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!

Sustainability

With your help, Breedlove is aiming to save the planet one guitar at a time.

All Breedlove guitars starting June 25, 2021, are made from sustainably-sourced exotic and native tonewoods. No clear-cut trees are used in these instruments. Breedlove uses salvaged and individually harvested timber and has deep relationships with responsible suppliers around the globe. Owner Tom Bedell and his team have visited 15 countries to discover exactly where the wood comes from, how it is selected and harvested, and how this affects the wildlife, the community, the forest and the planet.

We only have one world. Please join us. Breedlove believes that we should all consider the decisions we make about consumption, and ask questions about where the products we use from and how they are made. A guitar is a lifetime investment. It brings you joy and it helps you bring more joy into that one world. Shouldn’t it be sustainable? Shouldn’t it help heal the world, rather than harming it? We think so and we know you do, too.

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!

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.

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.

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!