Has Your Santa Cruz Changed Your Songwriting?

Curious to get feedback on this one.  I have been a songwriter for most of the time I have been playing guitar, principally because I am quite poor when it comes to covering songs.  So, I had already been writing songs over 25 years by the time I got my Santa Cruz 00 back in 2020.

Of course, I found that the 00 made all my music sound better, but it also began to change some of my songwriting.  Prior to getting my SCGC I had principally been playing and writing on a 1917 Lyon & Healy parlor guitar.  A sweet guitar with tremendous tone and projection, but very poor intonation.  There were just some places on the fretboard that were not worth exploring.

However, the power, tone, sustain, etc. of my SCGC has led me to explore different areas of the fretboard, different voicings, more 7, 9 and Sus chords and such.  Consequently, the songs I write have become “wider” and more eclectic.  I suppose that any world class guitar may have had the same knock on effect, but I love having not just a musical partner but a songwriting partner that encourages me to keep exploring.

I should also mention that my discovery of Julian Lage and his genre less, expansive style has also been an influence on my  songwriting even tho I don’t write instrumental jazz tunes.

Anyway, just curious if anyone else has found that having a quality instrument has had a positive impact on their songwriting.