Santa Cruz Guitar Company
The first company that I will profile is the Santa Cruz Guitar Company. Santa Cruz makes some of the most amazing acoustic guitars in the world. All of their guitars are handmade in Santa Cruz, California. Founded, and still run, by Richard Hoover, Santa Cruz Guitars are played by some of the most respected and influential musicians in the world - Eric Clapton, Tony Rice, Gary Moore, Robert Plant, Doc Watson, Glen Frey, Dickey Betts, Otis Taylor and Jimmy Buffet - just to name a few. Richard and his master luthiers hand craft every guitar.
To quote Richard Hoover, "It's not easy to tell some of the world's best musicians that we simply don't supply anyone complimentary instruments to leverage an endorsement (ed. this is a very common practice in the music business). Surprisingly the response has been "that's cool, here are my specs, call when it's ready". That is the truest endorsement as to the sonic timbre and incredible playability of Santa Cruz acoustic guitars. Below you can see a few of Santa Cruz's new 1929 models.
And below is a beautiful example of the Santa Cruz D - one of their many versions of the uber successful "Dreadnaught" acoustic guitar design. This guitar is the workhorse of many folk, country, bluegrass and rock players due to its great balance, power, tone and dynamics.
I still find it amazing that after nearly 7 years of owning their "D" model, that every time I play it, I'm still astounded by its sound. How many products or instruments can keep on impressing an owner years after buying them? Well, my Santa Cruz D is still enchanting me.....but I do hear the melody of one with Brazilian Rosewood beckoning me........like a siren to a sailor.
McKinley American Leathercrafters
The second company I will profile is McKinley American Leathercrafters, a family owned manufacturer of high quality leather products.
I came across McKinley while looking for a new leather padfolio. I was absolutley determined not to buy a leather portfolio unless it was made in the USA. After doing a bunch of Googling I found McKinley. I went through their website and was impressed with their story (family owned and their factory is in the USA) and the look of their products. Sure enough, I located exactly what I was looking for - a leather padfolio in tan or cognac. But I had a few questions since I couldn't hold the product in my hand or see it person and I needed it super fast, so I pick up the phone and called McKinley. I spoke with Derrick and he was very helpful and made some good suggestions. In short McKinley's cutomer service was great and the padfolio arrived on time. When the padfolio arrived it surpassed my expectations. The quality and feel of the product is excellent as was the care it was packed and presented. I was very happy to find McKinley and that their shop is so well run. Below is the padfolio in a variety of colors offered by McKinley.
Now some readers of this blog may not be aware of the fact that many of the "up-scale" leather goods merchants/manufacturers no longer make their products in the USA. When I emailed two of the better known companies to find out where their portfolios are made, I was informed by one that their portfolios were made in China and the other maker said they "source" from multiple countries - but not the USA. But here's an interesting fact. Both of these companies moved the bulk, if not all, of their manufacturing offshore and yet they charge the same or more for their products than does McKinley.
Now I'm not a Nobel Prize winner in economics and I didn't go to Wharton or Harvard for an MBA but it struck me that despite manufacturing overseas these two high-end purveyors could not (or didn't care to) be competitive on pricing with a firm manufacturing the same goods in the USA. Labor is pennies on the dollar in China, India and Pakistan compared to the USA. Moreover, any theoretical savings in manufacturing overseas does not seem to trickle back to the US consumer or, based on these two firm's stock performance, to their shareholders (both firms are publicly traded). The questions that beg to be answered is that if outsourcing is done to stay "competitive", then why do their products cost more? And if they are concerned about "shareholder" value, then why have both stocks underperformed the market and do not have a history of issuing increasingly robust dividends? Hmmm...
So if you are looking for high quality leather goods such as portfolios, journals, organizers, binders, padfolios, planners, business cases, photo albums or scrapbooks - that are made in the good ole' USofA - as a nice bonus - visit McKinley's website or give them a call - I did. And I can heartily recommend them.
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