Breedlove Guitar Co. is currently located in Bend, Oregon where it produces some of the world’s finest guitars using exotic and experimental tone woods and electronics. Breedlove was started in 1974 by then surfer Kim Breedlove, who decided to make a living designing guitars and other stringed instruments while on trip to Mexico.
Company president, Pete Newport, spoke with Trent Salter of Musician's Hotline in August 2005 saying, "It was on a six month surfing trip deep in Mexico that young artist and musician Kim Breedlove decided his life calling: to build stringed instruments. With a strong art background and refined design sense, Kim Breedlove acquired the tools, the training and a keen interest in building guitars, mandolins, banjos and other fine instruments in 1974.
He began to educate himself on the finer points of crafting quality guitars and soon became quite the accomplished luthier. Though Kim is the creative thrust behind Breedlove Guitars, the company itself was birthed by his brother, Larry Breedlove and friend Steve Henderson who partnered up and started the legitimate company in 1990. Kim Breedlove still works for the guitar builder as a master luthier.
A Tradition of Conservation
In their inception Breedlove was a very traditional guitar building company, creating instruments that were acoustic in nature and geared toward the fingerstyle guitar player. Breedlove used woods naturally occurring in and around the company’s home base in Oregon seeking to push the envelope in creating instruments of the highest quality. "Breedlove Guitar Company is engaged in an ongoing effort to reduce the environmental impact of our business activites," writes the company in speaking to the press in January of 2008. "As a company and as individuals, we are already extremely aware of environmental issues, a fact that is reflected in our lifestyles and habits. But we realize we can do much more to decrease our energy consumption, decrease direct and indirect CO2 emission, and increase livability."
The differences came quickly as the company looked to create unique body styles for their instruments and rapidly began to branch out into the electric guitar side of the industry. Electronic systems were developed for Breedlove acoustics and electric guitars in a continuing trend of guitar companies seeking to keep control over the entire instrument in-house.
Breedlove Synergy System
Players are now able to create an electronic platform for their Breedlove acoustics and mandolins using the company’s synergy system. Features include a custom installed pickup system from RMC, stout stage and studio able 15foot 8-pin din connector, the RMC Polydrive II preamp equalizer & synthesizer blender with 13 pin connections, patch changes, and volume control. This system is now provided stock with select guitars of Breedlove’s Atlas series. The versatility created using such an electronics package is a necessity for the modern, stage-minded guitar player.
Breedlove guitars also employ very modern technology coupled with their traditional hands-on luthiering approach. The Polhemus FastSCAN Cobra is one device that allows the guitar’s individual parts to be scanned in a mesh format then saved to a computer as data files where they will be used to cut parts to the exact dimensions the original luthier built them to. This slices the time of a job that would normally take days into one that requires only hours to complete.
Breedlove Electric Guitars
The Mark I Chambered Electric Guitar is a perfect example of Breedlove’s attention to detail and advanced work with electronics. Created to be lightweight and responsive, the Mark I features an asymmetrical mahogany body, with a carved top of either Redwood or Maple.
Their signature headstock is fitted with Gotoh 510 tuners, and ebony peg overlay. Lollar and Seymour Duncan pickups are employed to give the Mark I the tone that would belie its slight frame. The guitar has also been ergonomically designed to cut down on the strain performers might feel from a long set or extended periods of playing. Breedlove provides excellent custom shop work as many of its guitars are built to the guitar player’s exact specifications.
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