Santa Cruz Guitar Returns to The NAMM Show!
Sponsored by Santa Cruz Guitar Company:
Come visit the Santa Cruz Guitar Company this week at The NAMM Show in Anaheim, California! We are located in Hall D, Booth 5102 along the entrance.
SCGC is returning to the annual music industry conference for the first time in three years and we want to see you! Come say hi and chat with us about all of the latest happenings in the shop and beyond. Hear about our expanding selection of custom build options at no extra cost; our commitment to ecologically sound production and sustainability; and the latest in acoustic guitar string technology delivered via our line of Parabolic Tension string sets.
A lot has happened since the 2020 NAMM get-together, including an exponential rise in demand for production and service. In response to this demand for our custom work, we offer countless variations on all of our standard models. This is our way of encouraging players to design exactly what they need sonically and visually. Tone woods, bracing patterns, body variations, neck profiles, appointments, bindings, inlays, finishes and more are all available for modification on any Santa Cruz Guitar models at no extra cost.
Take for example our OM – one of our most popular and most consistent models. When it comes to tops, the standard option of Old Growth Sitka Spruce can be swapped out with Redwood, Italian Spruce, German Spruce, Cedar, Canadian White Spruce or Adirondack. All of these not only look beautiful in different ways but they create different sounds. Not better or worse. These tonewoods are like spices, flavors in a chef’s kitchen or colors on an artist’s palette. They are personal choices, there’s really not a right or a wrong when it comes to preference.
All of these woods, and especially our rarer selections come mostly through small families and personal relationships. They’re not really in the food chain of the traditional marketplace. Our general stock of reclamation would come from a variety of unique backgrounds from all over the world – but always old and all reclaimed stuff. There’s two things going on with older wood: it’s more resonant so it sustains longer and it develops overtones, it’s rich and full sounding. We don’t need a 1500 year old piece of wood to make a great guitar but we like to use it as a shameless attention seeking device to explain the story of reclamation. We don’t have to compromise our values to get the best sounding stuff in the world. In fact we use this secret of the old violin makers: use old wood. Large companies sourcing for a profit will target cheaper lumberyard stock. Cut within the last couple years, dried in an oven, it’s sturdy and suitable to build but can also really be a big part of deforestation. None of our guitars are built with recently felled timber.
All of this informs our decision to complete the ultimate tool of sophistication deigned to express the guitarist’s creativity, and to do so without compromise so long as there is a measured benefit. It’s worth it. So why stop when it comes time to string the thing? We realized that in order to truly get the most out of the finished product, slapping a cheap set of strings on it was like taking a step backward. We focused on the tension and resonance of the instrument as a whole, taking into account the added string tension to create a balanced environment for your music.
Our line of Parabolic Tension strings currently carries 7 varieties, almost all available in either a Low or Medium Tension designation. In addition to our standard tuning folk, we have sets that are designed for open tuning preferences (DADGAD), for baritone players, and 12 string guitars. These strings are engineered with the same meticulous care as our guitars, but they will maximize the ability of any brand of instrument and we encourage you to give them a shot.
Learn more at santacruzguitar.com
