{"id":121231,"date":"2020-12-15T08:29:00","date_gmt":"2020-12-15T16:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/?p=121231"},"modified":"2023-05-31T20:08:04","modified_gmt":"2023-06-01T03:08:04","slug":"great-acoustics-preston-thompson-masterpiece-2-koi-pond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/great-acoustics-preston-thompson-masterpiece-2-koi-pond\/","title":{"rendered":"Great Acoustics: Preston Thompson Masterpiece #2 Koi Pond"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

From the January\/February 2021<\/a> issue of Acoustic Guitar<\/em> | By Greg Olwell<\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Masterpiece series from Preston Thompson Guitars<\/a> is a chance for the shop\u2019s artisans to channel inspiration while stretching the boundaries of their skills. The team created its first Masterpiece guitar last year, and this second instrument in the series is dedicated to the shop\u2019s founding luthier and namesake, who had a chance to view the designs before he died in 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Front<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For Masterpiece #2, the team concentrated on a harmonious concept that flows across the entire instrument, from materials to artwork. The Koi Pond guitar is a 14-fret 00 shape made with lushly quilted Western maple back and sides, an Adirondack spruce top with extreme bear-claw figure, and a 24.9-inch scale mahogany neck. The body and neck are bound with Brazilian rosewood and a thin line of brass purfling that contributes a subtle and warm glow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Closeup<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Thompson inlay specialist and designer Simon Haycraft says that the spruce was chosen not just for its sound but also to enhance the guitar\u2019s design. \u201cThe figure is almost like a breeze across the top of the water,\u201d says Haycraft, adding, \u201cIt has that ripple to it\u2014that movement and life, and it adds to this concept of water and movement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Closeup<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The back\u2019s designs are stained directly into the maple, so that the artwork doesn\u2019t impact the wood structure the way an inlay set into the body might. The result is that the stained koi fish and waterlily designs pick up the maple\u2019s quilted figure, which helps give them a watery shimmer. Thompson\u2019s first full-fretboard inlay design features nearly 200 individual pieces of stone, pearl, and brass that flow toward the headstock\u2019s cherry blossom inlays. The West African ebony fingerboard is inlaid with three different shades of green reconstituted stone for a muted but varied look, with pink mussel shell employed for the lilies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Back<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a stunning piece of art,\u201d says Thompson luthier Joel Chadd, \u201cbut it\u2019s absolutely meant to be played. That\u2019s why we do this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Closeup<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\n\n<\/a>\n\n

\nThis article originally appeared in the January\/February 2021<\/a> issue of Acoustic Guitar<\/em> magazine.<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dedicated to the shop\u2019s founding luthier and namesake, who died in 2019, the Koi Pond guitar is a stunning piece of art that’s meant to be played.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":121235,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"Dedicated to the shop\u2019s founding luthier and namesake, who died in 2019, the Koi Pond guitar is a stunning piece of art that's meant to be played.","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1146],"tags":[524,1165],"ppma_author":[1556],"blocksy_meta":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Masterpiece-Koi-Pond-Small-bodied-limited-edition_.jpg?fit=750%2C500&ssl=1","authors":[{"term_id":1556,"user_id":12,"is_guest":0,"slug":"greg-olwellstringletter-com","display_name":"Greg Olwell","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5e8dada80c5c5ebffe48b5a4cfd35f33?s=96&d=mm&r=g","user_url":"","last_name":"Olwell","first_name":"Greg","description":"Greg Olwell is Acoustic Guitar<\/i>'s editor-at-large. He plays upright bass in several bands in the San Francisco Bay Area and also enjoys playing ukulele and guitar."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121231"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121231"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121231\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":139621,"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121231\/revisions\/139621"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121231"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=121231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}