Preston Thompson 000-12BA 2014

Here for sale we have an exceptional example of Preston Thompson's finest work.

A 12-fret 000 made from Brazilian Rosewood back and sides with Adirondack top. This is the 38th guitar that Preston Thompson had created within the latest iteration of his guitar building career and prior to his untimely death. It was made in 2014 from "Shipwreck Brazilian," wood salvaged from a sunken logging ship deep in the ocean, from old growth Brazilian of the highest caliber. (Note that this guitar predates the 000-SBA moniker later assigned to the shipwreck guitars as per PKTG).

At this time the shop was essentally just Preston and a few helpers, so the body assembly, bracing, voicing, finishing, etc would have been done by the master himself.

The neck sports a fine abalone torch, full ivoroid binding on the neck and headstock, highly polished EVO Gold frets, an ebony fretboard with fret marker delete, and abalone side fret markers. The headstock overlay is dark brazilian and the heel cap is a matching dark Brazilian with ivoroid binding. Waverly 3-on-a-plate tuners with snakewood buttons.

The neck shape is a wonderful hand carved C with slim shoulders down at the 1st fret which evolves to a soft mod V up towards the 9th fret. Neck depth is 0.84" at the 1st fret and 0.98" at the 9th fret. The binding was rolled/beveled, slighting at the fretboard edge to give a nice smooth played in feel. The results are fantastic as its an extremely fast, buttery and satisfying neck - not too bulky and not too thin. The highly polished EVO frets contributed to a very fast playing neck feel.

Scale length: 25 1/4"
Nut width: 1 3/4"
String spacing at bridge: 2 1/4"
Adjustable truss rod

Sound-wise, the guitar has an angelic voice - deep and clear fundamental with long sustain and what we'd characterize as an "old sound." Even though the guitar has been hardly played, it plays and sounds like an old broken in guitar and will certainly only continue to sound more exceptional with age. I would put the sound of this guitar up with the finest hand built examples made today by the likes of Kim Walker, John Arnold, John Slobod, it really is that good.

Note the volume of professionals that play Preston Thompson guitars when they could choose whatever they like - Al Petteway's main guitar is a very similar amber burst 000-BA 12 fret. For good reason - playability and sound is truly top notch on this piece.

A guitar like this with “regular” Brazilian back/sides starts around $15k if ordered new from Preston Thompson, plus you will need to wait over TWO YEARS to get a new build. Also they are no longer building new guitars from this batch of shipwreck Brazilian, which makes it exceedingly rare, perhaps pushing the price for a new build with this shipwreck Brazilian north of $20k.

NOTE: This guitar has 4 noticeable checking cracks on the top (finish only, NOT wood). This is purely cosmetic and does not affect the sound quality. Due to these cracks, this guitar is being offered at a substantial discount.

Original Superior brand case included.

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