“Cocobolo. That's probably the most dramatic of the back and side tonewoods,” says Angela Christensen. “It’s been a game changer for us. It’s such a dense wood that, when we were building just to dimensional specs previously, we were over building the heck out it, and it was losing its potential to resonate.”
“With Sound Optimization, we’ve been able to gain confidence in what thinness it should be taken to, to really let it speak as a musical component. Our guitars today that are built out of cocobolo, they're alive, they sing loud and people notice it immediately. It has a really nice, rich low end, but it still has a clear voice to it. It kind of gets in front of peoples’ faces really quick!”
Cocobolo is just one of a number of exotic tonewoods employed by Breedlove in the constant search for the perfect guitar sound.
A peek at pages 12 and 13 of the 2019 Breedlove catalog is like taking a tour through the tonewood forests of the world.
Do you want a redwood top for a light fingerstyle touch, or would you like to travel even further west and go for the bold strumming tones of koa? Options for back and sides literally circle the globe. Staying stateside, Big Leaf maple is bright and clear. Bubinga provides a deep bottom and East Indian rosewood, for traditionalists, is all about that classic bloom, with overtones as sweet as candy yet complex as wine.
Christensen designs and builds guitars for Breedlove, offering her unique perspective on what works best for each individual player. There’s more to it than just choosing what your favorite pop star plays, although that’s legitimate, too. Christensen suggests really thinking about what you’re looking for in an instrument. Are you, as British songwriter/producer Nick Lowe calls himself, a basher? Are you a serious fingerstylist searching for nuance, balance and clarity? Maybe you’re a singer, hoping to find something to support your rich baritone or your soaring soprano tone.
There’s a guitar for that. And Breedlove can build it, employing exotic tonewoods to capture exactly the sound you’re looking for.
“A lot of people come in with preconceived notions,” Christensen says, “because they've been shaped by, or only exposed to certain popular wood combinations. People don't get the opportunity to hear so many variations. So, I think really giving somebody the chance to sit down and just get to play is important, to pick a little on some of these guitars so they can hear the individuality that some of these wood combinations can offer.”
“When you come to Breedlove to design a dream guitar, the sky is the limit,” says Breedlove owner Tom Bedell. “We have 50,000-year-old kauri from New Zealand. We have 3,000-year-old Sitka from a tree that was buried in an avalanche. We have highly figured exotic woods from all over—you name the species, we have it! We may only have a few sets, because that's all we could get, but we have it.”
“The whole concept with Breedlove is that you're not constrained to conformity. In fact, we hardly ever build a custom Breedlove with East Indian rosewood. We're happy to do it—we’ve got some beautiful sets. But anybody can do that! When you come to Breedlove, the experience you're going to get is that, ‘I can do things here that I can't do at any other custom shop.’”
So, you’re a serious fingerstyle player, what might suit you? Everyone’s different, of course, but Christensen might lead you towards a softer tonewood for the top.
“I would start by honing in on that,” she says, “leaning towards a cedar, maybe a redwood or even a European spruce at the stiffer end of it. But at first, I’d just get a feel for your play style and how much punch you might need, or not.”
And Christensen notes that even the most skilled players still buy with their eyes as well as their ears.
“Fortunately, with Sound Optimization, we can see the potential in each tonewood set. It gives us the ability to work within a little range, if you will. We can take your redwood top to a specific thinness, so that it will behave similarly to a red cedar top with similar readings, which is perfect if you like the darker look of the redwood versus the tan of the cedar.”
“You can be assured that everything we are doing here, on every single guitar, is maximizing the potential of the wood in that specific instrument, so that you can sound better, play better and play more. If you make a connection, if you see something and it's love at first sight, and you pick it up and it matches your expectations, oh my gosh, that's awesome. I want people to know that everything that we are doing with and putting into every single one of our instruments is making it the best it can be.”
“It almost gives you the freedom to just choose with your eyes—and some of these exotic woods are just gorgeous—because they are all going to be great. You just have to pick the one that works for you.”
