The Happy Traum Signature Model HT/13

Happy Traum taught the world how to play guitar. This includes Richard Hoover, who learned from Happy’s “Fingerpicking Styles for Guitar” when he was just a teenager, years before the two would forge their friendship. To be able to build a signature model decades later for such an icon in the guitar world is not only an honor, but a privilege that Santa Cruz Guitar Company takes very seriously. As Happy himself so eloquently put it, “like all musicians, guitarists form a personal, loving relationship with their instrument. Years of bonding with the particular feel and sound of the wood allow you to predict what the guitar is capable of producing, its strengths and limitations, its dark lows and brilliant highs and, above all, the satisfying feel of the vibrations of the wood against your body. When a dear friend whom you admire has put his heart and soul into building an instrument especially for you, it adds immeasurable to its quality, imbuing the guitar with a spirit that goes far beyond wood, strings, frets and bracing.”

Happy Traum was taking full advantage of Santa Cruz Guitar Company’s custom shop capabilities long before it became their norm.  His first Santa Cruz was a Cocobolo/Adirondack H/13 model with a custom neck and finish; years later he worked with Richard once again to design an all Mahogany OM with wood bindings, abalone appointments and custom inlay.  When Richard proposed they collaborate on an official Happy Traum Signature Model Guitar, they combined the tonal, aesthetic and playability elements that Happy enjoyed in both custom builds to come up with a winning recipe, now forever known as the HT/13: Genuine Honduras Mahogany back/sides paired with salvaged, old growth Redwood and Adirondack bracing/hot hide glue in a small but deep bodied guitar delivers a bright, rich and clear tone with quick responsiveness, hearty low end and exceptional volume. The guitar is tastefully bound in ivoroid with abalone appointments and a custom top finish, rendering the HT/13 as stunning to behold as it is to play.

In Happy’s own words:  “Luthiers are a unique breed of human being: philosopher-craftspeople who are sensitive to and highly knowledgeable in the intricacies of grain, color, shape, thickness, bracing and, above all, tone. Richard Hoover is, to me, in the top echelon of this rarefied world, acutely aware of the origins, history and sustainability of the various woods he works with. He gleans and scavenges them from abandoned railroad tunnels, sunken logs, long-forgotten furniture and ancient, prehistoric boards dug up from the depths of the tundra. He and his talented staff then assemble gorgeously crafted instruments with a keen eye for detail and coaxing the best sounds possible from them.”