Santa Cruz Tony Rice Custom Brazilian Rosewood Dreadnought Preowned 1990

The Santa Cruz Tony Rice is one of the most celebrated and tonally significant signature acoustic guitars ever produced - a dreadnought designed in close collaboration between Richard Hoover and flatpicking legend Tony Rice to replicate the exact specifications of Rice’s own personal guitar, the instrument on which he defined the sound of contemporary bluegrass flatpicking across some of the most celebrated recordings in the genre’s history.

This 1990 example is a particularly significant and collectible instrument - a pre-CITES era Brazilian rosewood Tony Rice from Santa Cruz’s most respected period of production, and one personally signed by Tony Rice himself on the internal label, making it a piece of acoustic guitar history as much as an instrument of exceptional tonal merit.

Old-growth Brazilian rosewood back and sides of the quality seen in the finest vintage instruments - pre-CITES, no longer available for commercial use, and prized above all other back and sides materials for its unparalleled depth, complexity, and natural brilliance - paired with a master-grade German spruce top to deliver the powerful, balanced, and harmonically rich dreadnought voice that Tony Rice himself described as “a guitar you can go to war with.”

The scalloped bracing allows the top to move freely for maximum tonal depth, projection, and dynamic range under a heavy right hand. A slim, V-shaped mahogany neck with diamond volute, 25.25" scale, 1-11/16" nut width, extended ebony fingerboard, full ivoroid body binding with I/B/I fingerboard and headstock binding, Brazilian rosewood headstock overlay, zipper backstrip, tortoise pickguard, Waverly tuners with butterbean knobs, bone nut and saddle, and ivoroid heelcap complete a specification of vintage authenticity and tonal distinction.

This 1990-built guitar is one of the earlier Tony Rice signature models, pre-dating the Professional model but using the same old-growth Brazilian Rosewood for it's back and sides. It sounds sensational, as you'd expect - warm, rich and sophisticated with incredible headroom and power. It's playing wonderfully too, with a low, fast action and superb playability. It's got some natural playwear as you'd expect from a guitar over 35 years old, but no cracks or issues whatsoever. An incredible, historically significant model from Santa Cruz that is rarely seen in Australia. Includes original hardshell case.

Features

• Old-growth Brazilian rosewood back and sides - pre-CITES, no longer available for commercial use - deliver unparalleled tonal depth, harmonic complexity, and natural brilliance that no subsequently available back and sides material can replicate.
• Master-grade German spruce top with large soundhole, herringbone purfling and rosette, and scalloped bracing delivers the powerful, balanced, and dynamically expansive flatpicking dreadnought voice that Tony Rice made famous across some of the most celebrated recordings in bluegrass history.
• Personally signed by Tony Rice on the internal label - making this not only an instrument of exceptional tonal merit and rare material character, but a genuinely historic piece of acoustic guitar provenance directly connected to one of the most influential flatpickers in the history of American music.
• V-shaped mahogany neck with diamond volute, 25.25" scale, and 1-11/16" nut width deliver the comfortable, fast, and effortless playing feel that Tony Rice specified for his own personal guitar - a neck profile optimised for the demands of aggressive flatpicking performance.
• Full ivoroid body binding with I/B/I fingerboard and headstock binding, Brazilian rosewood headstock overlay, Dalmatian pickguard, Gold Waverly tuners with butterbean knobs, and zipper backstrip reflect the complete pre-war-inspired aesthetic that defines the Tony Rice model.

• Model: Santa Cruz Tony Rice
• Year: 1990
• Body: Dreadnought
• Top: Master-grade German spruce, tinted, large soundhole
• Back & sides: Old-growth Brazilian rosewood (pre-CITES)
• Back stripe: Zipper
• Bracing: Scalloped
• Rosette: Herringbone
• Purfling: Herringbone
• Neck: Mahogany, V profile with diamond volute
• Fingerboard: Extended ebony
• Fingerboard binding: I/B/I (ivoroid/black/ivoroid)
• Fingerboard inlay: SCGC logo at 16th fret
• Side dots: Black
• Bridge: Ebony
• Saddle: Bone, traditional long
• Nut: Bone, 1-11/16"
• Width at 14th fret: 2-3/16"
• Scale length: 25.25"
• Frets: 20
• Body binding: Full ivoroid
• Headstock binding: I/B/I
• Headstock overlay: Brazilian rosewood
• Tuners: Waverly with butterbean knobs
• Pickguard: Tortoise
• Heelcap: Ivoroid
• Finish: Natural gloss nitrocellulose
• Signed by: Tony Rice (internal label)
• Electronics: LR Baggs LB6
• Includes: Original case
• Made in: USA (Santa Cruz, California)