Preston Thompson Guitars Workshop | Behind the Scenes
Behind the scenes at the Preston Thompson Guitars Workshop.
Preston Thompson's exquisite dread in Mahogany and Adirondack Spruce!
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Another stunning dreadnought from our friends at Preston Thompson, both aesthetically and sonically. This guitar is steeped in pre-war guitar building tradition that yields breathtaking tone, familar and fresh all at once. Lightweight and extremely resonant. Balanced, nuanced, and clear as a bell. Strum an open E chord and you might suddenly understand the meaning of life. Folks, it truly doesn't get much better than this.
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: 1639
Top: Adirondack Spruce
Back/Sides: Honduran Mahogany
Binding: Tortoise Celluloid
Top Purfling: BWBW
Back Purfling: None
Side Purfling: None
Soundhole: 4"
Rosette: 18 Style 3 Ring
Back Strip: Ebony Strip
Tail Wedge: Tortoise
Top Bracing Pattern: Advanced X Adirondack
Top Bracing: Pre-War Scalloped
Back Bracing: Adirondack Spruce
Tongue Brace: Yes
Neck Material: Mahogany
Truss Rod: Single Action 14-Fret
Peghead Overlay: Figured Ebony
Peghead Logo: Thompson Logo MOP
Custom Inlay: None
Headstock Binding: None
Headstock Type: Solid
Neck Binding: None
Volute: None
Nut Width: 1 23/32"
Width @ 12th Fret: 2 1/4"
String Spacing: 2 1/4"
Neck Thickness: .860"
Neck Profile: Soft V
Heel Cap: Tortoise
Neck Finish: Vintage Brown Mahogany
Top Finish: Natural Gloss
Back/Sides Finish: Natural Gloss
Fingerboard Material: Ebony
Bridge Material: Ebony
Sunburst: Natural Gloss
Fingerboard Style: Style 18
Fingerboard Bindings: None
Fingerboard Inlay: 18 Style Dots
Inlay Material: Awabi Pearl
Scale: 25.4"
Side Position Markers: 2mm Dots
Side Position Material: White MOP
End/Bridge Pin Type: Ebony
Strap Button: None
Bridge Type: Ebony Belly Bridge
Tuning Machines: Nickel Waverly with Butterbean Buttons
Nut Material: Bone
Saddle Material/Style: Bone Compensated
Pickguard: Dreadnought - Tortoise
Fret Wire: Standard Nickel Silver
Case: Harptone Hardshell
Behind the scenes at the Preston Thompson Guitars Workshop.