Guitar Buyer for American Musical Supply talks new Breedlove exclusives
American Musical Supply’s Nick Intersimone loves guitars. Wait, That’s nowhere near enough vowels. Nick Intersimone looooooooves guitars. That’s better.
By his own estimation, the Denville, New Jersey native owns about 100 of them, all shapes and sizes, makes and styles—including, for nostalgia’s sake, his first, a Memphis Les Paul copy. Like we said, he loves guitars.
Intersimone acted on that urge early on and he has been working in the musical instrument industry beginning, as you might expect, as a clerk at a series of East Coast guitar shops, where, after being promoted to manager, he quadrupled sales, eventually moving up into a wider world of trade.
For the past 13 years, he has been guitar buyer for key accounts for American Musical Supply, one of the nation’s largest online retailers.
It is, needless to say, a good gig. And Intersimone should know good gigs. Under the performing name Nick Simone, he plays regularly along the NJ/NYC corridor—singing and playing solo acoustic guitar, in duos, or as a guitarist for hire in various bands.
What makes Intersimone’s day job insane, in all the best ways, is that he not only gets to talk guitars all day, he gets to design them, too.
Beginning with a Gibson Les Paul Custom Lite and Midtown Deluxe, he’s had his hand in designing over 200 Exclusive Run guitar and amp models over the past decade, including a number of exclusive, limited run Breedloves unique to AMS.
In fact, just recently, Intersimone, who cut his teeth in design by hot-rodding a homemade Eddie Van Halen-inspired partscaster, hatched a clutch of new Exclusive Breedlove models—including a stunning Oregon Concert CE Myrtlewood Cognac Burst, a Pursuit Exotic Concert CE Myrtlewood, a Discovery Concert CE and a Discovery Concertina CE—all featuring specific tweaks that bear his mark.
As a gigging musician, Intersimone says that most of his design changes to existing instruments revolve around ease of use in studio, and, particularly, stage situations.
“I’ve performed over 2,200 gigs in my life. Guitars are like hammers and wrenches to me, in some respects. They can be beautiful, but they are also my tools, so they need to work. For solo gigs, I like to have a cutaway acoustic/electric that’s self-contained. I want easy access to the truss rod, the battery, the volume and tone controls. I want a built-in tuner. Form follows function for me. If it looks pretty, but doesn’t play well or doesn’t sound great, or have the features I need, I’m not interested. If I need to change a battery, I want to be able to do it on the fly, between songs or even in the middle of a song.”
Sometimes his design changes are small and simple — “minor tweaks,” he says, “like a different color, a different top or different hardware.”
Other times they call for something more—he is, to wit, the man who brought back the fabled Gibson Moderne.
“I’m probably not going to design a left-handed, purple-spotted double neck,” he laughs. “I just try to make things that I would be genuinely happy to play, and that maybe I don’t currently find in the marketplace. Being a vintage guitar collector, I also like to revive ‘old classic’ models, perhaps giving them a couple modern tweaks as well.”
Granted, sometimes it’s just a special finish that might look better under stage lighting, but it’s always with the thought of a working player in mind.
“I definitely gear my designs towards what I would personally use them for.”
Intersimone says working at AMS, which he describes as “like a family business,” allows him to uniquely participate in the lives of other guitarists.
“I feel happy that AMS has allowed me the freedom and the autonomy to design and create these Exclusive Run projects, because that’s a fun part of my job. For me, guitars are about how they make you feel. You play a little differently when you pick up a guitar that’s right for you. If it inspires you to play something new or to create a new song—there’s something special in that. And, when a well-known guitarist reaches out and wants one of those guitars for themselves, that’s awesome!”
He is unabashedly a fan of Breedlove, and its history of innovation.
“I applaud Breedlove for exploring new areas; for trying to be a little bit more forward thinking, with different body shapes and Sound Optimization® and so forth. I love the sustainable myrtlewood, for example, and what Breedlove’s done to make it popular. I love the aesthetic of it, and I think it sounds great. This new Oregon Cognac Burst we have is a beautiful guitar.”
“I like Breedlove’s flexibility, their willingness to work with me on these new Exclusive designs and their openness to new ideas. That’s refreshing. They have a real passion and a real knowledge of the wood. Breedlove is almost like a little secret in the industry. Not as many people know about them as maybe they should. For me, Breedlove is a custom shop quality brand at production prices, using unique and indigenous woods of the Pacific Northwest.”
He’s also enamored of Breedlove’s commitment to the earth.
“(Breedlove owner) Tom Bedell’s Tedx Talk regarding Music Industry sustainability and consumer responsibility was very enlightening.” says Intersimone. “Who doesn’t want to do the right thing? I have a daughter. She’s almost six, and I want there to be a planet for her.”
Of his latest collaboration, Intersimone says, “I’m pretty proud of all the Breedlove Exclusive models that we’ve designed, but especially these new exclusives that we have right now.”
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