Santa Cruz Guitar Company

Richard Hoover founded Santa Cruz Guitar Company in 1976, in a small shop in the city the company is named for. The premise from the start was unconventional for boutique acoustic guitar building: borrow the techniques of master violin luthiers — tap-tuning each top to its resonance frequency, hand-shaping bracing for individual response — and apply them to flat-top steel-string construction. Hoover has run the shop continuously for nearly five decades; he's both the founder and the still-active luthier directing the team.

Richard Hoover founded Santa Cruz Guitar Company in 1976, in a small shop in the city the company is named for. The premise from the start was unconventional for boutique acoustic guitar building: borrow the techniques of master violin luthiers — tap-tuning each top to its resonance frequency, hand-shaping bracing for individual response — and apply them to flat-top steel-string construction. Hoover has run the shop continuously for nearly five decades; he's both the founder and the still-active luthier directing the team. Santa Cruz's reputation was made in the bluegrass flatpicking world. Tony Rice partnered with the shop on the Tony Rice Model — a guitar designed to evoke the pre-war Martin D-28 voice that Rice was known for. " Other notable players include Brad Paisley, Mark Knopfler, and Eric Skye.