Neat stuff. Thanks for posting that.
Santa Cruz is an interesting story. They and Collings are very similar in the industry, in that they built their reputation by building 'Better Martins' than Martin' (which isn't hard to do these days).
I believe that their guitars are a bit overpriced for what they are. $5000 is what you would expect to pay for a custom one-off instrument built by a an individual professional (i.e someone like Wayne Henderson or Ervin Somogyi for example). Rick Davis, who is a local professional builder, and builds custom guitars for some pretty famous people (I met Danny O'Keefe when he came into his shop to pick up a guitar one day while I was visiting), charges that much money as a base price. Charging more for additional features like sound ports and wedge bodies, and custom scale lengths or exotic woods.
Santa Cruz is in an interesting niche, in that they are hand building guitars, but they are 'standard' shapes and designs (dreadnaughts, OM/000, etc...), and then putting a company logo on them.
Bill Collings does pretty much the same thing, and charges about half the price (depending on woods used, etc...), and by all accounts makes equal or better guitars. Of course he has the market cornered on $5k mandolins :p
The high end acoustic guitar market is a strange one. It's very much like exotic cars. Rarely are people paying the extra money because it sounds better, or plays better. They are paying for the custom factor, and the name on the headstock. The more exotic looking the better. They are more visual art than acoustic (there is a term for it.. "Guitar Porn"). That isn't to say that they don't sound good. But 'good' is subjective. Many of the people paying $5000 and more for a guitar, couldn't tell the difference between those and a $900 store model in a blind test.
This is a site that specializes in selling high end acoustics. It's fun to browse the 'Guitar Porn' here....
http://www.dreamguitars.com/instruments.php?type=steel
I've bought and sold some very expensive guitars, including some traditional Martins and Gibsons. I own a Gibson LG1 that my father bought new the year I was born. I've also built myself a couple (one OM clone and a 'custom' grand concert that is based on one of Ricks designs). I own a Collings "Holy Grail" dreadnought and several nice Electrics.
My every day players are my Taylor GS5, and my Taylor GS-mini (no joke, this is a fun little guitar). Not because they are the best guitars ever made, but because they are like a comfortable pair of jeans, or shoes. They just fit me, and my play styles, and I don't stress over getting finger prints on them or dinging them, and I just like to play them. =) The two acoustics that I built are starting to get played more though, mainly because they have started to open up and get that 'played in' sound and feel.
FYI, there are some great guitar factory tour video's on youtube, which are great fun.
One of these days I plan on taking a 'guitar factory' vacation, and visit some of the great factories, and some of the small timers too. I already spent a day at Bill Collings shop in Austin, which was amazing. I'd like to see some of the cool technology and automation that Taylor uses up close too. And no guitar factory tour would be complete without a trip to the Martin factory in Nazareth.
Also, for those in the Northern California area, there is a show called "Healdsburg Guitar Festival" where you can spend a couple of days wading around and playing some of the most gorgeous and most expensive acoustic guitars ever made. Lutheirs Mercantile sponsors it and it runs every two years. I went in 2009 (and got to visit Micheal
). It happens every two years, and is scheduled for Aug 12-14th this year. It looks like they moved to larger facilities in Santa Rosa this year. Sadly I won't be attending this year.http://guitarfestival.lmii.com/
Anyway, I ramble... thanks for posting that. I love reading stuff like that.