Fender Santa Rosa

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WonderCouncil
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Fender Santa Rosa

Post by WonderCouncil » Mon May 21, 2012 12:04 am

So I'm toying with the idea of picking up a solid body acoustic. I'm particularly interested in the Fender Santa Rosa but can't find a whole lot of info on them. I emailed Fender but am waiting for a reply.

I know of a few other brands produced solid body acoustics all around the same time, late 80's early 90's. A few that come to mind are the Washburn SBT and SBF series, Epiphone has the SST as well as Gibson making a Chet Atkins model. I believe that's what the Epi is based off of. Apparently Charvel , Hammer, Ibanez and Carvin all had similar offerings as well.

Fender had also come out with the Telecaster HMT which is another one I was considering buying. They seem to be much more common then the Santa Rosa but how does the piezo and electronics compare to one another?

I would be willing to hear about any other brands or models that are in a similar vein. I do really dig the Ibanez LE520 but those too seem to be like hens teeth. The Washburn SBT21's look nice as well and are a bit more common, I'm Leary about the saddle/piezo set up on them though.

I guess in short I'm looking for any info or opinions on the Santa Rosa. I would more then likely install a magnetic pickup as well. That's one reason the HMT and LE520 appeal to me as they both have neck pickups already. I do have a vintage Wide Range bucker though I was considering using for this purpose. I was imaging mounting it in the mock sound hole of the Santa Rosa. Perhaps a "Santa Blaster" hah.

Does anyone know what the going rate for one of these guitars would be? There's one for sale at the moment for a just under $400. I've been unable to find any others for sale so either they are very rare or the ones that own them like them enough not to sell.

My other question would be if anyone owns one, what the diameter and depth of the mock sound hole is. I'd think putting a single coil in there would be no problem but am not so sure about the larger Wide Range working with out extra routing.

Here's the only video of a Santa Rosa demo I could find thus far so give an idea of what this guitar is for those that may not of heard of it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgrMQf2ji5E

Thanks!
Last edited by WonderCouncil on Mon May 21, 2012 1:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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natthu
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Re: Fender Santa Rosa

Post by natthu » Mon May 21, 2012 1:16 am

I didn't even know that such a thing as the Santa Rosa existed until I saw a local musician playing one about 5 months ago. I have not seen one since.
I also decided I was interested in owning one after I saw that one live, but I failed to find any useful info about them, and I've never actually seen one for sale.
I gave up looking :(

Good luck man! I hope you have a more fruitful time finding info than I did!
If you do manage to get one, one thing is for sure: they are pretty unusual and rare ;D

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Re: Fender Santa Rosa

Post by WonderCouncil » Mon May 21, 2012 5:34 pm

Yea I can't find but one in the U.S. for sale, can't imagine how rare they would be in Australia. Here is the response I got from Fender concerning the Santa Rosa.

-Model Name: Santa Rosa
-Model Number: 027-8300- (color#)
-Series: Santa Rosa
-Source: Japan
-Body Style: Single Cutaway, Chambered Semi-solid body electric/acoustic
-Body Depth: N/A
-Top: Spruce
-Back and Sides: Basswood
-Neck: Mahogany
-Fingerboard: Bound Rosewood
-Scale Length: 25.3" (643mm)
-No. Of Frets: 24
-Width at Nut: N/A
-Width at Heel: N/A
-Machine Heads: Chrome
-Bridge: Rosewood
-Electronics: Active volume and tone controls
-Finish: Poly
-Colors: Black, Candy Apple Red, Brown Sunburst
-Strings: N/A
-Unique Features: 3-ply W/B/W body binding, Rosewood overlay on headstock, pearloid dot inlays
-U.S. MSRP: $739
-Comments:
-Introduced: 1989
-Discontinued: 1990

I am kind of curious how the Telecaster HMT differs from the Santa Rosa in terms of the piezo used and the onboard electronics.

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Re: Fender Santa Rosa

Post by natthu » Mon May 21, 2012 11:08 pm

25.3"..... man that's weird. I guess they needed to balance the smallish body.

I did some more research.
The guy I saw playing one found his second hand on eBay, had never seen one before and didn't really know what he was buying. He just wanted a small (ie smaller than dreadnought) acoustic.
He also has never seen another one.

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Re: Fender Santa Rosa

Post by natthu » Mon May 21, 2012 11:16 pm

Have you thought about getting an Acoustasonic Tele? I have not tried one myself, but they look interesting.

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Re: Fender Santa Rosa

Post by WonderCouncil » Tue May 22, 2012 12:10 am

Yea I don't know what's up with the scale length, odd. There are three on ebay at the moment in the U.S. but two of them they are asking something like $700. I read some where that some one bought one for $150 in 2006. The cheapest on the bay is like $400, same price as the Telecaster HMT I believe.

I never heard about the Acoustasonic Tele. Very cool looking with the bridge set up but it's way out of my price range. The Fender JZM, acoustic Jazzmaster is more along the the lines of the Stratacoustic/Teleacoustic correct? I mean it's fully hollow and not a thinline like the other models right?

I did email one of the sellers to see if they would provide me with the diameter and depth of the sound hole cut out. I'm really curious to see if a Wide Range could be fit into it with out additional routing done.

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Re: Fender Santa Rosa

Post by Misereatur » Fri Feb 06, 2015 7:35 am

Hey WonderCouncil, I don't know if you're still looking for this info, but I just bought a Santa Rosa I had an eye on for more than 10 years, and came across this thread while searching for it on google.
The soundhole diameter is 75mm and the depth is roughly 15mm. I hope this helps, and if you want to know anything else just ask.

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Re: Fender Santa Rosa

Post by AndyB » Fri Jul 17, 2020 4:06 pm

I know these posts are years old but I'll reply anyway... The only Fender Santa Rosa I've seen in Australia is the one I own. I bought it from a shop in Greville St St Kilda in about 1990. I love it. It was on consignment and apparently (so I was told) the previous owner was a guitarist from 'This Is Serious Mum' (TISM). Such a sweet sound that's beautiful through a PA or through an Amp. I was also toying with adding a Telecaster single coil into the sound hole. Might deny access to the truss rod adjustment though. Chances are I won't do it to keep it original. It's too nice as it is.
I also thought about selling it/trading it in 20 years ago as I wasn't playing it much. The best offer I got was an insulting $250. So glad I still have it.

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Re: Fender Santa Rosa

Post by Jwilli3909 » Fri Sep 25, 2020 1:53 pm

I bought mine in 1988 brand new. I love it, it’s the brown sunburst. I wanted a black one to match my strat but at the time Fender was backed up 6 months and I didn’t want to wait on an order. I purchased a black one on eBay about 7 years ago but it hadn’t been taken care of and was beaten up pretty bad, so I sold it. It was in a soft gig bag, and I still have the original hard Fender case for mine. I saw on eBay last week, and one that wasn’t in as good shape as mine went for $2,700.00. It blew my mind. I thought about putting it up there, but just couldn’t do it. I saw your post and thought you might want to give it a shot if you’re still interested in selling it.

Take care
Joe

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Re: Fender Santa Rosa

Post by AndyB » Thu Jul 15, 2021 11:47 pm

G'day Joe,
Your post was a while ago but I'll reply anyway. Sorry, but I don't want to sell my Santa Rosa - I love it. You already have a brown sunburst which is what I have. It's in as-new condition and as I said, I love it. Sounds awesome through a PA or my AC15.
Cheers, Andy

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Re: Fender Santa Rosa

Post by 6stings » Sun Jul 17, 2022 8:20 am

I know this is an old tread, but I just got one black Santa Rosa in excellent condition!
And where did it popped up for sale - in Norway :)
Serial number 10444.
I was in contact with Fender customer service, but they didn't have any real info or serial number tracking for Fender Santa Rosa.
They sent me link to their catalogues, mostly Fender Japan, no Santa Rosas were shown in any catalogue from '80s and '90s.
But, there is this nice guy Jeffrey a.k.a. Xhefri, who has almost all old Fender price lists!

Well, checking the price lists, it was clear that this model was made not for 2 years 1989-1990 at all, but for 4 years 1986-1989.
The first time it was on the price list was in 1986. Then in 1987, 1988 and 1989. That was it, no Santa Rosa in 1990.

Since I have no idea how to post jpgs here, I'm adding the link of a tread from gretsch-pages where I posted the snapshots from there price lists:

https://www.gretsch-talk.com/threads/fe ... st-1502473

Very cool and good sounding guitar, I'm glad I snatched it :)

Cheers,
Darko

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Re: Fender Santa Rosa

Post by marqueemoon » Sun Jul 17, 2022 9:03 am

natthu wrote:
Mon May 21, 2012 11:16 pm
Have you thought about getting an Acoustasonic Tele? I have not tried one myself, but they look interesting.
I like the look of the Santa Rosa so much better. The swoopy take on the Tele body shape is pretty cool.

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Re: Fender Santa Rosa

Post by countertext » Sun Jul 17, 2022 10:31 am

Image

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