This Santa Cruz Guitar Co. FS was made in 1998 and it is in excellent lightly played condition. There are a couple of very small dings to the cedar top, but that's about it when it comes to wear. It has a cedar top and Indian rosewood back and sides, a tonewood combo that produces a clear, ringing tone with a nicely balanced bass to treble response.
The FS was one of the first contemporary guitars designed for fingerpicking. It was introduced in the mid-1980s, and the success of this model had a big influence on many independent luthiers who continued with a similar concept. The ahead-of-their-time features include wood binding and colored wood purfling, a plain fretboard without position markers, and a wide neck with very little taper (in width) from the nut to the 14th fret. This last feature allows players working out of closed chord positions, or when using open tunings, to enjoy a left hand position at the upper reaches of the fretboard with string spacing and neck profile almost identical to what is found in the first position (near the nut). The Santa Cruz F shape is a true 16 inch jumbo, perhaps one of the most graceful flattop guitar designs when done with a cutaway, thanks to the rounded "horn" of the cutaway and almost circular lower bout.
