Santa Cruz next to Taylor

[Sam Perry]

Anyone have any experience with Santa Cruz guitars?  I had a friend suggest one of those along with a couple Taylor's.  I've receive some GREAT insight to a few Taylor models and I was curious about SC's next to Taylor's.

[Strumming Fool]

Santa Cruz guitars are a smaller production company. I've played many and owned one. Their OM models are my favorite. You can compare them to either the Taylor GA or the GC. They build more traditional models akin to old Martins  or Gibsons. They're beautifully crafted and more expensive than Taylor in general.  For my purposes, the Taylor GA fits the bill perfectly,  but check out Santa Cruz or Bourgeois as alternatives.

[Edward]

SC is another one of the "Martinesque-voiced" builders out there ...that's not a slam by any means as much as it is a qualifier.  Voices matter.  And each builder has their own "family" voice, so to speak, as it makes them "them."

So Bourgeois, Santa Cruz, Huss&Dalton, Collins, to name some of the "big" small builders, enjoy a loyal following for the quality they produce, and are all definitely worth trying, just as one should try the Taylor model one is interested --all before buying. 

My personal bias alert: I've simply heard far too many "knowledgeable" people recommend this brand or that over these many, many years.  Here's my personal take: when one is talking about any well-made instrument that has a known track record of quality over years, and enjoys return buyers, then really the main consideration is how said guitar sounds to you ...others' opinions simply don't rate.  The headstock logo makes a fine adornment; buy what truly speaks to you.

Edward

[dgraham]

I was killing an afternoon in the large city of Aurora, MO one day while my wife worked, and I strolled into a shop on main street called "Guns and Guitars". Wow. The store was full of guns and guitars. Go figure. He had a room full of high end guitars, so I go in there and start messing around. He hears me playing, and walks in and we start talking. He starts pulling guitars off the wall for me to try and one of them was a high end Santa Cruz. Played and sounded really good. Had I been in the market then for a new guitar, I would have given it serious thought. Played and sounded as good or better as any guitar I've played. The owner had tweaked most all those guitars and they all played and sounded very good. I must have been in there 2-3 hours just talking guitars with a complete stranger. The next time my wife goes over there, I think I'm going to send along my 314 and let him see what he can do with the action on it. That guitar came home still in the box, and my only beef with it is the action can be tweaked a little. My other guitars spoil me, then I pick this one up, and I go what the... Never bring one home unless a good guitar tech has looked at it and tweaked the action.