Played a Breedlove Concertina Today

[_zedagive]

Been waiting patiently for a month to get my paws on one of these as I was thinking a short-scale might be something I'd enjoy. I found an Oregon model, all myrtlewood, that was at the last NAMM. Well, it was little disappointing in two respects: 1) Although it's a very comfortable size and weight and has a very nice tone, it just doesn't compare to the tone and balance of my Focus SE and 2) the fact it's a 12-fret and lacks a cutaway made it difficult for me to get to some of the high frets past the body (maybe this is something that just needs some time to adapt to).

The shop said they expect to be getting the higher-end Legacy concertina soon, so I'll give that one a try.The good news is that when i got home and played the Focus, I was back in love with the Breedlove sound. If the Legacy doesn't work out, I may look for another Focus SE with Redwood over Walnut that i understand is a killer fingerstyle. Let me know if any of you have a led on one of these.

Thanks

[DenverSteve]

So what is it you are looking for? Are you just playing different Breedloves to try and find one you like? No manufacturer will make an entire line that anyone person generally loves. Each of the different wood combinations sounds completely different. I prefer the Frontier series as they are all Mahogany. Nd fabulous.

[_zedagive]

Originally Posted by DenverSteve

So what is it you are looking for? Are you just playing different Breedloves to try and find one you like? No manufacturer will make an entire line that anyone person generally loves. Each of the different wood combinations sounds completely different. I prefer the Frontier series as they are all Mahogany. Nd fabulous.

It may be my ears only, but I find Breedlove guitars the most pleasing sound of all the bigger builders and the most comfortable for my playing positions (I hold the guitar body between my legs, classical style) I was excited to see BL has come out with a small-body, short-scale guitar and was anxious to give it a try. Nothing more than that.

I may have been too optimistic and unfair to compare my Concert ($4000 retail in 2009) with a $2000 retail guitar in 2018. I'll give the Legacy a try, but as I previously stated, I prefer a cutaway and this option is not available with the concertina line.

I'm also considering test driving an Emerald CF. There was another thread that discussed the X-7 vs the X-20 that most posters concluded that the X-7 was a little too small for them and preferred the X-20. Also, the X-20 can be custom built with a short scale, with some claiming the body size and a 24.6" scale hits the sweet spot. Just need to find a place where I can get one in my hands.

[AZLiberty]

Originally Posted by _zedagive

I'm also considering test driving an Emerald CF. There was another thread that discussed the X-7 vs the X-20 that most posters concluded that the X-7 was a little too small for them and preferred the X-20.

The X-20 is a reasonably large guitar. Bigger than a Breedlove Concert much less a Concertina. About the size of Taylor x14 or Guild Mini-jumbo.

The X7 as you know is small. Mine is slightly smaller than my Larrivee Parlor which is a Martin 0 size.

However, I believe that Sean at Emerald will still make an X-10. That would be a custom order, but since you are going to custom order the scale length...

[_zedagive]

Originally Posted by AZLiberty

The X-20 is a reasonably large guitar. Bigger than a Breedlove Concert much less a Concertina. About the size of Taylor x14 or Guild Mini-jumbo.

The X7 as you know is small. Mine is slightly smaller than my Larrivee Parlor which is a Martin 0 size.

However, I believe that Sean at Emerald will still make an X-10. That would be a custom order, but since you are going to custom order the scale length...

Thanks AZ for the quick reply. This is good info and it's great to learn that Emerald is so flexible.