PURE BLISS

releases a new signature model, so it’s newsworthy when the coastal California handcrafters led by acoustic captain Richard Hoover herald a new crew member. The last one was designed in coordination with “Catfish” Keith about a half decade ago, and the November Frets Learn column about choosing an acoustic blues box references his Catfish Special. The scarcity of new models stems from Santa Cruz’s modern status as primarily a custom shop, encouraging players to put their own stamp on a particular design platform and essentially create a signature model in each instance. Happy Traum did just that using the H/13 base model to create his HT/13. Considering Traum’s status as a legendary folk artist and columnist as well as a significant contributor to during its formative era as a standalone magazine), it makes sense that Santa Cruz would choose to make his model available to the masses.