Santa Cruz OM 'Tunnel 13 Redwood / Indian Rosewood' Preowned 2021

The Santa Cruz OM is one of the finest and most tonally rewarding orchestra model guitars produced in Santa Cruz, California - and this example is a particularly rare and significant instrument, built with a Tunnel 13 Redwood top that places it firmly in the category of genuinely unrepeatable custom guitars. Tunnel 13 Redwood is one of the most celebrated and sought-after tonewoods in American acoustic guitar making - old-growth salvage redwood recovered from the timbers of the Tunnel 13 railway tunnel in the Siskiyou Mountains of southern Oregon, a structure built in the 1880s and demolished in the mid-twentieth century. The decades of drying and compression within the tunnel structure produce a tonewood of extraordinary density, stability, and tonal maturity - warm, complex, and organically resonant in a way that freshly cut redwood cannot replicate, with the natural sweetness and harmonic depth that old-growth salvage timber uniquely provides.

Indian rosewood back and sides contribute deep bass response, rich overtones, and the brilliant, complex harmonic character that has made rosewood the benchmark back and sides material in fine acoustic guitar making for over a century. Adirondack braces bonded with hot hide glue, scalloped bracing, and a custom 2-1/4" bridge spacing optimised for fingerstyle playing complete the tonal specification. The custom appointment package - 42-style fingerboard inlay, tortoise body and fingerboard binding, 1929-style rosette, purfle combo top border, thin black back strip, script logo on an unbound peghead, ebony bridge and end pins with ivoroid dots - gives this OM a beautifully cohesive vintage aesthetic that is as considered and distinctive as the instrument's tonal character. Nickel Waverly tuners, V profile neck with volute, and SCGC low tension strings complete a guitar of exceptional provenance and tonal distinction.

This 2021-built guitar is in wonderful condition, with minor playwear and a perfect medium action. There's a small line of raised lacquer at the bridge from pressure over time, which has been checked over carefully by our luthier - it's non-structural and only visible when looking closesly, and we're confident that it presents no issue. Sonically, this guitar is a tour de force, and the Santa Cruz build quality and attention-to-detail is mind blowing. A true heirloom guitar in every sense.

Features

• Tunnel 13 Redwood top - salvage old-growth redwood recovered from an 1880s Oregon railway tunnel - delivers a warm, organically resonant, and harmonically complex tonal character of extraordinary maturity that freshly cut tonewoods simply cannot replicate.
• Indian rosewood back and sides with Adirondack braces bonded with hot hide glue and scalloped bracing contribute deep bass response, rich overtones, and the brilliant harmonic complexity that makes this tonewood pairing one of the most celebrated in fine acoustic guitar making.
• Custom 2-1/4" bridge spacing and 42-style fingerboard inlay reflect a specification tailored for the most demanding fingerstyle playing - wide string spacing for clarity and note separation, premium inlay for visual distinction.
• Tortoise body and fingerboard binding, 1929-style rosette, purfle combo top border, thin black back strip, script logo on unbound peghead, and ebony bridge and end pins with ivoroid dots create a beautifully cohesive vintage aesthetic of genuine refinement.
• Nickel Waverly tuners, V profile neck with volute, clear top finish, and SCGC low tension strings reflect Santa Cruz's characteristic commitment to traditional materials, tonal purpose, and playing comfort throughout.

• Model: Santa Cruz OM
• Body: Orchestra Model
• Top: Tunnel 13 Redwood (salvage old-growth)
• Back & sides: Indian rosewood
• Back strip: Thin black
• Bracing: Adirondack, scalloped, hot hide glue
• Rosette: 1929 style
• Top border: Purfle combo
• Body binding: Tortoise
• Neck: V profile with volute
• Fingerboard binding: Tortoise
• Fingerboard inlays: 42 style
• Fingerboard side dots: Black
• Width at nut: 1-3/4"
• Width at 14th fret: 2-3/16"
• Bridge spacing: 2-1/4" (custom)
• Scale length: 25.375"
• Peghead: Solid square, unbound
• Peghead overlay: Ebony
• Peghead logo: Script
• Tuners: Nickel Waverly
• Bridge pins: Ebony with ivoroid dots
• End pin: Ebony with ivoroid dot
• Pickguard: Tortoise
• Top finish: Clear
• Back & sides finish: Clear/buffed
• Neck finish: Clear/matte
• Strings: SCGC low tension
• Electronics: None
• Made in: USA (Santa Cruz, California)