Does ANYONE in here actually OWN a Breedlove guitar???

[onewilyfool]

I REALLY don't like the lightening bolt bridge shape, and that kept me from even trying them, but I got beyond that and tried a few the other day, and was duly un-impressed....sometimes I think we don't really know how lucky we are to own our Gibsons....Does anyone in here own a Breedlove?

[merseybeat1963]

I tried a 00 Braz (Martin style one) a year or two ago and it was really very good.

It made me consider one at a shoppe which was Figured Koa and 50% off retail or something new but owner of the shop said

that the Lowdens were definately a upgrade.Then I took his advice and bought a H&D Braz Slope he liked better than the Lowden F I was thinking about.

I would never buy one of those ridiculous lightning bolt bridge Breedlove's.

[telemaster03]

A friend at a jam had one of those Revival Series Breedloves, a Martin OM copy. It was OK, I guess. He was thrilled with it so I guess that's what matters. I thought it sounded thin and the neck was pretty skinny. I haven 't played any of the contemporary models like the one you described. I can't say one is one my radar, or likely will ever be.

[Ridgemont]

I view them as a guitar for the very contemporary fingerstyle player. So if you like guitars with a long lineage, mojo, and deep roots in American music history, you probably would not be interested in Breedlove or even Taylor for that matter. When I look at a guitar, I think about what Lightning Hopkins, Woodie Guthrie, and Hank Williams would have played.

[duluthdan]

A few weeks ago I visited Bend, Oregon, was lucky enough to have a tour of the plant arranged, and got to sit in the showroom and play a wall of guitars. The Oregon series was very appealing. If I wasn't at my five guitar limit already, I could have a place for one of these in my stable. Very nice build, good tone, great little guit-box. Built using local Northwest USA woods.

[Phelonious Ponk]

A band mate just bought one of Breedlove's imports. A big one, sort of a rounded dred. Laminated back and sides, solid spruce top. Good strummer, good fingerpicker, stupid good for the money. It's a little bass light for a big guitar, but it's brand new and might get there in time. The voice is pretty straightforward and fundamental, doesn't quite have the great lower mids of a Gibson or the great upper mids of a Taylor, but it's not really defficient, just different. And the volume is all there. Visually, it's not my cup of tea, but hell, it's a $300 guitar that's about three quarters of of a $2,000 guitar. It's hard to argue with the economics. He bought it to slap a pickup in and use as a stage guitar. Perfect for that.

 

P

[cunningham26]

This is something of an aside, because I always confuse Breedlove and seagulls in the non-gibson section of the guitar lobe of my brain. But, the seagull maritime sws are killer guitars, and though the headstock looks a little wonky, sounds the closest to a j45 than any other non-gibson I've tried.

 

Never played a Breedlove I liked, but I was biased out of the gate by hating the look

[onewilyfool]

A few weeks ago I visited Bend, Oregon, was lucky enough to have a tour of the plant arranged, and got to sit in the showroom and play a wall of guitars. The Oregon series was very appealing. If I wasn't at my five guitar limit already, I could have a place for one of these in my stable. Very nice build, good tone, great little guit-box. Built using local Northwest USA woods.

Dan....if you DO buy that Breedlove, I'll take ANY of your 5 extra Gibsons/Martins....lol!!!

[duluthdan]

Extra ? I would be very hard-pressed to cull anything out of the current herd.

[Jayyj]

I used to be a Breedlove dealer. I really like the bracing system on the modern style guitars, which seems to give them an extremely even frequency response. They always remind me of a guitar recorded with a compressor with the attack slightly pinched and good sustain. I've played a dozen or so of the staggeringly expensive ones and was never very taken with them: pieces of artwork perhaps but we're talking money you could buy a Banner J45 for. They're not my thing at all. The Revival / Retro style US models were well made but I'd rather have a Vintage Series Martin if looking at that style of guitar. I like their mandolins a lot, had an A style a while back that was quite something. The imported stuff was good and we sold a lot of them. At least some of the imports were made by Crafter in Korea, a manufacturer I hold very highly.

 

I guess my ultimate take on them is that they're one of those brands that will polarize opinion: they have a very distinct tone and look, and they're well made for the price point, but they're certainly not going to be for everyone.

[Xylonix Guitars]

"... but they're certainly not going to be for everyone."

 

Guitars are like cats: you don't choose one, it chooses you.

[PastorMike]

I'll start by saying I don't hold to brand loyaties, guitars have their own voice and we have our own ears. For me the variety is the joy of guitars. At present I have Larrivees, Martins, a Gibson, a Breedlove, and some older Japanese guitars. I have also owned a Froggy Bottom and a Huss and Dalton, neither of which are in the stable at present. The Breedlove I have is a C25-CRH out of Bend Oregon. Cedar Top, Rosewood Back and sides, auditorium size, and is made with the JDL bridge system. The guitar is deep with outstanding sustain and some almost overpowering overtones. It is a wonderful instrument for fingerpicking yet, with a cedar top, it compresses with agressive strumming. The workmanship is outstanding and it is a very intimate instrument. I get on forums, and I enjoy them very much, but I think sometimes we start "rooting for the home team" and we can turn away for guitars that may sound different than whatever our brand loyalty. Maybe sometimes we think we improve the sense of our guitar by complaining about others. Brand loyalty is a good thing, but know there some great guitars out there and my Breedlove is certainly one of them.

[rbpicker]

I have one of the new Oregon Series concert models. Made in Bend, OR. Damn fine guitar for fingerstyle playing. Nearly as big sounding as a dread. I don't know how they do it, but it is very full and rich in tone. Don't think all guitars are suited for cowboy chord folk or country songs. That's what I have two Gibsons for.

 

Rb

[Phelonious Ponk]

I'll start by saying I don't hold to brand loyaties, guitars have their own voice and we have our own ears. For me the variety is the joy of guitars. At present I have Larrivees, Martins, a Gibson, a Breedlove, and some older Japanese guitars. I have also owned a Froggy Bottom and a Huss and Dalton, neither of which are in the stable at present. The Breedlove I have is a C25-CRH out of Bend Oregon. Cedar Top, Rosewood Back and sides, auditorium size, and is made with the JDL bridge system. The guitar is deep with outstanding sustain and some almost overpowering overtones. It is a wonderful instrument for fingerpicking yet, with a cedar top, it compresses with agressive strumming. The workmanship is outstanding and it is a very intimate instrument. I get on forums, and I enjoy them very much, but I think sometimes we start "rooting for the home team" and we can turn away for guitars that may sound different than whatever our brand loyalty. Maybe sometimes we think we improve the sense of our guitar by complaining about others. Brand loyalty is a good thing, but know there some great guitars out there and my Breedlove is certainly one of them.

 

This sounds about right to me. I haven't played many Breedloves, but I owned a cedar/walnut Lowden jumbo that was, by every objective measure, one of the best guitars I've ever played. What does that mean? Well, it means if you even looked at the thing cross eyed, massive amounts of fundamentals, overtones, attack, decay, sustain and release blew out of the thing as easy as a summer breeze. As a machine for making sound of its own power it was a wonder. But it didn't suit the way I play guitar at all.

 

The only other guitar I ever played that came close to the astounding, easy, responsiveness of that Lowden was a Breedlove. It wasn't for me either. I'm not Richard Thompson, though I wish I had half his skill. If I can't have at it with a stiff pick and a couple of fingers and get it to go chunk, chunk, ring...thunk, ka-ching. pickitapickita zing...well it's not going to work for me every time. I don't want to carry half a dozen guitars around with me. I want one to take me from G runs to double dropped D without much fuss. I found that in a Gibson.

 

But that doesn't mean I didn't listen to that Lowden (Breedlove) ring out church bells and fairy dust and wonder at the beauty of it all.

 

P

[PastorMike]

This sounds about right to me. I haven't played many Breedloves, but I owned a cedar/walnut Lowden jumbo that was, by every objective measure, one of the best guitars I've ever played. What does that mean? Well, it means if you even looked at the thing cross eyed, massive amounts of fundamentals, overtones, attack, decay, sustain and release blew out of the thing as easy as a summer breeze. As a machine for making sound of its own power it was a wonder. But it didn't suit the way I play guitar at all.

 

The only other guitar I ever played that came close to the astounding, easy, responsiveness of that Lowden was a Breedlove. It wasn't for me either. I'm not Richard Thompson, though I wish I had half his skill. If I can't have at it with a stiff pick and a couple of fingers and get it to go chunk, chunk, ring...thunk, ka-ching. pickitapickita zing...well it's not going to work for me every time. I don't want to carry half a dozen guitars around with me. I want one to take me from G runs to double dropped D without much fuss. I found that in a Gibson.

 

But that doesn't mean I didn't listen to that Lowden (Breedlove) ring out church bells and fairy dust and wonder at the beauty of it all.

 

P

 

Finding the guitar, or guitars, that capture that personal connection is what we all look for. What is wonderful is that we are living in a golden age for acoustic guitarists. There are such great instruments out there by so many builders who put their heart and soul into the instruments. Variety is the spice of life, so they say. I am enjoying my Gibson because it is so different from the others, very fundamental, almost a little raw.....a voice from the past that resonates somewhere deep within me. I too wonder at the "beauty of it all"!

[YerDugliness]

I own a Breedlove 000 Revival...custom shop order with master grade redwood ssoundboard, ziricote sides and back, koa bindings, and a full "grupo" (to use a bicycling term) of West African Hard Ivory for nut/saddle/bridge/endpin and strap button. It is a true piece of visual art.

 

Yes, it was as expensive as many, if not most, Gibsons, but it was a retirement present to myself when I retired after 32 years in public education.

 

It's hard to play, but I think I can remedy that by going to lighter gauge strings. I think the factory setup needs some fine tuning, too.

 

It has an incredible voice!

 

Cheers!!

 

Dugly

[mountainpicker]

Hey Dan, did you happen to play that new three and a half pound Moon Light guitar that Breedlove just came out with while you were in Bend?

[rct]

This past June I was in Milwaukee and cruised Cream City and sat down with three Yankee Breedloves because I don't really get to see them here in cosmopolitan bleeding edge southern New Jerseytuckybama. So they had two used and one new or nearly new. I took each one one at a time up to the sofa room next to the Gretsch wall and tried them.

 

meh.

 

rct

[Jinder]

I could never get behind one of their standard models with the lightning bolt bridge thing going on.

 

Having said that, I tried one of their Retro series OMs some years ago and was very impressed with it. Really nice tone and lovely bloom to the notes when playing finger style. But ultimately it sounded like a good Martin, so I bought a good Martin instead-an OM18V. Wish I hadn't let that one go...

[Russell Davis]

Never tried any of their guitars but I've got their American FF series mandolin. The construction on it is absolutely flawless. A little different tone than a standard bluegrass mando. Dry, woody and loads of volume and sustain.

[slimt]

Breedlove.. everytime I see the word I think of the landspeed record holder.. Guitars not for me though.

[kebob]

I bought a Breedlove Oregon-made limited run 25th anniversary model of their CE model couple years ago -- great small-bodied OM guitar, especially for finger picking. Myrtlewood back/sides and cedar top. I have martins, Gibsons, Larrivees and it holds its own in the stable. Craftsmanship is flawless.

[Quake]

I have two Masterclass Breedlove's: a Pacific (maple/Sitka) and a King Koa (koa/cedar). Both are concert sized and are more finger style than hard strummers, though they both handle moderate strumming well. Very different thing going on than the Gibby's, which is very good to have. I'm in Oregon so it's nice to support local builders as well.

[Hummingbird2000]

I've owned a Breedlove since 2000 (bought new). It's a model N-20, a nylon string crossover guitar, made at Breedlove's original Tumalo, Oregon location. I wanted the sound of a nylon string guitar but couldn't easily trade off between the nut widths on my Hummingbird and Martin SWD, and the standard 2"-plus classical guitar. Except for its 1 3/4" nut and bolt-on neck construction, the N-20 pretty much is a classical guitar: 12-fret non-cutaway body with a solid cedar top (fan braced, not X-braced), solid East Indian rosewood sides and back, 1-piece mahogany neck, bound ebony fretboard (radiused, not flat), and a Brazilian rosewood bridge (which is a pinless, tie-block design, but not the lightning-bolt shape, it looks relatively normal).

 

I like this Breedlove very much; it is a beautiful guitar which is easier to hold more closely to the player's body than a dreadnought, and wonderful to play late at night when a light touch gives a very satisfying sound while staying quiet enough to not wake up the rest of the house. Except for steel strings vs. nylon, the closest Gibson equivalent today is the Montana made 1928 L-1, with a 12-fret neck and a body with very rounded upper and lower bouts. I keep meaning to try one out locally to see if the playing experience is close to the Breedlove N-20.

[kelly campbell]

I have never bought one but have tried several that I do like that were made in the USA. I think they are like all brands some are good and some not so good.