Preston Thompson Guitars Workshop | Behind the Scenes
Behind the scenes at the Preston Thompson Guitars Workshop.
Preston Thompson's exquisite dread in Mahogany and Addy spruce!
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Very mid forward Hog Dread!
This guitar hits like a bag of dry bricks, no nonsense, no overtones to clutter up the POWER behind this dreadnought. If you like woody, traditional sounding guitars, this one will knock you off your feet!
Preston Thompson dreadnought models are all crafted to produce the tone and volume that the dreadnought guitar was originally designed to achieve. These are powerful instruments that, when needed, stand up to the volume of a mandolin, fiddle, and banjo. They have the bass response that provides an almost full orchestral backing to vocals. Their mid-range response and bright trebles take flatpicking and lead playing to new levels of achievement.
These are traditional instruments and all models are based on the famous 1937 Herringbone Dreadnought, owned by the late, great Charles Sawtelle of the award-winning bluegrass band, Hot Rize. All feature red spruce (Adirondack) tops chosen for tap tone and stiffness, advanced X-brace placement, hand graduated top thickness, pre-war hand carved scalloped braces, nitrocellulose lacquer finishes and time-tested design features such as dovetail neck joints.
It’s all about sound, and that is what the Thompson dreadnought specializes in. Regardless of the model – mahogany, East Indian rosewood, Honduran rosewood or Brazilian rosewood, Thompson dreadnoughts are built with the finest woods, materials, and craftsmanship to deliver that sought after pre-war sound and playing feel.
From our workshop in the music-loving town of Sisters, Oregon we build custom guitars and standard models based on the best American made guitars from the 1930s. The choice of Grammy-winning flatpick and fingerstyle guitarists alike, Preston Thompson Guitars are among the best acoustic guitars available anywhere, renowned for superior tone, craftsmanship and materials.
Our fine guitars are designed by master guitar luthier, Preston Thompson. Discovered by bluegrass virtuosos Charles Sawtelle and Peter Rowan in the 1980s, Preston has built a reputation for handmade, original vintage style guitars based closely on the measurements and sound quality of those golden era steel string guitars. He got his start building guitars under Charles Fox at the School of the Guitar Research & Design Center in Vermont, one of the first schools for guitar making in North America.
It was during his collaboration with bluegrass great Charles Sawtelle of Hot Rize, that Preston began to gather measurements from Sawtelle’s collection of rare and famous pre-war vintage instruments.
The guitar Preston built for Sawtelle based on these studies became one of his most treasured instruments. And Preston uses his detailed measurements of those instruments to this day to create guitars that are coveted for their superlative sound, the beauty of their materials, and the precision of their construction.
Model: D-MA
Serial: 1534
Top: Adirondack Spruce
Back/Sides: Mahogany
Neck: Solid Mahogany
Nut Width: 1 3/4"
Braces: Adirondack Spruce
Rosette: 3 Ring 18 Style
Binding: Tortoise Celluloid w/BWBW Purfling
Peghead Overlay: Figured Ebony
Peghead Inlay: Logo
Peghead Binding: None
Fingerboard Binding: None
Fingerboard: Ebony
Fingerboard Inlay: 1930's Style Dots
Fret Material: 18% Nickel Silver
Frets: 20
Truss Rod: Single Action
Bridge: Ebony
Nut/Saddle: Bone
Pickguard: Tortoise
Bridge Pins: Ebony
Finish: Nitrocellulose w/Toner
Tuners: Waverly Nickel
Strings: Elixir Phosphor Bronze
Case: Harptone Hardshell
Behind the scenes at the Preston Thompson Guitars Workshop.