When Santa Cruz Guitar Company owner Richard Hoover started playing guitar, his only motivations were to impress a girl and later write a song that would change the world.
“I was scheduled to be the next Bob Dylan,” jokes Hoover. “But God has a sense of humor and I became a guitar maker.” Hoover may not have written that song or become a great troubadour, but his boutique, acoustic guitar shop, which this year is celebrating 50 years, did change the world.
Hoover has operated the SCGC for five decades, training luthiers and crafting custom-made, steel-string guitars – 20,000 to date – that have landed in the hands of some legendary musicians and have become famous beyond his hometown. Hoover is organizing a series of concerts and events to mark this milestone, which is also the inspiration for Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History’s new exhibit, Santa Cruz Guitar Company: The First 50 Years, opening June 18.
“Santa Cruz Guitar Company is a small business with a loud impact,” says museum deputy director Marla Novo. “For half a century, these luthiers have been artists and they’ve crafted these beautiful, sustainable guitars. Music and playing music transports us, heals us and awes us. And we wanna celebrate this innovation and craft that is created here in Santa Cruz.”
Hoover says he was exposed to music “in utero.” Born in Hanford, his father was a woodworker and commercial artist. Hoover learned to make toys and take things apart and put them back together, before repairing his first guitar at age 14. His mother was a teacher, reference librarian and pianist who wanted Hoover to play the piano. But listening to music like The Ventures’ “Walk, Don’t Run” on his Philco record player got him hooked on the guitar instead.
“The fact that you had this portable instrument that could accompany you and inspired your creativity was just a perfect fit,” says Hoover.
Influenced by Jack Kerouac’s and John Steinbeck’s writings, Hoover traveled the country, later settling in Santa Cruz in 1972. He worked various jobs, including woodworking, running a paper route and managing a gas station.
“Santa Cruz has been a haven for the quirky, and I don’t mean that dismissively,” says Hoover. “It’s for people who are more creative, sensitive and aware. It’s been a place where people would be more accepted than they would be in other places. We’ve got a special vortex here, not just in natural beauty, but in tolerance and love.”
It was around this time that Hoover’s Martin D-28 guitar was stolen off a porch, a bit of bad luck that actually turned out to be the first step in his guitar-making career. Hoover wanted to buy another guitar at Union Grove Music, but it cost $400 and he needed help with financing. So Hoover met Bruce McGuire, a loan officer and luthier. He was also introduced to Jim Patterson, another local guitar builder. The two became Hoover’s mentors and taught him to build his first guitar. In lieu of payment, they simply asked that he pass on his knowledge to future luthiers, or guitar makers, a motto Hoover has held on to to this day.
“Making other people happy is really the best source of my own happiness,” says Hoover.
In 1976, Hoover opened Santa Cruz Guitar Company with two co-workers from Union Grove Music, Bruce Ross and William Davis. Hoover did not intend to become a big-name manufacturer. Instead, he wanted to build custom guitars using the tradition of violin makers and use mostly reclaimed and responsibly harvested wood. The company produces some 400 guitars a year, and Hoover regularly conducts tours of his 10,000-square-foot factory.
“There’s no need to cut a tree to make our guitars,” explains Hoover. “It’s much better to use old wood that’s really well seasoned. We’re gonna get much better sound, better cosmetics and a story when we use reclaimed wood.”
The company’s first guitar was a D model dreadnought. But it was a few years later, in 1978, when Hoover made a name for himself collaborating with Tony Rice. The bluegrass legend wanted a more contemporary version of his Martin D-28. So Hoover and his crew built a new guitar, which became the Tony Rice model, the shop’s first signature line. That same year, the company released an FTC flat-top guitar. When Eric Clapton saw it in a magazine ad, he wrote Hoover a letter in 1980 requesting the instrument.
“That was a huge breakthrough for us,” says Hoover. “It promoted not only the F model, but it gave us credibility as builders. We attracted the attention of some nice names and some of them went on to become signature models.”
Hoover has designed guitars for celebrity clients, namely Robert Plant, John Fogerty, David Crosby, Janis Ian, Brad Paisley, Colombian singer Juanes and Men at Work frontman Colin Hay, who took part in SCGC’s 40th anniversary concert at the Rio Theatre back in 2016.
The FTC is among the company’s lineup of five, limited edition 50th anniversary guitars. Hoover is displaying 12 guitars in the exhibit, dating back to SCGC’s original dreadnought, in addition to an H13 model guitar made entirely out of native woods that will be gifted to the city of Santa Cruz. Other highlights in the museum’s collection are archival photographs, historical records, tools, wood samples, a recreated luthier work space and an interactive area where visitors can play a Santa Cruz guitar. The museum is also staging a live performance and appearance by Hoover at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center on June 22.
“The practice that they have of using reclaimed wood and responsibly sourced materials is something that resonates with the community,” says exhibitions manager Shanti Nagwani. “People are gonna be interested to see how they employ that into the creation of their pieces. So it’s a look at the finished product, as well as all the tools that go into making it. We’re kind of exalting these tools as art and artifacts of their own.”
Over the years, Hoover has worked with many luthiers who’ve gone on to make their own mark, including Michael Hornick, Roy McAlister, Jeff Traugott, Marc Maingard and Orange County-based Kevin Ryan, who, this year, issued an Abbey Grand Parlor guitar as a tribute to Hoover.
“Guitar making is a very cool thing to do,” says Hoover. “It’s a dream job. But it’s only a vehicle for what our real purpose is. Our real purpose is to make where we live, the culture, the people and the environs better by doing the right thing. When I started the company in my early 20s, everybody thought it was cute that our values included being open-sourced, being charitable, being honest. At 75, I never strayed from that business model and those values. We’re living testament that it works to treat each other right, treat the environment right and do ethical business. We’re all in this to make a better guitar.”
Santa Cruz Guitar Company: The First 50 Years runs June 18-Oct. 6 at MAH, 705 Front St., Santa Cruz. Hours: Monday-Sunday; admission: $8-10.
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