The Fairbanks F-35 is a hand-built slope-shouldered dreadnought — described by Fairbanks as the designer's personal favorite — modeled after a 1934 jumbo and built by hand in Burlington, Vermont. This serialized example pairs a Torrefied Sitka Spruce top with Indian Rosewood back and sides for explosive volume, complex midrange honk, and seemingly limitless headroom. A 24.75″ short scale, tapered X bracing with scalloped tone bars, Vintage Soft-V mahogany neck, Madagascar Rosewood fingerboard with ivoroid binding, bone nut and saddle, and Waverly all-nickel tuners deliver vintage feel under the fingers. Authentic touches — 7-ply purfling, Firestripe pickguard, hand-rubbed Seagrave nitrocellulose lacquer with shellac sealer in a Light Relic finish, and traditional hide glue construction throughout — make it a competitive bluegrass and fingerstyle instrument with serious heirloom character.
