Santa Cruz Vintage Artist

Nitro vintage tones lacquer. Sitka top. Mahogany sides & back. Ebony f-board. No pickups. No cutaway. For me these are all the features I need or want!

I think everyone here knows what a D-18 sounds like- and the VA sounds like a GREAT, worn in D-18. Full woody, yet sparkly chords and round, but pronounced single notes. Works well in drop tunings as well. I've had mine hold up well dropping the low E to a C. Maybe not as "complex" as a vintage martin- but also alot easier to replace when you drop it.

The woods are fantastic. They sound great and look great. Mine is a sitka top with honduran? mahogany. I got mine used- it is from 1993 serial # in the 1100's and is has aged well.

I got this as a worryfree backup to my 59 D-18 and 63 D-28. I also play a '29 2-17 and a Collings 0002H. I'm not rich....just in the right places at the right time......and not afraid to spend when I hear what I'm looking for-- and this VA was a no brainer! Great tone. Great fit & finish. Great look. Whatever repairs this guitar will need are repairs that any guitar of its type would need. Humidity, drunk fans, bad guitar stands, irresponsible bass players, and ex girlfriends all take their toll on guitars. The quality if construction on this guitar is on par with any super expensive guitar I've ever seen or played.

Never called them, nor see the need to.

I have been playing for 22 years. I have an embarassing number of guitars. The VA gets as much play wear as them all. I would certainly replace it if it ran away.

This guitar was in the SCGC booth at Winter NAMM a couple years back. Mahogany sides and back, Sitka top, has the the Santa Cruz tuners. Based on the D-18. I had a Baggs iBeam installed at time of purchase. The epitome of understated elegance. For exact dimensions see the SCGC website.

I've had many, many wonderful acoustic guitars over the past 30 years by the top luithiers in the business. I have played both casually and profesionally and can honestly say that I enjoy the sound of this guitar over any I have ever owned or played. It sounds like the typcal VA on streoids, good volume, clear notes all through the spectrum. I have never strummed it near any guitar player that they weren't absolutely blown away. Most say if I ever sell this guitar they want it. I play many styles from Bluegrass, Country, Rock, Blues, and Fingerstyle. The guitar performs under every situation from hard strumming to light finger picking and never lets me down. The first time I strummed it in the store, I was sold and it just continues to mature and open up. The tonal complexity is amazing. This is the ONE guitar I will have until I die!

The factory action was great, although, I have lowered it ever so slightly. I get no buzz and didn't lose any volume from the adjustment. The action is very even and responsive all the way up the neck. The wood is spectacular and I didn't detect any finish flaws at all. The fretts are perfect, extremely smooth and the intonation is spot-on. The only thing that could be improved is the case. It did not have as snug of fit as my Taylors.

I play in the home and do some studio work as well as jamming at my buddy's place a couple times a month. I have no doubt the guitar is very durable and would stand the rigors of the road (I would change the case if I travelled full time). Finish is as beautiful as the day I purchased it with no signs of cracking or checking. The Santa Cruz tuners are as accurate as any I've ever used.

I have not had to contact the factory for any reason. I have met Richard Hoover at some shows and workshops and believe he is very concerned in ensuring happy customers.

Again, I have been playing for close to forty years and have never run across a guitar I enjoy this much.It's worth every penny I paid for it and would truly mourn its' loss should anything happen to it. I play acoustic guitar a little more than 50% of the time. My electrics consist of mostly Don Grosh electrics and Rivera amps. My main other acoustic is a Taylor 910 which is also a top quality guitar. I would highly recommend that, if you're looking to purchase a quality acoustic guitar, you give a Vintage Artist a listen. You may see Mahogany in a new light.

93 Vintage Artist 1 3/4 bound Tony Rice Neck (No Markings) Spruce top, beautiful grained mahogany back and sides.Herringbone trim.

Bluegrass Musician. Cuts through large mixes of instruments. Lead notes are extremely clear and crisp. Holds more than it's own rhythm wise as well.Superior guitar for miking.

Not the factory setup, I've lowered the action and it plays like butter, still has great volume.

Haven't needed the services of the manufacturer. Have e-mailed them with questions before and always received quick, friendly response.

Playing for 25 years.Have owned about 12 guitars previous to the current 2 I have.This guitar is a backup for my 1951 Martin D-28, that says a lot right there. If I had to part with one of them, the Martin would probably go first.Would buy another one in a heartbeat, don't think they are being made anymore as of recent.Traded a SC Tony Rice for this guitar as the Tony Rice was so close in sound to the old Martin I luckily found.I Love this guitar, much prefer it over any Collings, Huss & Dalton and other makers I've tried out.

This is Jeff Dahlen from the previous post. I wanted to update my last post concerning the popped bridge. I think it is only fair to provide an update as the Santa Cruz Guitar Company, as well as the Podium here in Minneapolis did an excellant job fixing the bridge. Marty at the Podium was very friendly and did a fine job fixing the bridge, you can't even tell it ever broke. It did take a month, but the workload for this guy is unbelievable. His shop was stacked to the gills with broken guitars (courtesy of Minnesota's very dry winter's.) Also, Santa Cruz was VERY helpfull and courteous. I was put in direct contact with the head of one of their shops (I apologize for not remembering his name.) He was very helpful, explained in detail what may have caused the problem and what to do in the future to avaid it again. Santa Cruz even payed for the $100 repair it cost to fix the bridge. They stood by there product 100% and I am very pleased, the whole process couldn't of been handled any better.

Other than the humidity problems and the bridge, I've had none. I put this back up to 8 since Santa Cruz was so helpfull. I guess I am going to have to start controlling the humidity levels in my house as well as the case to protect this guitar from further humidty problems. Hopefully one humidifier will be enough!

I purchased a 2002 Vintage artist at the podium here in Minneapolis. It has a adirondack spruce top, mahogaony back and sides, waverly tuners, no electronics. I had a strap button installed on the base of the neck at the time of the purchase. Gorgeous guitar. Best looking guitar in the shop IMHO. It is very playable, and enjoyable to look at. I like the vintage stye tuners.

I enjoy playing folk, bluegrass, and fingerstlye. The sound is very crisp and full, not to bassy. This guitar is NOT LOUD AT ALL. More of a clean and refined sound with good seperation between the tones, not muddy at all. THIS GUITAR WILL NOT OVERPOWER ALOT OF INSTRUMENTS LIKE REQUIRED IN BLUEGRASS. However, it sounds simply beautifall. The crisp sound of the highs and angelic ringing of the strings is phenominal. New strings on this baby are pure heaven. Martins seem to be way bassier with more punch, but Vintage Artist sounds like an angel. Don't get me wrong, it sounds fine for bluegrass, just not very loud and bassy like most players like. I use it for fingerstlye and it works great. Good seperation between the tones, the clarity is unbelievable.

Craftmanship was excellant. Only finish mistake was on some of the herrinbone trim along the top I didn't notice until I got it home. No big deal. Action is great, very playable. However, since this guitar is very softspoken (which I think is part of the charm), if you try to attack the strings they tend to "snap" and a loss of sound quality is evident. Please do not get me wrong, this guitar truly sounds like an angel, not a boorish demon that some blues players and bluegrass players would prefer. I give it an 8 for the herringbone flaw

Here is where I might have to really attack this guitar, I am not impressed. Please note that I do not have much experience with guitars, so my problems might be "part of the deal" with acoustic instruments, but I'm going to tell it like it is. First and foremost, I live in Minnesota, lots of temperatue extremes. Keeping this guitar humidified has been a lot of work. And with the loss of humidity, I have had trouble keeping the thing in tune, and have had to raise the action to keep the strings from buzzing. I keep three humidifiers in the case, and the guitar lives in there, and always have had problems with it. The fingerboard shrinks, and soundboard dips, and the strings buzz plus go out of tune, I can count on that like the sun rising in the morning. Howver, this is my third winter with the guitar and have not had ANY problems, so it appears to have gotten better. Until last night. Which prompted me to write this review. The bridge snapped off. While playing I heard a loud snap, looked down, and the top corner of the bridge snapped off. I loosened the strings, refilled the humidifiers, and put it back in the case. We shall see how the podium and Santa Cruz stand by there product. I do not feel that a guitar that I paid $2000 for and is only three years old should be giving me this many problems. It's to bad becuase this guitar is excellant, except for this catagory. And coupled with the fact that is seemed to finally have adjusted to the Minnesota temperatue extremes as far as tuning is concerned, and then the bridge gives me trouble. I hope this is the last of the problems.

We shall see.....

This guitar would be a ten if not for the tuning and bridge problems. I understand that in MInnesota guitars simply will give us more trouble. The weather here is quite extreme, but I think the bridge problem is out of line. Santa Cruz can save face with me provided they promptly fix the guitar.

This guitar was custom made for me by way of Steve Swan. Steve provided the Mahogany back and Adirondack top: high quality in both looks and sound. Other than the hand selected woods mentioned above, the rest of the guitar is standard Vintage Artist. It comes with waverly tuners. The neck is made to be played fast or slow: very user friendly. Thin compared to my old Martin D-18 but then the VA has a truss rod. The nitrocellulose finish is beautiful to look at and lets the texture of the wood show through readily.

The sound is out of this world. What do I mean by that? The bass is very well defined, crisp and full bodied. The mids are also defined nicely and with the treble enhanced by the characteristics of the wood, the guitar as a whole is very well balanced. One slight negative: it's not super loud and sometimes I'm slightly overwhelmed volume-wise when jamming next to a large bodied Martin. The tone still just blows the Martin away for the most part. Plugged in, it's king of the hill, regardless if the others are also plugged in. For solo playing or for 90% of acoustic jamming, it's usually fine volume wise.

The action is medium low. I've had to tweak the truss a few times but nothing serious. After a year and a half it has settled down and been "broken in" nicely. The wood is nicely bookmatched on the back and really nothing negative at all to report, just very nicely done and proving to be very reliable.

I've wailed on this baby and it just asks for more. It's super light compared to other dreadnoughts but with the advanced scalloped bracing and the flawless workmanship, it's built to really be played hard or gently stroked. I have a Baggs Ibeam inside and if i need to plug in, it sounds pretty darned good through my California Blonde.

I've been told by Steve Swan who acted as an liason between myself and SCGC that if ever a problem just to bring or send it by and it would be looked after meticulously. I believe him. I also got a good feeling about Mr. Hoover who answered an email query on a technical item. Lifetime limited warranty, although I live overseas so I'm not sure how that would be honored.

Been playing a good long time (since when Pipeline was the most popular tune to play on a guitar). I own a customized Strat with Lace sensors and Baggs piezo bridge. I own a 1927 KOA Stella purchased from Neil Harpe. I own a 1962 Gibson mandolin and also a OOO SCGC custom which is also reviewed on this site. I would get another VA if it were ripped off or lost. I LOVE the lightness and power of it. I LOVE the exquisitly balanced and well defined sound. I love the looks of it. I wish it were a tad louder but really no biggee(it ain't soft by any means!). I compared it to Martin HD28 (the VA pissed all over it in my opinion). I compared it to Taylor 810WMB dreadnought-no comparison! I compared it to Taylor 814 Grand Auditorium. The VA was way louder, better tone and just as easy to play. One more thing I'd like to add....my 1969 Martin D-18 was ripped off in Hawaii. This guitar was the only one I could replace that D-18 with and feel it was an equal replacement.

-made in 2002
-solid sitza spruce top
-no electronics
-mahogany back and sides
-satin finish - dreadnought design
-inlays around all edges and double inlay down the middle of the
back
-waverly open gear tuners
-thin fast neck
-awesome case
The features of this guitar are listed above just let me tell you that all of the included features are top shelf. Especialy the tuners
they are great and very smooth.

Guitar sounds great nice sharp and warm tone due to the mahogany back and sides. Incredible sustain and the neck feels excellent.

I don't know how it was set up at the factory I bought it 6 months used. Everthing feels quite nice.

Only had it 1 week but I am sure that it will be great.

Don't know and hope that I never will.

I have been playing for about 3 months and owned 5 guitars in this time. Currently I also own a 2002 Gibson AJ. This guitar feels way better and is incredibly light. I can not get over how right the guitar feels in my hands. If it were stolen I would spend all my time and moeny to hunt the thief down execute him and get my guitar back. I would never lose this guitar because I practically sleep with it next to my bed.

1998, however I bought it "new" from the dealer in Nov. 2001. Guess they don't sell too many SCGCs. Sitka top with a lot of silking. Mahogany back and sides. Waverly tuners. Bound fingerboard and headstock. Scalloped braces, Advanced X brace.

I like the sound. It has a breathy oomph that I like. It has more sustain than my 95 Custom HD-28. It is however, not the loudest guitar in the world. But it does have a nice sweet tone. I like it.

Action is ok. SC website says it's set up med-high.
Overall fit and finish wsa great, However, on the interior of the back there is some glue squeez out visible on a couple of braces.

I think that it will hold up just fine. The finish appears to be pretty thin, so I'm careful with it. But I suppose that helps the sound.

Lifetime warranty to the original owner- me!

I play mostly bluegrass. I own a 95 Custom HD-28 and a 2001 SE Asian rosewood back and sides Proulx dreadnought. www.proulx.com The SC is the quietest one of the three, but it does have a breathy tone the others don't have. It's super light, I love the dark toner on the top and the herringbone trim. The dealer I bought it from had it for quite a while. That's how I could get it for almost $900 less than than most folks want for them. Go to www.fqms.com and see what they ask for one.

The Vintage Artist is an acoustic dreadnought. Solid Sitka spruce top,herringbone body trim, solid mahogany back, sides and neck, 14/21 fret bound ebony fingerboard with pearl dot inlay, ebony bridge with black pearl dot pins, Brazilian rosewood veneer on bound peghead with pearl logo inlay, three Waverly tuners per side. It was made in 1999 in Santa Cruz, CA, using Santa Cruz's "bench style" of building. Over half of the Santa Cruz guitars made are custom or customer modifications to their standard models. This guitar is off-the-shelf with no modifications from the standard. Think of this as a herringbone D-18. I am not big on abolone all over a guitar, so I really like the tasteful way the guitar looks. Santa Cruz states that this guitar was designed for Doc Watson's style of flatpicking. I am not sure what other "features" an acoustic dreanought can have, but this guitar has all of the features that I want.

To put my comments on sound in perspective, I flatpick bluegrass, old time music and the blues. On the other hand, I am not a real hard player, but have a fairly soft style of playing. The first thing you notice about all Santa Cruz guitars is that they are loud. That is very good for me because, with this guitar, I can play the way I feel comfortable with, even in a group setting and still be heard clearly. However, if loudness is all you care about, then an amp is all you need. I was and still am a big Martin fan. Those of us who love Martin are always dreaming that we will go into a pawnshop or a garage sale and find a pre-war D-18 or D-28. Hearing this guitar was like having that experience. I loved the sound of this guitar from the moment I first played it. The Vintage Artist is designed to recreate the pre-war sound of the Martin D-18s. It incorporates hand-carved scalloped bracing in the advanced X position. Santa Cruz voices the braces and tunes the top of each guitar it builds to create the sound. The Vintage Artist has that vintage pre-war Martin solid, rolling sound. Strong bass, but not muddy. At the same time, it has a strong treble and mid-range from the Mahogany. It is a very it is a very articulate instrument and very bright. It is the best of both world in many ways. You bet the bass of rosewood with the snap and brightness of Mahogany. The other thing that is very noticeable is that the guitar is not tight, even though it is a new instrument. I don't think there is one guitar that sounds the best for everyone, but this guitar has exactly the sound that I want.

I bought ths guitar from a dealer, so I don't know if it was set-up at the factory or by the dealer. I know the dealer and know he generally does do some adjustments himself. Either way, the action was great. The top is perfectly book matche and tight grained. The Mahogany on the back and sides is very striking, having a quilted look and visually much more attractive than the custom D-18VS I have (but also love). The workmanship on the instrument is wonderful and all the materials outstanding. I am not a big fan of the verneer headstock (like a Taylor), preferring the solid peghead (like a Martin), but the rest of the guitar is so nice, I even started to like that aspect of it..

I have had this instrument, so this is an unknown about it. Richard Hoover, founder of Santa Cruz, has been building guitars since the early 70's. I have not heard any complaints about his work, its reliability or durability. I have had absolutely no problem with the guitar, but two months won't tell much. It a noticeably light instrument when you pick it up and there is a tendency to equate light with less durable. I don't see this as a problem, but ask me in 50 years

I have not had to deal with the company. The dealer I bought it from was great. I have bought a number of guitars from him. So, the rating is more for him than the company.

I have been playing for about ten years. I currently own a Martin HD-28, a Martin D-28VS, a Martin Custom D-18VS and a Martin 000-28EC. I would buy another today if it were stolen. In fact, I would like to buy another one today just in case it is stolen. The thing I love most about this guitar is its sound. I compared it to the Martin D-18 Golden Era guitars made a few years ago. I also comapred it to some Martin D-18 Golden Era Customs made in 1998. Also the Collings D-1. The Vintage Artist was, for my tastes, an easy choice.

Hand made in '96 (?), where else, Santa Cruz, CA. Hollow body acoustic patterned after the preWW II Martin dreadnought. The original VA is mahogany however I got this with a spruce top and rosewood back & sides (bright voicing). How do you rate features for an acoustic guitar ?

I tried a lot of acoustics (ie: Taylor, Martin vintage & new, Godin, Breadlove, you name it) before I settled on the SC. This guitar just stood out of the crowd. The voicing is rich and balanced between the highs and lows with truly angelic overtones. It's not as easy to play as a Taylor or Ovation but man it's worth the effort !!!

The action was a little high when I purchased it. Since I have some experince on guitar setups I adjusted the action myself. I called the company and the lutherier was very friendly and helpful.

This is a finely crafted guitar. Excellent for acoustic gigs. Not a headbangers tool.

As I mentioned before.

I've been playing for 25 years. I have 2 PRS's '86 & '96, a Gibson LP Custom, Fender Clapton Strat, '68 SG, Ovation, '74 Fender Delux, Egnator TOL100, plus assorted pedals and rack stuff. For my taste the Santa Cruz is the perfect acoustic guitar.