Pratley Classic Dreadnought Cutaway Blackwood 2024 (New)
Pratley Classic Series Dreadnought, all solid blackwood, made in Australia 2024. What a stunner! The top, back and sides are all made from solid Tasmanian blackwood, one of the most visually striking timbers available on this side of the world. The rich, dark colouring, pronounced streaky grain lines with tight, consistent pores look so classy under a coat of thin satin nitro. The little details highlight the minimalist chic: black binding and tuners, cute little almost matching rosette, clean lines. Blackwood is an acacia family species, counting among it's relatives Hawaii's famous koa trees. The tonal profile is similar to koa: bright and tight through the mids, understated tuneful fast bass, very articulate and sweet on the top end. This is a very clear sounding guitar: full and sparkly with huge natural volume and a shimmering clarity on top. It sounds as good as it looks, and that's certainly saying something.
Pratley Guitars kicked off in 2004, under the guidance of Martin Pratley, a keen woodworker with a background in pro industrial design. There's a few interesting things about the design of all Pratley's offerings. First, the neck: the idea was to get as close as possible to the feel of an electric guitar neck on an acoustic. It's a slim, round C shape, and the join is a set-neck style, so there's a block inside the body that's glued to the neck with a wedge style join not dissimilar from a horizontal dovetail. The upshot is that the clunky heel is gone, and you get easy access all the way up to the top frets. The top has a clever A/X bracing pattern too, so there's two long braces extending along the whole top coming together to a point near the rear strap pin. This allows for plenty of resonance and a nice open tone, but was also specifically designed to eliminate any swelling tendencies in the top and make sure that bridge stays nice and flat and firmly attached. They also use a bunch of environmentally friendly and attractive Australian tonewoods like Queensland maple, bunya pine, Tasmanian blackwood and Johnstone river teak. They're very sustainable timbers to use, as the trees grow to a large size much faster than spruce, rosewood and mahogany, which are old growth species that have to be shipped long distances to get here.
* photos show actual guitar you will receive *
Model: Pratley Classic Dreadnought Cutaway Blackwood (PRD-SCE-BWBW)
Made: Gold Coast Australia, 2024
Serial: 012410712
Finish: natural, satin nitro
Body: solid Tasmanian blackwood top, back and sides, dreadnought shape
Neck: Queensland maple, Johnstone River teak fretboard, 25.5" scale, 12" radius, set neck/wedge join construction
Weight: 2.280kg
Mods: none
Pickup: L.R. Baggs StagePro Element System
Accessories: Pratley lightweight semi-hard case
Cosmetic condition notes: brand new with manufacturer's warranty. No major marks.
Overall: brand new condition (10/10)
Playing condition notes: Action is low, neck is straight, intonation is good. Setup with 12/54 Elixir strings.
Fret Life: 10/10, brand new