The Breedlove Difference
Sound Better. Play Better. Play More.
Breedlove is building tomorrow’s guitars today. With the goal of superior sound and sustainable exotic tonewoods, we have the right guitar for you, at the right time in your musical journey. You will sound better, play better and play more with a Breedlove. For over 30 years, we’ve been following your lead, designing trusted, quality instruments for a new era in our Bend, Oregon Custom Shop. Our passion matches yours, together we know what makes a great guitar. Four revolutionary body shapes, marrying science, art and beauty, cater to your individual style, offering personalized, signature tones you never thought possible; with unmatched ease of playability and striking fit and finish across all models. You will fall in love at first strum. That’s the Breedlove difference.
Features and Benefits
The Organic Pro Collection
The Breedlove Organic Pro Collection stands as the threshold where professional, all-solid tonewood excellence meets accessibility. Offering outstanding pro-level guitars meticulously designed and crafted for discerning players in search of uncompromising sound quality at approachable prices. Engineered to meet the demands of serious musicians, these instruments embody Breedlove’s unwavering commitment to sustainability, superior craftsmanship and exceptional tonal performance.
Cascade Bracing
Bench-Built Sound Born in the Custom Shop
Dependable, Convenient and Reliable Electronics
Side-mounted Fishman Flex Plus-T electronics with volume, treble, bass, and phase controls, plus an onboard tuner.
All-Solid Tonewoods
All-solid, fully sustainable tonewoods just sound better. Learn why.
Professional, Sustainable Tonewood Sound for Everyone
Fully-sustainable guitars that working musicians and aspiring players can actually afford.
Discover Your Sound
Find Your New Favorite Guitar
Breedlove has the right guitar for you, for your unique groove, whether you’re a basher or a picker; whether it’s your first instrument or your new favorite; whether you want to rock or relax. And Breedlove makes it easy to discover your individual sound and mode, regardless if your main concern is body shape and comfort, play style, sustainability, tonewood choice or, quite simply, price. Begin your journey here.
Body Shape
Breedlove Guitars stands at the forefront of innovation with its revolutionary guitar body shapes, redefining the acoustic guitar landscape. From the versatile and comfortable Concert shape to the bold and resonant Concerto and the intimate yet powerful Concertina and Companion, each body shape is meticulously crafted to offer distinct tonal profiles and ergonomic advantages. Breedlove’s dedication to innovation in body design not only enhances the instruments’ sonic capabilities, but also ensures a comfortable playing experience, empowering musicians to explore new realms of sound and creativity. These groundbreaking body shapes stand as a testament to Breedlove’s commitment to reimagining acoustic guitars for the modern musician, offering a fusion of exceptional sound, comfort, and playability.
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Play Style
The way you play says a lot about you. And your guitar should help you express that. If you’ve been making music for years, you may have already sorted out what works for you. Perhaps it turns out you’re a chameleon, like Joni Mitchell, using a variety of open tunings to channel your muse, and you’ve settled on a versatile Solo Concert CE because you love the way the red cedar top responds to your fingerpicking, but also thrill to the way the ovangkol back and sides support your strumming—and, oh, the lush way that Side Monitor Soundhole just washes you in sound. Breedlove has classified its instruments into three broad categories of play—Heavy, Versatile and Light. These are not firm designations, but simply a pathway to finding what fits you and your preferred method of expression. If you like to bang out big chords on a loud guitar, try an all-solid Organic Collection Performer Concerto CE. If you favor a gentler approach, softly thrumming with a thin pick or opting for the clean, simple sound of skin on string, look into a Legacy Concert CE or a diminutive Pursuit Companion CE. Enjoy exploring the many options here!
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Sustainability
With an unwavering dedication to responsible practices, Breedlove meticulously sources tonewoods from responsibly managed forests and implements innovative approaches to minimize their ecological footprint. Through partnerships and initiatives supporting reforestation and conservation efforts, the brand not only ensures the ethical sourcing of tonewoods but also actively contributes to the preservation of natural ecosystems. By prioritizing environmental responsibility, Breedlove Guitars remains at the forefront of the industry, showcasing a harmonious fusion of exquisite craftsmanship and ecological mindfulness in crafting musical instruments that resonate not only with exceptional sound but also with ethical integrity.
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Tonewoods
Are you a flatpicker who can rip through “Blackberry Blossom” or “Jerusalem Ridge” with equal ease? Then you’re probably looking for the classic, dynamic Adirondack spruce/East Indian rosewood combination of the Premier Concerto CE—it’s a bluegrass machine! Maybe you are at the other end of the spectrum, a mellow fingerstylist with a sweet spot for the Beatles’ “Blackbird,” in which case, the redwood-topped Premier Concertina CE would answer your call with a responsive tone and softer attack. A songwriter, maybe, inspired by the rootsy genius of both Hank Williams and Brandi Carlisle? You might want to hunker down with an all-solid, sustainably sourced Organic Collection Wildwood Concert Satin CE, just to get lost in the inspirational warmth and dry midrange of African mahogany, which can carry you away to your next perfect ballad. Breedlove offers a range of exotic and native tonewoods, each targeted to bring out the best in your individual style of play, whether a shy bedroom picker or a bold stage star. The world of tonewoods can be intimidating, but we’re happy to be your guide. These descriptions can help you find what is right for you. Maybe you’re a koa or a cocobolo after all!
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What Players Are Saying
Reviews, Awards & Testimonials
Breedlove received Music Inc Magazine’s 2019 Suppliers Excellence Award. This award was voted and awarded by music retail dealers throughout the USA.
Supplier Excellence Award | Music Inc Magazine
For the Pursuit Concertina. Breedlove Guitars has always been known for their willingness to deviate from acoustic-design convention.
Premier Gear Award | Premier Guitar
“An amazing new acoustic… the Signature Concerto”
Paul Riario | Guitar World
“In guitar circles, the name Breedlove is synonymous with forward-thinking designs”
Adam Perlmutter | Premier Guitar
The Sound Optimization® Process
Building a better sounding guitar
Breedlove Guitars’ meticulous process of Sound Optimization and hand tuning stands as a hallmark of their commitment to delivering exceptional instruments to musicians. Their detailed approach involves fine-tuning each Custom Shop guitar individually, delicately adjusting various components such as bracing, tonewood thickness, and saddle positioning to achieve an optimal balance of tone, resonance, and playability. This meticulous hand-tuning process ensures that every instrument reaches its full sonic potential, offering players a guitar that not only sounds exceptional but also feels incredibly responsive and easy to play. The benefit to the guitar player is profound – each Custom Shop Breedlove guitar, meticulously optimized through this process, offers a rich, articulate tone with enhanced projection, greater sustain, and a nuanced dynamic range. Additionally, the optimized playability allows for effortless fretting and a comfortable playing experience, empowering musicians to freely express their musicality and creativity. While not individually hand-tuned, entry level guitars benefit from Breedlove’s sound research by way of Cascade Bracing, uniquely profiled and designed bracing carefully developed for each revolutionary body shape.
Sound Optimization® & Hand Voicing
Why do Breedlove guitars sound so good? It’s simple, Breedlove guitars—from Legacy to Discovery—are made with care, with the goal of allowing you to play better, sound better and play more. But it’s also complex, with art, inspiration, craft and science merging together in service of tone. Made in Bend models feature Sound Optimization® and are hand voiced, with experienced luthiers meticulously tapping, listening and shaving away tiny curls of exquisite tonewood as they target specific, measurable frequencies that will make each unique, individual instrument sound its very best. Various wood species are carefully milled, weighed and considered, with backs and tops tuned to each other to create light, responsive guitars with superior tone and sustain. When you play a Breedlove Premier, or sit down with an Oregon, it answers your lightest touch and its notes sing for an eternity, because a Breedlove builder has made sure it will inspire you every time you open the case.
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Designing Revolutionary Body Shapes
In 1990, Breedlove Guitars made its mark with the distinctive Concert body shape. Ergonomic, focused and strikingly balanced, it established Breedlove as an innovator with an eye on the future and an ear to the past—melding the best traditional elements of superior acoustic sound with a modern viewpoint about comfort, playability and construction. 30 years later, the Concert has become a classic. It is a trusted, versatile platform for players of every style, with an instantly recognizable voice and a sleek, enchanting profile. Breedlove now offers guitars in four revolutionary body shapes, each linked to and informed by the Concert, which remains the most popular and influential of all. The Concerto, the largest at 16” wide, updates the dreadnought with similar volume and power, but a more complex tonal palette, perfect for driving a band or backing a charismatic singer. The Concertina, a secret weapon of sorts, pares down the Concert, landing right in a fingerpicker’s lap with 12 frets to the body and a short scale that makes for easy, expressive bends. The newly introduced Companion puts all that Concert goodness—including careful research and amazing sound—into a compact travel guitar that plays like its full-sized cousins.
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Utilizing & Sustaining Exotic Tonewoods
Traditionally, guitars have been made from a variety of exotic tonewoods, often bearing enchanting names reflective of their tropical origins—species like cocobolo, ziricote, ovangkol and koa. More familiar timbers like rosewood, redwood, cedar, spruce and mahogany have an even more hallowed place in the annals of lutherie. Breedlove, which pioneered the use of sonically unique, visually striking native Oregon myrtlewood, employs all of these materials, with a particular eye towards sustainability and the health of the wildlife and humanity engaged in our world’s great forests. No clear-cut woods are used in Breedlove models. Breedlove has made this commitment without making any sacrifice in sound quality, build quality or beauty—and it is a commitment. Owner Tom Bedell and his team have traveled to 15 countries to ensure the compliance of suppliers, to monitor best practices and to see the forest with their own eyes. You will sound better and sleep better with a Breedlove. We have but one world, let’s keep it alive. Ask where your guitar comes from.
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Crafting Your Individual Play Style & Sound
The way you play says a lot about you. And your guitar should help you express that. If you’ve been making music for years, you may have already sorted out what works for you. Perhaps it turns out you’re a chameleon, like Joni Mitchell, using a variety of open tunings to channel your muse, and you’ve settled on a versatile Solo Concert CE because you love the way the red cedar top responds to your fingerpicking, but also thrill to the way the ovangkol back and sides support your strumming—and, oh, the lush way that Side Monitor Soundhole just washes you in sound. Breedlove has classified its instruments into three broad categories of play—Heavy, Versatile and Light. These are not firm designations, but simply a pathway to finding what fits you and your preferred method of expression. If you like to bang out big chords on a loud guitar, try an all-solid Organic Collection Performer Concerto CE. If you favor a gentler approach, softly thrumming with a thin pick or opting for the clean, simple sound of skin on string, look into a Legacy Concert CE or a diminutive Pursuit Companion CE. Enjoy exploring the many options here!
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Crafting Your Sound
The Breedlove Team
Spend just a few moments with any Breedlove crafter and you will quickly learn that their passion for music is matched by only one thing, their obsession with guitars. More than a few keep it going after work, hammering frets and shaving braces in home shops, or playing gigs at local hot spots. You will also learn, depending on whom you talk to, the fastest black diamond slope on Mt. Bachelor, a top-secret fly casting eddy on the Deschutes or the most captivating view from the Farewell Bend trail. Even more than the strings, that lust for life and love of nature might just be the most important element in your Breedlove guitar.
Angela Christensen
Head Product Designer
After 21 years, the chief designer is, in many ways, the walking philosophy of Breedlove. From a young age, Angela Christensen knew she wanted her life to revolve around music. She just wasn’t sure how. [...]
Aaron Adams
Craftsman since 2002
Aaron takes great pride in producing instruments that live up to Breedlove’s reputation for impeccable quality. With over a decade in the shop, he’s worked in nearly every phase of the building process. Aaron is [...]
Erik Miottke
Craftsman since 2014
Erik’s lifelong journey in the music industry has been long traveled, with many interesting turns and transitions. He has logged many hours behind microphones and boards working as an audio engineer, radio DJ, drum tech [...]
Bradley Streit
Craftsman since 2014
Bradley has been part of the Breedlove finish team for two years, and when not creating stunning instruments enjoys making memories with friends and leaving a positive impression on those around him. Favorite Meal in [...]
Scott Wegner
Craftsman since 2011
Scott grew up in the Midwest (born in Indiana), and moved to Bend in 2002. He worked in construction prior to joining the team of craftsmen at Breedlove. He currently works in the neck department, [...]
Evan Manthei
Craftsman since 2010
Evan has a graphic design background and a degree in guitar repair and building from Minnesota State College Southeast Technical. He’s a guitar lover through and through with an artist’s eye, both of which serve [...]
Gary Flaherty
Craftsman since 1993
Gary has been meticulously handcrafting Breedlove guitars for over two decades, making him one of the most experienced craftsmen in the workshop. He’s worked in every department in the shop, but he chose string-up because [...]
Paul Roshau
Craftsman since 2013
Dedicated craftsman Paul Roshau embodies the artistry and precision behind many Breedlove guitar necks from the Custom Shop, showcased in the captivating “Meet Your Makers” series (Watch at the top of this page). With a [...]
