2025 Fairbanks F-50 DeLuxe Adirondack/Birdseye Maple

Fairbanks F-50, S/N 0924346

The Fairbanks F-50 De Luxe takes its inspiration from a guitar model, the SJ-200, introduced prior to World War Two. A catalog of the time describes the instrument as the “Artist instrument of flat tops, the most beautiful guitar of its type ever built.” While beauty is in the eye of the beholder, the Fairbanks F-50 is certainly a guitar to behold! The top is Adirondack spruce with Birdseye Maple for the back and sides. The neck is a five ply laminate of Birdseye Maple and Ebony. The scale length is 25 ½,” with a nut width of 1 ¾” and string spacing at the bridge of 2 3/16.” 

The headstock, with a length of 8” and a width at its widest of 3 ½,” is generously proportioned. It features Ivoroid binding and a two ply white-black purfling. The Fairbanks logo and a central Split Diamond motif are inlaid into a nicely figured headplate of Ebony, with a two ply black truss rod cover and six Grover Imperial tuning machines. The back of the headstock is painted black with a “stinger” point at the transition from the headstock towards the neck. The neck is a Thinner Soft “V” carve, 0.920” in depth at the first fret and 0.970” at the ninth fret.The fingerboard is Brazilian rosewood with Split Block Diamond inlays, a pattern that echoes the headstock design, at the first, third, fifth, seventh, ninth, twelfth, fifteenth and seventeenth frets. The fingerboard is bound in Ivoroid with a black-white purfling at the bottom edge ending in a curlicue point above the soundhole. The bridge, in a prewar style small rectangular pattern is Brazilian Rosewood. 

The body is generously proportioned as well. The lower bout is 16 ¾,” the upper bout is 12 ½” and the body depth is 4 ½.” The top and back are bound in Ivoroid with a seven ply black-white-black purfling for the top and a five ply black-white purfling on the back. The back has a Deco Checkerboard pattern center strip. The soundhole is triple bound white-black-white for the inner ring and seven ply white-black-white for the outer ring. The pickguard is a deep pepperoni wrapped in a delicate three ply white-black-white binding. The sound of this instrument is deep and articulate with great note separation and plenty of overtones that don’t overwhelm. The bass is as deep as you would expect without losing power in the mids and treble.