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Santa Cruz Guitar Handcrafted, handed down.

Today's the day, folks! Continuing our thanks to community supporters with a a huge thank you to our good friends at Syl...
09/19/2026

Today's the day, folks! Continuing our thanks to community supporters with a a huge thank you to our good friends at Sylvan Music as we celebrate fifty years of Santa Cruz Guitar Company.

There's something fitting about our hometown guitar shop helping throw our fiftieth birthday party. We're mighty grateful for local businesses like Sylvan stepping up to make this milestone weekend possible, for our artists, our neighbors, and the whole Santa Cruz community.

Your local guitar shop is a treasure. Sylvan Music certainly is.

1976–2026: Celebrating our first fifty years, and the dear friends we've made along the way

09/18/2026

A few months ago, we began the celebration of “Santa Cruz Guitar Company: The First 50 Years” with a beautiful night of music, bringing together some of the extraordinary artists we have had the privilege to know, work with, and call friends.

It was a magical evening, with a finale that brought tears to our eyes.

When you look back at the giants of lutherie, people like Richard Hoover, it is easy to focus on the guitars. The wood, the craftsmanship, the endless pursuit of perfection.
But beneath it all is something much simpler.
Love.

Because what draws us to the instrument we obsess over is not just the sound. It is what that sound can do. It can win a heart, tell a story, bring people together, and carry memories across generations.

For some of us, it takes us back to coffee houses, small stages, and intimate rooms where a guitar could make the whole world disappear for a moment.
Those are the moments we cherish.

And when you see someone like Richard put his heart and soul into everything he does, while believing in leaving the world a little better than we found it, it is hard not to believe in this little company that could.

Fifty years of guitars.
Fifty years of music.
Fifty years of stories, friendships, and dreams.

To all our players, artists, family, and friends, we invite you to celebrate the first 50 years of Santa Cruz Guitar Company with us this weekend.

Come celebrate the guitars.
Come celebrate the music.
Come celebrate the people who made it all possible.

The weekend Lineup:

TONIGHT Friday 18th 5pm: Secrets of Stradivarius with Richard Hoover at the MAH

Sat 19th: Pre Show Block Party 12:00-4:30 Santa Cruz Barrios Unidos

Sat 19th: 50th Anniversary Concert at 5:30pm at the Rio Theatre

Tickets at snazzyproductions.com/santacruzguitar50

09/18/2026

The artist highlight series turns to the block party, and friends, this lineup runs deep. Saturday, September 19, noon to 4:30, live music all afternoon, and everybody's invited.

On the bill:
SambaDá, twenty years of samba, reggae, funk, and Afro-Brazilian rhythm built for dancing in the street

SONiA disappear fear GLAAD Award winner, longtime Santa Cruz artist with her own SONiA Signature Model, and a voice that's played the Sydney Opera House

Shanehallofficial whose Fuzz Funk Voodoo Blues took Howl & Sway to No. 1 on the Apple iTunes Blues chart

William Coulter, Grammy Award-winning master of the steel-string guitar

Adam M. Traum Woodstock-raised singer-songwriter carrying the tradition forward, like his father Happy before him

Colin Cotter & Sumaia Jackson, ripping fiddle tunes and folk songs with a Northern California flavor

Diggin' Trails, Santa Cruz's own Americana rock 'n' roll five-piece with the punk spirit intact

Steve Palazzo, Santa Cruz roots music mainstay, and one of our own, he built guitars right here in the shop

Ben Torres, strong guitar and easy, melodic vocals out of Orlando

Visit our website for the venue and all the details. Then head to the Rio Theatre at 5:30 for the 50th anniversary concert and make a day of this one!

Tickets at snazzyproductions.com/santacruzguitar50

1976–2026: Celebrating our first fifty years, and the dear friends we've made along the way.

A huge thank you to Hotel Paradox for their community support as we celebrate 50 years of Santa Cruz Guitar Company!We’r...
09/16/2026

A huge thank you to Hotel Paradox for their community support as we celebrate 50 years of Santa Cruz Guitar Company!

We’re incredibly grateful to have local businesses like Hotel Paradox stepping up to help make this milestone weekend possible. Thank you for supporting SCGC, our artists, and the Santa Cruz community!

Hotel Paradox, Autograph Collection

This Saturday: James Nash at our 50th anniversary concert. Guitar Player named him one of "50 Transcendent Acoustic Guit...
09/15/2026

This Saturday: James Nash at our 50th anniversary concert. Guitar Player named him one of "50 Transcendent Acoustic Guitarists," and he'll show you why on his Santa Cruz.

The 50th anniversary concert series continues with a player as at home with Charlie Parker and Bill Monroe as with Django Reinhardt and Jimi Hendrix. A decade as lead guitarist, singer, and songwriter for the eclectic and virtuosic Americana ensemble The Waybacks, a dozen albums, and bandleader for ensembles with everyone from Elvis Costello to Emmylou Harris, Bela Fleck to Bob Weir, Chris Thile to Jerry Douglas. "Graceful but fiery," says Guitar Player. A "near-ideal balance of irreverence, chops, discipline, and originality," says the Chicago Tribune.

His spirited improvisational flights are dazzling to behold, a deft combination of innate musicality and jaw-dropping technique. Sounds like our kind of trouble.

Saturday, September 19 at the Rio Theatre. Come see for yourself.

Tickets at snazzyproductions.com/santacruzguitar50

1976–2026: Celebrating our first fifty years.

09/14/2026

This Saturday: The Brothers Comatose at our 50th anniversary concert. Goldengrass comes to the Rio.

Hailing from California, the band has a long-held reverence for the traditions of bluegrass music. But existing in their own ecosystem, far from the epicenter of bluegrass, they haven't been constrained by those same traditions. The result is "GOLDENGRASS," a term the band has fully embraced to describe their unique style of music, born out of bluegrass, but with the undeniable freedom and rock 'n' roll attitude of California.

At the heart of the band are brothers Ben and Alex Morrison, whose songs incorporate the best aspects of modern Americana: poignant lyrics sung in close, blood harmony, creating memorable melodies that conjure images of well-worn highways and the vast American experience. The recent addition of the band's first "sister," Addie Levy, rounds out their rich blend with clear, Appalachian-soaked high harmonies and a driving mandolin chop steeped in bluegrass. Soaring above it all is the controlled mayhem of Philip Brezina's violin, whose improvised, blistering solos bring the rawness and rebelliousness of a rock 'n' roll guitarist. Underneath it all is Steve Height on upright bass, whose unwavering, workman-like thump will make you swear, or wish, you were at a back porch hootenanny drinking out of a jug.

From down-home bluegrass and folk festivals to mainstream pop and country festivals to the stage of the Grand Ole Opry, The Brothers Comatose have earned their reputation as the go-to for folks who want to kick up the dirt and bask in the good vibes of their live shows, an experience that proves bluegrass isn't just a tradition to be preserved, but a celebration meant to be blown wide open.
Sounds like the right band for a fiftieth birthday.

Come kick up some dirt with us.
Saturday, September 19 at the Rio Theatre.

Tickets at snazzyproductions.com/santacruzguitar50
1976–2026: Celebrating our first fifty years.

Join Richard Hoover in person, for The Secrets of Stradivarius: Timeless Principles Behind Santa Cruz Guitars, Friday, S...
09/13/2026

Join Richard Hoover in person, for The Secrets of Stradivarius: Timeless Principles Behind Santa Cruz Guitars, Friday, September 18 at 5 PM at the MAH in Santa Cruz.

RSVP on the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History website, or get on our email list and we'll send the link in our next email.

Then stay for our 50th anniversary celebration on Saturday and make a weekend of it.

1976–2026: Celebrating our first fifty years.

The artist highlight series continues with the man holding our 50th anniversary concert together: Nick Forster, our MC f...
09/11/2026

The artist highlight series continues with the man holding our 50th anniversary concert together: Nick Forster, our MC for the night, who's made it his personal mission to bring people together through music and ideas.

Forty-plus years with the seminal bluegrass band Hot Rize, from Colorado bars to Prairie Home Companion, the Grand Ole Opry, and the Telluride Bluegrass Festival.
Founder, producer, and host of eTown, the internationally syndicated environmental and musical radio program, uplifting and inspiring folks around the world. The eTown community comes for the music, and stays for the message. Sounds like our kind of people.

September 19 at the Rio Theatre. Come be brought together.

Tickets at snazzyproductions.com/santacruzguitar50

1976–2026: Celebrating our first fifty years.

09/10/2026

The artist highlight series rolls on with a band that brings the whole church: , out of Asheville, North Carolina, blending retro-soul, brass band funk, and singer-songwriter Americana into a sound all their own.

Roaring B3 organ, jubilant brass, and three-part harmonies, a "generation-jumping mashup of new school second line funk with old school vintage soul," as American Blues Scene puts it. One of Music Connection Magazine's Hot 100 Live Unsigned Artists & Bands, with a 2024 vinyl debut behind them. And we're mighty proud to welcome their lead singer, friend of the shop and endorsing artist Billy Litz.

September 19 at the Rio Theatre. Come get your soul hustled.

Tickets at snazzyproductions.com/santacruzguitar50

1976–2026: Celebrating our first fifty years

Ten years ago, Catfish Keith lit up the Rio stage for our 40th anniversary. On September 19, the acoustic blues pioneer ...
09/09/2026

Ten years ago, Catfish Keith lit up the Rio stage for our 40th anniversary. On September 19, the acoustic blues pioneer comes back to the same stage for our 50th, foot-stomping delta blues, signature Santa Cruz in hand.

Welcome to our 50th Anniversary Concert artist highlight series, kicking off with a dear friend of the house. More to come in the days ahead.

Four Blues Blast Music Awards. An IA Blues Hall of Fame induction. Twenty-five number one independent radio chart-topping solo albums. Forty-plus years of handing down the tradition.

Come see for yourself. Catfish packs houses all over the world.
Tickets at snazzyproductions.com/santacruzguitar50

Here's Catfish Keith performing on stage, 10 years ago at the 40th Anniversary Celebration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zwFMpUuxSE

1976–2026: Celebrating our first fifty years.

Address

151 Harvey West Boulevard
Santa Cruz, CA
95060

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 5pm
Tuesday 8am - 5pm
Wednesday 8am - 5pm
Thursday 8am - 5pm
Friday 8am - 5pm

Telephone

+18314250999

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