Built in Sisters, Oregon, Preston Thompson guitars are among the most highly regarded vintage-inspired steel-strings available today. Benefitting from their late founder’s in-depth study of vintage Martins, the instruments are built by a small team, offering excellent craftsmanship, high-grade materials, and a choice of many custom options. The latest Preston Thompson we had a chance to check out (which we received as it was en route to The Acoustic Shoppe in Springfield, MO) was a dreadnought built with Madagascar rosewood back and sides and an Adirondack spruce top. In this video, Peghead Nation co-founder Scott Nygaard and I play the instrument. 

The Thompson D-MAD-ADI is Thompson’s standard dreadnought model, which is available with a variety of wood options. The guitar’s Madagascar rosewood has a luxurious appearance; the sides have attractive striping, and the overall color has a beautiful, deep brown hue. The Adirondack top is also a particularly nice example of the species, with a bit of cross-grain and even color, which was enhanced by the use of a subtly darker toner in the top’s finish. The guitar has basic Style-28 appointments, including herringbone purfling, a multi-ring rosette, and slotted diamonds and squares as position markers, and it was upgraded with ivoroid binding on the fingerboard and peghead. The instrument’s craftsmanship is ultra-clean throughout, with excellent fit and finish and matching of materials. 

The Thompson D-MAD-ADI has the same “soft-V” neck shape I’ve encountered in other Thompsons we’ve demoed, and again, I found it to be very comfortable to play, about half-way between a chunky vintage neck and a more contemporary, slim profile. The guitar has great power, and I enjoyed its tonal balance and easy playability when playing chords up the neck. Thompson’s slightly wider neck also facilitated fingerstyle playing, and while its tonal sweet spot lies in a somewhat heavy attack, it was very responsive when playing without a pick. 

Overall, the Thompson D-MAD-ADI offers a refined version of a D-28-style guitar. Fans of traditional dreadnoughts will be delighted that it doesn’t seek to reinvent the genre, and players who haven’t spent time with great representatives of this instrument style may find it to be a revelation. 

SPECS: 14-fret dreadnought body. Adirondack spruce top with prewar scalloped, advanced-X Adirondack bracing. Madagascar rosewood back and sides. Mahogany neck. Ebony fingerboard and bridge. 25.4-inch scale. 1¾-inch nut width. 2⁵/₁₆-inch string spacing at the saddle. Nickel Waverly tuning machines. Made in the USA. $7,850 ($7,450 base price). Pktguitars.com

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