Factory Tour: Santa Cruz Guitar's "Lorax" Richard Hoover on Sourcing, Grading & Analyzing Tonewoods

Learn More: https://santacruzguitar.com/ Subscribe to PG's Channel: http://bit.ly/SubscribePGYouTube The company's founding master luthier Richard Hoover invites PG's John Bohlinger inside his NorCal guitar sanctuary. The first installment shares Hoover's deep appreciation and reverence for wood and nature. He explains that he was moved by the redwoods at an early age setting him up for a life among the trees. He then gets into how he sustainably sources exotic tonewoods from across the world before detailing how he mixes violin-making traditions with the modern scientific analysis he's helping collect with Stanford to try and build the best instruments possible. Learn More: https://santacruzguitar.com/ Subscribe to PG's Channel: http://bit.ly/SubscribePGYouTube Win Guitar Gear: https://bit.ly/GiveawaysPG Don't Miss a Rundown: http://bit.ly/RIgRundownENL Merch & Magazines: https://shop.premierguitar.com PG's Facebook:   / premierguitar   PG's Instagram:   / premierguitar   PG's Twitter:   / premierguitar   PG's Threads: https://threads.net/@premierguitar PG's TikTok:   / premierguitar   0:00 - John Bohlinger's Intro 1:44 - Richard Hoover Intro 2:10 - Richard Hoover Growing Up Around Redwoods 3:51 - Richard Hoover's Guitar-Build Philosophy 5:33 - Responsibly Sourcing Tonewoods for Santa Cruz Guitars 10:10 - Properties for Tonewood in Acoustic Guitar Building 14:24 - Using Redwood in Acoustic Guitars 16:37 - Brazilian Rosewood 18:33 - Using Ancient Tonewoods 22:42 - Sourcing Brazilian Rosewood from Bryn Athyn Cathedral in PA 27:28 - Indian Rosewood 29:18 - Redwood from Klamath River in Oregon & Great Notion Redwood 32:36 - Santa Cruz Shares the Tonewood Cache 34:53 - Traditional vs Modern Dreadnought 36:36 - Designing an Acoustic Guitar for a Customer 37:19 - The Name of Wood Doesn't Guarantee Anything 39:49 - Starting Santa Cruz Guitar in 1976 42:21 - Modal Analysis on Tonewoods with Stanford © Copyright Gearhead Communications LLC, 2025 #guitar #acousticguitar #howitsmade #luthier #guitarbuilding #acoustic #guitarist #guitarplayer