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Hi, I am new to this forum, but I expect that I know a number of you who frequent some other guitar related forums.
I had no idea how SC worked with clients, so I reached out to Tad (we have a common friend) and he was kind enough to explain to me Carolyn’s role at SC and how it worked with their dealer network.
With the help of Carolyn (I believe with some consults with Richard), I was able to select the foundational wood and bracing choices for my FS. I play mostly solo jazz chord melody with both a pick and my fingers. They recommended that we use some light, stiff Italian Spruce braced using their standard tapered brace pattern, but using Adirondack Spruce with HHG to best meet my playing style and tonal goals.
For the back and sides, they recommended some figured Black Walnut that they had sourced from back east that Richard thought was fantastic.
So the custom aspects that are different from the standard model are:
– Narrower 1-3/4” nut width with 2-5/16” bridge spacing
– Jescar EVO 43080 frets
– Italian Spruce top
– Black Walnut back & sides
– Ebony peghead veneer
– African Blackwood body, fretboard and peghead binding with black/maple/black purflings
– Paua Abalone rosette and top purfling
– Abalone SCGC mini logo on peghead and bridge pin dots
– MOP Deco inlay position marker just at 12th fret
– Buttered toast sunburst
– A tortoise teardrop pickguard because of my hybrid playing style
– Custom Macassar Ebony buttons for Gotoh 510 tuners
I believe that construction may begin in late October early November timeframe.
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Welcome iim7v7im7, yes we have crossed paths, I have recently been admiring your Froggy Bottom on the UMGF. I go by ‘bertram’ there, been playing SCGC for 20yrs and believe you will be very happy with your decision. Eric Skye is a member here (plus has his own SCGC model), you’re in good hands as far as genre goes.
This is a fairly small, intimate community that is a very friendly place thanks to Rich & Tad, make yourself at home.
best wishes, bert
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This should be a fun build. It should be beautiful and have a great touch. I’m awaiting delivery of a Custom put in during February, but is now running a couple of months late. All that’s good is well worth the wait. Carolyn is always terrific to work with. Keep us posted with updates & good luck.
– Paul –
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Wow! You’re a lucky man. That looks to be a amazing guitar.
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Can someone explain to me how Santa Cruz’s build workflow in the shop works?
Is it a small team who each does specific operations (e.g., gluing up & thicknessing plates, rosette installation, bracing, side bending/linings etc.) or do individual luthiers in the shop do most of the work on an instrument?
I suspect the former approach, but I have never visited their shop. I believe they have about 20 employees including administrative colleagues. So I suspect that guitars are made in batches with different unit operations distributed across the shop. Any insight here is most welcome. I know that tops are signed. So is that just the portion of the team who glued up the plates and braced the top?
Also, can someone confirm that SC uses a 14” fretboard radius? Lastly, does anyone know the top dish radius that SC uses on their F models?
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I’ve had two customs made by SCGC and can confirm the radius is 14” – I asked. However, there are other members that understand the separation of duties better than me. Hopefully they will chime in about the build process.
– Paul –
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I’ve never asked about those specifics, but from the people I’ve talked to and what I’ve noticed in the shop, there is a constant training program going on, and jobs get rotated to keep people from getting too burnt out in any one position. They hire luthiers who have gone through luthiery school primarily, but not exclusively. Richard, and the more senior luthiers, work with the newer people to make sure they understand the “Santa Cruz” way, and the internal procedures since they work on so many customs. Now, most of this was gathered and my interpretation was determined based on their pre-Covid operations, and I do know that their general operations and working conditions have changed considerably since then, but I don’t have any specifics on what those changes are. I do know they have modified their air handling systems to increase air changes, and installed more barriers to keep work areas more isolated, but how it affects their on-going training and shop safety sessions – no idea –
Richard is amazingly generous and happy to share his knowledge, so perhaps we can add those questions to a podcast in the future –
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Thanks…A rotation system is what I suspected for cross training for colleague development and long-term viability (people move on). Certain operations are also likely done by their supply chain (e.g., purflings, bindings, shell inlay etc.). I am curious how the customer player input moves from Richard/Carolyn to wood selection and bracing of the top. Does the luthier performing these tasks know the input goals of the client? It would be good to understand the SC journey post-Carolyn, from wood to instrument as a project moves through the shop.
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The understanding I came away with is that the builders spend time in every area of building the guitars. One person doesn’t build one guitar. Or do the same job forever. I’d suggest googling your question and checking out some Richard Hoover and Santa Cruz guitars YouTube videos. It’s been awhile since I’ve done that.
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I had done that and found 2008 video with Willie Carter giving a tour 13 years ago and one with Teja Gerken about 3 years ago. I got the sense that Santa Cruz made more guitars/year (700-800/year) back then than the do today. The operation can be seen from wood storage/conditioning, plate thicknessing, side bending, block/lining installation, top/back bracing, closing the box, neck manufacture, CNC operations, dovetail installation, finishing, setup/plek etc.. So it is a cross trained, team built instrument.
I was curious as they moved to lower their manufacturing volume (e.g., ~400/year) with a greater percentage of customization, how shop operations may have changed? How does the input post Carolyn writing up specs travel with the project through the shop in terms of player’s intent? I suspect that once the spec sheet is written up, the team members just do the best that they can to create the guitar. Guitars are more than just recipes. I was wondering if player information or intent (e.g. they care more about responsiveness, or headroom, timbre of the trebles etc.) is communicated beyond the spec. sheet that follows the order through the shop?
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Unfortunately, I did not ask the question broadly, but just in relation to my guitar. I also asked about the top and back dish. They are 33’ and 12’ radii respectively. I know years ago, they were all 14” radius. I believe over the years they have moved more broadly to a compound radius.
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I just looked at my correspondence with Carolyn in October 2019 where I asked – “What is the fretboard radius on my OM & OMG? Are all SCGC the same?”
Looking at her answer I see our miscommunication. She said “It’s 14” on both.” She wasn’t addressing my question about all guitars. So this is new information for me. Thanks. I’ll have ask about my H13 under construction. It’s not an issue really because I seem to get along with most fretboards, but still worth knowing.
– Paul –
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I have found that differences in fretboard radius in a practical sense are transparent to me. I have guitars with a variety of fretboard radii from 12” to 20” and a variety of compound radii. After a few minutes playing an instrument I forget these specs totally.
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I see your guitar is going to be a buttered toast sunburst. I have a buttered toast on my 00 and still get a kick out of it every time I see it.
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I received some photos from SGGC.
They have joined the Claro Walnut backset; routed and installed a curly maple purfled African Blackwood backstrip. The set looks typical of an claro-english walnut orchard tree graft stump with its nature of light brown and dark brown striping and its curly figure.
You can see the deep arch of a 12’ radius dish in the joined set in the ladder braces.
The ladder braces and cross-grain back reinforcement strip are both made from Sitka Spruce. They are carved to almost no remaining thickness where they will meet the linings. Looking on the inside, you can see how the set goes from quarter sawn to rift/flat sawn. There is also a pin knot is present in the lower bout (between ladder brace 3 and 4) that will likely need some stabilization and filling.
They have joined, sanded to thickness and rough cut to shape the Italian Spruce top set from Rudi Bachmann.
They also installed a simple, clean Paua Abalone/Maple/Black Fiber rosette.
The [I]Italian Spruce[/I] top has now been braced. This is SCGC’s 1375th Model FS that they have made since the late 1980s when the first model rolled off their bench. The top is signed by long-time SCGC employee Adam Rose (AR). Adam has been with SCGC since the 1980s and has voiced many tops. I also believe that he is the Manager of CNC Design & Programming at SCGC.
The top has been straight taper braced with [I]Adirondack Spruce[/I] bracing adhered with [I]Hot-Hide-Glue[/I]. They have installed a popsicle brace above the upper transverse brace and a somewhat thick Hard Maple bridge plate that is chamfered on it right edge adjacent to the x-brace. Interestingly, the finger braces on the treble side of the top are straight taper profiled and a scalloped on the bass side of the top.
Here is a short, accelerated video that the company made of Adam Rose voicing the bracing on a top from about 5-years ago.
[YOUTUBE]STnbfzcqaeo[/YOUTUBE]
More when I get it in the new year…
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I apologize but I do not understand the formatting conventions of this website. There does not appear to be a mechanism to allow me to edit my posts so the images will display.
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Unfortunately, using Google Chrome on an iPad I see no paperclip or edit button on posts that I have authored.
P.S.
EDIT in uppercase appears next to REPLY but only immediately after I post. It goes away though and no longer appears after some point in time post authoring.
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iim7v7im7,
First let me say that the pix you have posted are the best “In Progress” images I have ever seen submitted to our Forum……You must have some pull at “the Mothership” brother.
As to your difficulty posting….. I have a PC so obviously I have to do thing “the simple way”.
If I receive pics from Carolyn via email I download the images to my “Pictures” file.
Then if I want to post on our forum I sign in ,go to the area I want to post and click on the “mountain” icon.
Then I bring up my photo from my files…open and wait while it loads to the forum… then hit submit and that usually works.
IF it doesn’t work I send an SOS to Richard Newman… The “Big Mon” has never failed to help me solve the issue.
But then I’m just an old fart.
You are going to be a lucky man to own and play such a beautiful instrument.
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I received another update from Carolyn yesterday.
Santa Cruz, being a “small shop” that makes about 400 guitars/year has incorporated CNC into certain repetitive operations such as the rough creation of necks. The roughed Honduran Mahogany neck blank still left large along its middle section with features to locate the Ebony fretboard and for subsequent neck shaping operations. A body accessible, double action truss rod has also been installed and with a top shim along with a Peghead veneer.
A simple snake head shaped Gaboon Ebony peghead veneer appears to be a nice color match with the Maple purfled/African Blackwood binding. A Green Abalone “SCGC” min-logo has also been installed.
I believe that the next update should include the bent rims.
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Will Kahn who has taken the client relations reigns now that Carolyn Sills has moved on to her career in music was kind enough to send me a few photos of my FS coming out of the spray booth. Now that a “buttered toast” sunburst has been applied to the Bachmann Italian Spruce top, the Paua Abalone purfling and rosette are beginning to visually “pop”.
The flamed figure of the Claro Walnut back and sides can also now be seen a bit more clearly as can the contrasting African Blackwood binding with Maple purflings.
Still about 3-weeks out from shipping to my dealer.
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I heard that my FS has arrived at my dealer (Eddie’s Guitars). I have not seen any photos of it yet (SCGC did not appear to include it in “just shipped” either). Neither SCGC nor my dealer notified me of its shipment or arrival. I happened inquired yesterday by email yesterday to find out.
Since it was delivered in July instead of March it was originally targeted for, it unfortunately falls during a period when we are at our beach cottage which is a place where guitars go to die (super high humidity). Therefore I will leave it with my dealer until we return home in late August. If they take photos or make videos, I will share them here.
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Matt at Eddies was kind enough to make a video for me with my last 2 purchases from him. My SC FTC and the most recent the SC 000.
They were both much appreciated and done prior to delivery to me.
Ask him to do the same for you …….but be aware you might cut short your beach home trip to play it yourself.
If he does a video please post here .
It is a thing of beauty
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An update…My FS has been shipped from SCGC last week to my dealer (Eddie’s Guitars). They were kind enough to forward me a few photos of the guitar today. Since we are currently staying at our summer beach cottage (a place where guitars go to die due to high humidity), I wont take possession of it until late August when we return home. My dealer Mathew Chulka has been known to audition guitars in their shop and make a video or two. If he does, I will share it here.
It is a large, but narrow waisted guitar (15-7/8” @ the lower bout & 4-3/8” deep at the end block) with 25-3/8” scale length, 1-3/4” nut width and 2-5/16” string spacing.
The Bachmann Italian Spruce top is finished with Santa Cruz’s nitro “buttered toast” sunburst with a Paua Abalone top purflings and rosette. Some of the fiddleback figure can be seen in the Claro Walnut framed in African Blackwood bindings with Maple purflings.
The Gaboon Ebony fretboard is clean with EVO 43080 fret wire other than a single MOP art deco inlay at the 12th fret. The purples, blues & greens of Paua Abalone shell used in the rosette and purflings contrast against the “buttered toast” top.
A simple Gaboon Ebony peghead veneer framed with a Maple purfling & African Blackwood binding. The Gotoh 510 tuners have custom Macassar Ebony buttons made by Bill Wise. The rear shop shows the beautiful piece of Honduran Mahogany the used to make neck.
The figure in the Claro Walnut extends to the rims as well.
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Not a chance…
This is our last summer at the beach cottage so we want to enjoy it. We are selling it to our niece at the end of the summer. She is going to demolish the old place (built in the 1930s) and build anew on the site. I ordered my FS a year ago. It can wait another month. I just keep a RainSong up here (the only guitar that would survive the temperature and humidity fluctuations).
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I envy your time in an old beach house. Here in S. W. Florida so many of our old beach houses have been demolished to build absolute monuments to bad taste . They are built like forts and because they are built on concrete pileings they tower 3-4 stories high. The very few old beach houses made of florida pine and cypress now sit between Mcmansions that block the sun and tower over the old places that have survived numerous Huricannes and tropical storms.
A old friend of my families still owns a house on Bonita Beach and when they visit from up North we gather to watch the sunset and play guitars……..The one overwhelming sense of that house is the aroma of old wood , Sea Oats , SaltWater and yes a bit of mold mixed with wood smoke. It’s like an old wooden sailboat. I hope they never sell it.
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The UPS truck arrived this morning with my FS. It was actually 1-year to the day it was ordered. The guitar is beautiful but aside from unboxing it, tuning it up, 3 minutes of play and some photos for my insurance company, I have not played it due to a crazy day at work. I should get some meaningful playing time with it tomorrow afternoon and this weekend. I will share my impressions after that.
If I can ever figure out how to modify my forum signature, I can now say that I am a Santa Cruz owner!
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I have been remiss in reporting back on this guitar because I received two guitars within hours of each other so I have been busy getting to know the other guitar this week (too much of a good thing!).
Given that, I will hold off on sharing my assessment the SCGC FS until I have tried a few different string sets on it. It came strung up with with Santa Cruz Parabolic PB lights. I will be trying both regular PB and 80/20s on it to see what I like best. I always seem to be surprised what I prefer on an individual guitar (sometimes PB and other times 80/20).
In the interim, here is a short video that was sent to me by Matt Chulka playing the guitar.
[YOUTUBE]mghm9tXFj_4[/YOUTUBE]
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I just watched the video of Matt playing this beauty. Matt plays fingerstyle using the entire fretboard. This FS has a very sweet harp-like tone. A few measures of Matt’s playing almost sounded harpsichord-like, but with warmer overtones presented. Please understand that these impressions were from watching on my smartphone, so I can only imagine how much more will be appreciated on a proper system. Of course, the true measure of this fine instrument will be experienced in person by the player and those in the room!
Peace,
Walter
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I was finally able to give the FS its fair due of playing time across the last week as a result of receiving two guitars both on August 25th. I was not wild about the Santa Cruz Parabolic Light Tension strings that it came with so after a few days of auditioning it, I switched them out for a set of traditional PB strings. I much preferred the guitar with the traditional PB strings. I preferred the warmer timbre, the sonic strength G string and in general present more shimmer and sustain from the instrument. It came with a second set of their strings which I may try again (perhaps I had a dud set?). I will also try some 80/20s as well.
Look
The guitar is simply beautiful with its narrow waste and voluptuous J-185esque plantilla. The Buttered Toast sunburst top is framed in contrasting Paua Abalone purflings and rosette with blues, greens and purples. The fiddleback figure in the Claro Walnut back and sides is stunning as well. The simple aesthetic decoration with a focus on the woods visually all comes together. The EVO fret wire visually works against the hue of the top. The execution is done at a very high quality. The custom Macassar Ebony tuner buttons also look right at home against the peghead.
Feel
Despite being a fairly large guitar at 15-7/8” at the lower bout and 4-3/8” deep at the end block, the guitar is lightly built at 4 lb. 1 oz. This is partially due to the low density of the Claro Walnut back and sides and their construction style. The narrow waste sits well when playing seated and the neck sits steady and is not neck heavy. The neck is a comfortable C-profile with a touch of shoulder. The scale length, neck taper and string spacing feel tight at home.
Timbre
With the new PB strings, I would describe the general timbre as warm side of neutral. It has great balance in volume across the strings. It responds to touch and is true to its timbral character even when played softly. The trebles are not “fat”, but the B and E are plenty solid to support a melody. It holds together when closed chord voicings are played in the upper registers of the fretboard. There is an immediate quality to the sound of the guitar with a nice amount of sustain and supportive, euphonic overtones.
I might try a set of SCGC Parabolic Mediums…
String——PB Acoustic Light——-SCGC Parabolic Light——-SCGC Parabolic Medium
E———————-23.3 lb.—————————20.0 lb.—————————-22.5 lb.
B———————-23.3 lb.—————————22.5 lb.—————————-24.0 lb.
G———————-30.2 lb.—————————27.9 lb.—————————-28.5 lb.
D———————-30.5 lb.—————————30.5 lb.—————————-28.5 lb.
A———————-29.9 lb.—————————28.0 lb.—————————-32.5 lb.
E———————-26.0 lb.—————————27.0 lb.——————————27.0 lb.
TOTAL———-—163.2 lb.————————-155.9 lb.—————————163.0 lb -
Just an update on this instrument…
The guitar definitely benefited for my style of play with a change to SCGC Parabolic Medium Tensions over the Parabolic Lights that it came set up with. I still think that I prefer D’Addario XL PBs. Additionally, with a year of play some of its initial tightness is perceptively opening up in terms of player envelopment, bloom and sustain.
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Bob, exactly my experience with my Italian/Coco OMG, which is different for sure but roughly similar in size. I eventually gave up on parabolic lights on that guitar. The trebles were not working for me. The mid-tension strings worked well. But eventually I settled on D’Addario XL PBs and I’ve been completely satisfied.
– Paul –
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EDIT ABOVE I meant to say: I settled on D’Addario XT PBs and I’ve been completely satisfied.
– Paul –
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I have played the XTs as well, fine strings. They are “treated” (a plating) and feel more like regular PB strings. They last me a bit longer than regular EJ16s but not as long as the XSs. They are fine strings (the 80/20s as well).
The D’Addario XSs are coated, are quieter and last even longer. Very similar to Elixirs, but I prefer them. I simply have enough instruments that extending the time between string changing is worth the extra cost. The tension on XS .053”-.012” are similar to SCGC Parabolic Medium Tensions. Both sound very good on my FS.
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I wanted wider string spacing (2-1/8” vs. the standard 2-1/16”) and nut width (1-11/16” vs. 1-5/8”). The Lollar Charlie Christian’s with their blade pole pieces is string spacing agnostic. Laurent also made a fairly meaty D shaped neck profile with EVO fret wire. They are fairly quiet pickups (some hum), while clear sounding, they are a bit warmer to my ear than Fender style single coil pickup. Yes, it is a Tele but it plays and feels a bit different.
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