Long heralded as the world's finest guitar body tonewood, Brazilian rosewood instruments are tough to find and expensive. In fact, the Brazilian rosewood tree was declared almost extinct, and international trade in any product containing Brazilian rosewood harvested or imported after 1992 was prohibited. So how does Breedlove offer the extraordinary Breedlove Journey and Breedlove Journey FS limited editions for under $5,000? And, how is it permitted for these guitars to travel throughout the world when Brazilian rosewood instruments from other companies can’t?
In the 1950s and 60s a church ornament company sat on the outskirts of Madrid, Spain. They purchased several logs and imported them before the late 60s, when the Brazilian government placed a ban on the export of rosewood. The ornament company was soon converted to a tonewood supplier for high-quality stringed instruments, named “Madinter”. Madinter proceeded to cut the Brazilian logs into tonewood sets. All of this took place before 1992 when the CITES Convention declared Brazilian rosewood an endangered species and prohibited its export and import unless clear documentation proved its trade transpired before 1992.
In 2013, Breedlove approached Madinter and offered to acquire all of the remaining Brazilian rosewood sets that remained. Of course, they possessed all of the documentation confirming its mid-20th-century arrival in Spain and that it had been in the country well before the 1992 prohibition. Therefore, it could be legally exported to the United States with full CITES compliance. With this large exclusive treasure of Brazilian tonewood sets, Breedlove can craft these limited editions at almost one-half the cost other companies are charging for Brazilian instruments with full documentation. They can travel throughout the world with a guitar passport issued by the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
A word of caution – to Breedlove's knowledge, they are the only company that owns a significant collection of legally documented Brazilian rosewood tonewood sets. Once it is gone, it is gone forever. The window for adding the extraordinary sound of the Breedlove Brazilian instruments will not be open forever. The value of these Breedlove Journey limited editions will only grow over time.
