Pratley SL Dreadnought Maple/Fig Shaded 2025 (New)
Pratley SL Dreadnought, fig/maple, natural satin finish, made in Australia 2025. This is a cool example from Martin's recently revamped SL series, featuring the new Queensland fig tonewood for the top. It's got plenty of slice: the clarity on the top end is truly impressive. It's super playable, with that classic comfy neck and clever body join making for easy movement up and down the neck. We've not had a 'shaded' finish before either, it's a super classy look that really makes the figuring in the grain pop. Heaps of Aussie-made goodness for less than your annual car rego and insurance bill. Onya Marty!
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 SL Dreadnought (SL-D-MF)
Made: Gold Coast Australia, 2025
Serial: 062511124
Finish: shaded top, natural back and sides, satin nitro
Body: solid Queensland fig top, layered Queensland maple back and sides, dreadnought shape
Neck: Queensland maple, Johnstone River teak fretboard, 25.5" scale, 12" radius, set neck/wedge join construction
Weight: 2.215kg
Mods: none
Pickup: Fishman Presys II with Sonicore Pickup
Accessories: DCM gig bag
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