Santa Cruz OM

Orchestra Model purchased new in 1999. Solid top. The fretboard is very flat (not much of a radius at all). The neck does not have a gloss finish (I like the feel of necks with no finish). Playing the high E in about the fifth position took me some getting used to because there does not seem to be as much distance from the string and the edge of the fretboard as compared to my other guitar (it is easy to accidently bend the high E off the fretboard)

Sounds great. I can tell that it needs some breaking in. The tone of some chords really is complex. Excellent volume during picking. Some volume during delicate fingerpicking.

The guitar is set up perfectly in my opinion. A thin gold stripe along the sides slightly runs into the white binding (hardly noticeable, no big deal). Highly glossed body. Superb woods (sitka spruce, indian rosewood). The grain of the sitka is so tight you cannot see it as in some sitka I have seen. The rosewood is beautiful. Perfect cuts of wood for all of this guitar

It is a lightweight guitar.

I have emailed Santa Cruz with questions and they have been very helpful. When I bought the guitar, Santa Cruz were offering a free t-shirt to customers.

I've been playing about 19 years. I compared it to many guitars. I was close to buying a Martin 000-28EC instead, but the Santa Cruz seemed to have better string-to-string balance and I prefer the longer scale length.

I particularly like this OM style because it is the best compromise for all styles of playing (pick, fingerpick, rhythm, lead, classical(?), etc.)

Made in 1998 or 99. 14 frets at the body. All solid rosewood and a "textbook" spruce top. Ebony board and bridge. Binding ivoroid, ebony and maple, bound fretboard, bound headstock with ebony overlay. Herringbone around soundhole and body and a sipper on the back. This is a wonderfully elegant instrument with understated but beautiful appointments. Polished finish on body and headstock, satin mahogany neck. Slim modified v-neck. Nickel waverly tuners. I just told you the features.

Amazingly powerful sound for a small bodied guitar. Strong dreadnaught like bass, and clear trebles. You have to look twice to believe it. I am a fingerstyle player and this is a perfect addition to my "stable". I love the size. Very comfy to hold, and I love the look of this guitar. I have been an abalone fan, but this herringbone stuff is exquisite. The Santa Cruz shop believes in understated eligance, and this is just what I see in this guitar. The Head stock has the cool SCGC logo in abalone and is just perfect for the vintage look of the instrument. First guitar with Waverly tuners I have owned. They look great and work even better. I have explored the tonal range of this guitar pretty thoroughly and have found it to be exceptional. It can bite, soothe, warm you up and be plenty cool all in the same tune. Nice Work SCGC.

Set up for medium strings. I put bluegrass guage John Pearse on it it is just perfect for me. Woods are very high quality, and as mentioned before, the top is astounding. All the right stuff! My OM came with a TKL arched case. Nice, but not top notch. Certainly adequate.

This will be keeper for me. I humidify carefully and I see no problems with many years of use. I have not amplified it yet, so I cannot comment further. I would definately use this instrument professionally. This is why I bought it. My primary gigging guitar is a Goodall Jumbo. One would have to twist my arm pretty hard to get me to play anything else.

I spoke personally with Richard Hoover a couple of times and also some of his shop people. They were absolutley the best. This guitar has a limited lifetime warranty.

I own 3 different Goodalls and a Taylor, The Santa Cruz makes it even harder for me to decide which one I should enjoy today. It is fabulous. I love the sound for the size, the look, the workmanship, the many possibilities of tone quality and the elegance of my Santa Cruz OM. Oh yeah, it absolutley blew doors on the Martin Eric Clapton OM. (Sorry Eric and Mr.Martin) I had a chance to really a-b them. No comparison. The Martin was even more money. I can't for the life of me figure out why Martin Guitars, the pioneers in acoustics, can't figure out how to rebuild the instruments that set the standards? Can you? I have played great Martins, but they are few and far between, waaaaay to much money and about as consistant as my golf game. Ya da da. Hooray for Santa Cruz.