Santa Cruz Guitar Company Celebrates Their 40th Anniversary

When Santa Cruz Guitar Company celebrated its 40th anniversary in September 2016, the NAMM Oral History cameras were there!  It was an honor to take part in the celebration as we were able to capture several great interviews for our collection.

Richard Hoover, the founder of Santa Cruz Guitars, was interviewed first in 2007 and kindly provided a second interview in 2016 to express what it is like to have survived in business and to gain such a well-respected reputation.  Two of his long time employees, Adam Rose and Darren Webb were also interviewed that week as luthier, Paul Hostetter, who served as the inspiration behind the H Model guitar. Richard's long time friend, Roman Zajicek provided his thoughts about the 40th anniversary as did two performers from a special concert held in the company's honor, Catfish Keith and Don Edwards.

The anniversary celebration spanned several days and included tours of the manufacturing facility, a lecture by Richard at the local music store, that most special concert, and informal gatherings with food, drink, and guitar strumming. The festivities included many special guests, including those who traveled internationally to be at the celebration. It was a special event and I was honored to have been there and so pleased to have captured such remarkable stories for our archives!

Dan Del Fiorentino
NAMM Music Historian
dand@namm.org