 years old, this guitar has fully opened up. The voice is mature and deeply resonant — open and responsive with excellent note separation, rich overtones, and a low end that punches well above what you'd expect from an OM-sized body. It handles a light fingerstyle touch beautifully but has real headroom and projection when played with a pick. This is the kind of guitar that reveals more of itself the longer you play it.

Condition: Excellent structural condition — no cracks, no repaired cracks. The spruce top shows normal cosmetic evidence of use: some scratches, small marks, and finish checking visible in photographs. These are in the finish only and are not cracks in the wood. Back and sides present very nicely. A well-played, well-cared-for Santa Cruz in outstanding playing condition.

Includes original Santa Cruz hardshell case.