The folks at Preston Thompson Guitars in Sisters, OR have established a memorial fund in honor of their founder, Preston Thompson, who passed away last month after a protracted illness. He was only 62 years of age.
The handmade, steel string guitars built on Thompson’s designs have been extremely popular with bluegrass performers, finding their way into the hands of artists like Claire Lynch, Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle, and Jake Workman.
They have titled this effort the Preston Thompson Young Musicians Memorial Fund, based on his life-long passion for encouraging and supporting developing artists. The company will make and donate at least two guitars each year to young pickers on the way up. Anyone who would like to make a contribution to this effort is encouraged to do so online.
Before he got sick, Preston made this video with a guitar he made for Charles Sawtelle more than 40 years ago, and spoke about how enthused he was by the number of young builders and players he had met.
