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I also want to applaud how well they handle problems!
I have ordered two guitars from them and on my first one after a year or two a tuner stopped working and they happily replaced it even though they don’t manufacture it. My OM Grand had the saddle that was too low and when the local tech spoke with them, they paid to have it brought all the way back to “the mothership” and expedited it’s service. They got it all fixed up and the volume and stuff improved. I think they plek’d it while it was there, just super cool
They handle problems so swiftly, kindly, professionally, and whole heartedly which I think is just as important as how perfect they typically are!
Hello, if you are strumming especially with something like a blue chip you’re going to go with mediums, if you’re a finger picker then you’re going to go with lights. Maybe the guitar will have enough bottom end and power to use lights for strumming though, but not in my experience with Santa Cruz they require them. Also sometimes SC sounds choked with mediums and it’s clearer with lights so if you’re solo you go with mediums and in a band go with lights. It’s kind of always a trade off for me.
Oh man that sounds really nice! I didn’t hear that demo of an FTC! That’s the best one I’ve heard. For me I play with a pick and strum, so I thought the mediums gave it enough body… I liked it when he strummed… but yeah when he was playing finger style lights could have been more interesting. That’s a really cool guitar! Love it , would love to play it!
I don’t know, they’ve been down for several years… I noticed that some time ago. It might be intentional if it’s been this long and nobody realized?
No worries forum friend 🙂 i didn’t take it that way, was just continuing the discussion for the poster’s benefit (attempting to anyway).
I find that I would use different guitars or live setups for solo than if I were playing with a bass or drums
Well the skye is one of those that goes outside it’s description really really well in my opinion. Not too many of them do. The marketing on Santa Cruz is really thick to wade through to be honest, I don’t think the pep talk of all the models helps anyone decide.
Like others have said, return policy is your best bet. It’s fine to pay 80-140 bucks for a trial of an incredible guitar. My main gripe is that most santa cruz guitars out there are mostly stock ones… even the custom ones are not fully done to their highest level… but until you KNOW what you want from them you wouldn’t want to do that… unless you’re like me and you just trust them to interpret your stuff. I actually think they do a really good job of interpreting, but what I failed to see in my 10 years is that they have a very very very different idea of acoustic guitar than I do, so I have to interpret their response through their ethos. In technical terms though, I can compare models and they can really nail stuff. There is no replacement for what an adirondack top from santa cruz does to an attack with a blue chip pick though compared to italian or sitka and that’s something I have to have. It’s held true on every single one I’ve played and no other wood has accomplished that for me. I think it’s a great strummer wood unless you want to play a bluegrass or dreadnought guitar and go for a jangley martin type sound
That’s totally true, when you find another builder none of the consistencies of SC hold up to them. I’ve just gotten very good at predicting what the shop will put out and they are so consistent they never let down or shock.
No guitar is too much for whatever level of playing you’re at – you only have one life enjoy it 🙂
If you have to buy off a video, ask for hi res files and listen to it on headphones. You can loop people in and describe what you like and see if they hear it if you want although that can be dangerous.
What was it that you liked about the Skye so much, what are you wanting out of the cruz? What’s your style and number one thing a guitar has to do for you
I think he sounds great there – no shade to Don… but for my taste on the singer songwriter bit with the all mahogany OO is that it’s not big enough. Shockingly the Skye model with the short scale, 12 fret, deep body works really really well with a strum or fingers. It’s one of the handful cruz models that really stuck to me. If you were eyeing a Skye I would not suggest stopping with the one you’re looking at. If you did get an all mahogany guitar… I would definitely get a 1929 OOO , very nice and gives some extra stuff that the OO doesn’t have with all mahogany IMO. As a singer songwriter I think that I want a deeper more powerful low end and more air inside the cavity… or at least a more relaxed voice so it’s not a strain to sing over the guitar’s voice punching forward. I had that issue with my OM Grand… so forward and projectile that the upper mids combatted my voice.
FWIW my favorite actual voiced SC guitars although I didn’t like the size, volume, or power necessarily of them unplugged were: Firefly , Skye, and F. The VA and 1929 OOO weren’t too bad but not my thing as much. I feel like if I ever found a good old growth VS or RS out there, that would probably be the best thing I’ve heard from Richard… or a 16/17″ instead of the 15″ F model with adi/african. I quite liked my om grand with advanced x bracing… but if I got italian/cocobolo again I would NOT get advanced bracing… and if I did get advanced x bracing I would get mahogany and adirondack instead. I actually think a 24.9 ” Om grand with a deep body , standard bracing, and adirondack/african would slay for me. The H I had was similar to an H13 but rosewood – very very enchanting – but I’d stick with the standard H13. . . pretty good stuff on that one, but not quite big enough of a sound and a little niche. Again on the F I love the response but it was too diminutive. Sometimes on SC you can put mediums on and you get that more powerful sound but then the sound becomes too compressed. I definitely prefer their tapered braced guitars for strumming and singing and the x braced for finger style in general. . . and advanced x with mahogany and standard brace with rosewood.
If any of that resonates with you take it as you will. I haven’t played everything, but I’ve had a few santa cruz custom builds (at the top tier) really searching, and I’ve poured over all aspects of their guitars in relation to what I’ve been looking for – which is something to sing over that’s like a piano… it just took a long time for me to simplify it down to that idea… I started in my early 20s and now I’m in my early 30s and the best santa cruz I’ve ever played so far is not a santa cruz at all.. it’s my arch top I have now haha. I still want to get Richard to build me a couple more in search of the best guitar they can build from my perspective. I really really would like to see a true jumbo from them. either a larger F or larger FTC
I’d hold out for the Skye unless you just hands down are in love with the DE… but if you were you probably wouldn’t be asking for thoughts – it’d already be in your living room if you liked it that much
