Thirty years of Breedlove—a story told in four guitars!

Honoring innovation with limited edition looks back at Breedlove classics—available only through 2021

(This article is also featured in Breedlove’s Winter Magazine).

At the winter NAMM show in 1991, Larry Breedlove presented his breakthrough Concert body design, turning the guitar world on its ear. That historic instrument maintains a place of honor, on display at Breedlove headquarters in Bend, Oregon. Behold the 30th Anniversary Northwest Classic!

Throughout 2021, Breedlove will celebrate its first 30 years of innovation with fresh looks at four iconic instruments that will be offered in limited editions—all featuring today’s advanced craft and technology, including hand voicing and Sound Optimization®—available only through year’s end.

A King salmon jumps across the twelfth fret of the first issue, a reimagined Northwest Classic, splashing back into the Deschutes River as it wends its way toward Bend.

The King, a symbol of the abundance and beauty of the Pacific Northwest, seemed fitting to Angela Christensen, who leads product development and wood management for Breedlove today.

In her early days at the Custom Shop, Christensen, who had a considerable background in woodworking and jewelry-making before becoming a luthier, actually hand engraved the totemic Inuit-inspired inlays, created by namesake Kim Breedlove, that decorated the original run, which, in 1995, historically introduced Oregon myrtlewood to the guitar world, in a soft cutaway Concert format perfectly suited to highlight the species’ unique tonal blend of the best elements of rosewood, mahogany and maple.

A breakthrough in both sound and design, players had not experienced such balance before, from rumbling lows to rich mids and sparkling highs. With the Northwest classic, no longer did musicians have to choose simply between rosewood or mahogany.

The Northwest Classic was—and is again—about pride of place, a feeling for home. It is a virtual celebration of the woods of the Pacific Northwest, powered by a Sitka spruce top, trimmed in figured walnut, and anchored by uniquely figured, entrancing myrtle.

It seems fitting now that Christensen, such an integral part of the Breedlove’s saga, designed the new look (and hand selected the wood sets) for the limited edition 30th Anniversary Northwest Classic Concert CE—the first, as noted, of four special 2021 guitars that will celebrate Breedlove’s 30^th Anniversary.

It’s fitting, too, that this deluxe Masterclass instrument honors Breedlove’s decades-long history of advancement by moving it forward, putting the instrument on par with every modern Made in Bend Breedlove.

Appointments, including the salmon and the unique, knotted rosette, are fashioned from myrtle rather than shell, in a nod to the clear-cut free sustainability so central to Breedlove’s current ethos and Christensen’s own philosophy.

And to close the circle, Christensen retained the distinctive winged ebony bridge and the original’s stylized 1995 headstock logo.

“I built a number of these beautiful Northwest Classic guitars over my time here,” says Christensen, “so to have a hand in designing this new 30th Anniversary model is pretty special.”