2025 Preston Thompson D-BA Style 42 - Adirondack Spruce & Brazilian Rosewood - Sunburst #2121

The 2025 Preston Thompson D-BA Style 42 is the kind of guitar that reminds you why the golden-era dreadnought still sits at the top of the acoustic world. Built with a masterfully voiced Adirondack Spruce top and striking Brazilian Rosewood back and sides, this instrument delivers the depth, power, and harmonic richness that flatpickers spend a lifetime searching for. The warm sunburst finish gives the guitar an immediately timeless presence, evoking the great pre-war instruments that inspired Preston Thompson from the very beginning.

Preston Thompson devoted his life to recreating the finest pre-war acoustic guitars ever built, studying every contour, brace, and voicing detail with obsessive care. His vision remains alive through the small and deeply talented team at Thompson Guitars in Sisters, Oregon. Every instrument that leaves the shop still reflects the same uncompromising standards that made Preston’s guitars legendary among players, collectors, and touring musicians alike. There is an unmistakable humanity in these guitars. They feel handcrafted because they are.

This D-BA Style 42 is built with Pre-war Scalloped Advanced X Adirondack Spruce bracing, giving the guitar explosive headroom, a dry vintage character, and remarkable responsiveness under a heavy right hand. It is a dreadnought designed to be played hard, yet it still retains nuance and sweetness for fingerstyle passages and vocal accompaniment. The Brazilian Rosewood body produces deep piano-like bass response, shimmering trebles, and the complex overtone bloom that only truly great rosewood can offer.

Visually, this guitar is stunning without ever feeling excessive. The 42 Style abalone top purfling and 3 Ring Abalone Rosette glow beautifully against the rich sunburst top, while the Abalone Mystic Snowflakes fingerboard inlay adds an elegant vintage touch. The Lotus Torch headstock inlay, Thompson logo, ebony headstock veneer, and solid headstock with volute all speak to the extraordinary attention to detail throughout the build. Grained ivoroid bindings frame the instrument perfectly, complemented by the mosaic backstrip and tortoise pickguard for a classic pre-war aesthetic.

The soft V neck profile feels immediately comfortable and substantial in the hand, paired with a 1 3/4" nut width and 2 5/16" bridge spacing that make the guitar equally inviting for flatpickers and fingerstyle players. Ebony appointments throughout, including the fingerboard and bridge, along with bone nut and saddle construction, complete a build that was designed with tonal performance as the first priority.

At only 4 lb 9 oz, the guitar is exceptionally lively and resonant. It has clearly been played and enjoyed, exactly as a great Thompson should be, but it remains in excellent condition overall. There are only a couple of light finish checks on the top, purely cosmetic and consistent with a lightly used high-end nitrocellulose instrument. In every meaningful way, this guitar feels mature, open, and alive.

This is not simply a beautiful modern boutique dreadnought. It is a continuation of Preston Thompson’s life work, carried forward by a small team that still builds guitars the old way, one instrument at a time.

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For more information about the Preston Thompson D-BA please contact us.

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