Strong yet balanced, this 2019 D-SBA from Preston Thompson is a powerhouse Dreadnought, hands down. They used a lovely set of their coveted Shipwreck Brazilian Rosewood for the back and sides, pairing it with a sunburst Adirondack Spruce top and herringbone trim for a classic, timeless look. The top is pretty tight grained for Ady, and looks so lovely with the shaded border.
This PKT is nearly new, and has a richer, more energetic tone than we were expecting from a guitar built so recently in 2019. No complaints! Abalone torch inlaid at the headstock, Waverly tuners with Snakewood buttons, and a snug-fitting Harptone case to wrap it all up. Are you ready for a guitar to blow you away, every time you pick it up? Look no further: inspiration has arrived.

Other keywords: lutherie, luthier, guitarbuilding, flatpicking, allen shadd, bluegrass, dreadnaught, preston thompson guitars, pkt guitars, oregon, blue grass, flatpicker

We’ve been eagerly awaiting this Thompson for some time—and with it in hand, our expectations have been more than met. The fine team at Preston Thompson Guitars has managed to coax 200% tone out of 100% beautiful tonewoods: their revered Shipwreck Brazilian Rosewood and shade topped Adirondack Spruce. This is their first 45-style Dreadnought, built in honor of the late Preston Thompson as the fruition of one of his dreams. Abalone appointments throughout, glassy playability, and an immensely dynamic, balanced, and comprehensive voice. One of the most articulate, clear Dreadnoughts we’ve had the honor of playing.
This tour de force has already found a new home with an owner who’s just as excited as we are, but give us a shout if you want the next one coming down the line!

Other keywords: lutherie, luthier, guitarbuilding, flatpicking allen shadd, bluegrass, dreadnaught

Elegance defined: our latest Preston Thompson Dream Series. This 2018 000-14BA is nothing short of incredible, with its gorgeous Martin-style Adirondack Spruce shade top and one of our own sets of Brazilian Rosewood. The finish is buffed to a mirror sheen so crisp you can see 12 seconds into the future, when you actually put the guitar in your hands and put fingers to strings. We’ll call that love at first sight. If this PKT has a sweet spot on the fingerboard, it’s every single fret.

An excellent companion for delving into open tunings like DADF#AD, or for everything you’ve ever learned in standard. A light touch yields clarity and color; dig in and you’ll find crisp depths in the bass register and a rollicking projection. Short scale with a 14-fret neck means easy playability without sacrificing power, and the setup is an exercise in effortlessness.

Ready for a cut above the rest? Our Preston Thompson 000-14BA Dream Series is the sharpest knife in the drawer.

Other spellings: preston k thompson, thompsn, prestan, ooo, 00014ba, brazilain, adriondack

The folks at Preston Thompson Guitars are building some of the finest traditional steel string guitars on the market today. Accordingly, we’re quite excited to be able to offer one of their 000 masterpieces! This brand new, 2016 000-12BA Custom is a beast of a 000, with gorgeous “Shipwreck” Brazilian Rosewood for the back and sides and Adirondack Spruce for the top. Between these awesome tonewoods and the 12-fret neck, this Thompson has a well-balanced voice that’s easily adapted for variety of styles (and tunings).

The treble strings alone are worth the cost of this guitar: sweet, focused, with a pleasing warmth and haunting overtones. We put this 000 through a variety of modes, and were consistently impressed by the even response across all registers, with rich bass notes there to fill out the lush tone.

Hot off the bench, this 2016 S16J from Randy Muth is a firecracker beneath your fingertips, offering an expressive voice that never loses its cool and sustain that’ll hang around so long you ought to charge it for rent. Of course, this guitar has a gorgeous set of Brazilian Rosewood for the back and sides with dramatic rippling figure, and a European Spruce top (itself delicately bearclaw-figured), so be prepared for that inevitable moment when you find yourself staring, rather than playing, this beauty.

The voice is one smooth operator, with a surgically-precise balance across the strings that really allows your fingerstyle arrangements room to breathe–and this balance is maintained no matter what altered tuning you throw its way. Muth added a soundport to the upper bout, and an arm rest bevel to the lower, for player comfort, and supplied the left hand with a Venetian Cutaway to easily access all of the Ebony-bound fretboard.

One peek through the soundport, and you’ll spy Randy’s “XTF” bracing scheme, a hybrid of Classical and Steel String bracing designs that, in his words, enhances the “expression of the tripole vibration mode typically found in nylong string guitars…[which] helps provide power to the trebles and higher harmonics.” Wrapped up in an Ameritage hardshell case, this S16J is poised to take over your collection–care to give it a go?

East Indian Rosewood back and sides + Carpathian Spruce top + innovative building techniques = Randy Muth’s S15, a killer 000 with tone to spare! Randy’s approach to lutherie is based in his education as a scientist, and the results of his experiments in, and they’re working wonderfully. From his brace construction and allocation to the materials used in his bridge plates, these guitars are novel concepts which consistently churn out great tone.

With a Carpathian Spruce top, this S15 has heaps of growl and fierce projection with focused trebles and a muscular lower register. This is the sort of guitar for which the more aggresssively your attack, the greater the sustain and richness, and it performs wonderfuly for both flatpicking solos and fingerstyle arrangements. Sealed up in an Ameritage hardshell case, this S15 is as secure as Fort Knox, but imminently more accessible.

With the Taylor build quality and the hand built attention to detail that the R.Taylor line gives you, it’s hard to go wrong with this Style 1. Built with East Indian Rosewood and Western Red Cedar this Style 1 has a sweet and mellow tone with a wonderful bloom of warmth after the initial attack. Playability, as always with R.Taylor, is sublime – Taylor has set the bench mark for what a properly set up guitar should be. This is a true beauty of a guitar with a rich and sweet voice that will put a smile on your face every time you sit down to play.

Here we have an R. Taylor style 1 in Red Spruce and “The Tree” quilted Mahogany. We currently have a twelve string here from R. Taylor made from the very same wood combination, and it has been interesting to see how the two different versions compare. This six string has a full voice with plenty of headroom thanks to the Red Spruce and an underlying woodiness that we expect from Mahogany. This really is an incredibly comfortable guitar to play, great for intimate practice or the big stage alike.