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#1
12-02-2013, 12:16 AM
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Breedlove History
as some of you know, I prefer Breedlove guitars. I came across a brief history that I thought folks here might find of interest. Kind of neat knwoing the history of things ...
Kim Roberts Breedlove and the Breedlove Historic Timeline: 1949 - Kim was born in Lafayette, Indiana. 1973 - Acquired tools and woods from guitar builder€™s widow and built first instrument€”dulcimer, followed by many banjos and dulcimers. 1976 - Began work in San Diego with Greg Deering and Geoff Stelling building banjos with younger brother Larry Breedlove, Tim Luranc and John Gerlog (now all with Taylor Guitars). 1978 - Kim earns Master of Fine Arts Degree from San Diego State University. Kim designs and develops the handmade Stelling Mandolins. 1982 - Larry Breedlove and Tim Luranc join Bob Taylor and Kurt Listug at Taylor Guitars. 1984 - Stelling Banjo Company moves from San Diego, California to Charlottesville, Virginia. Kim becomes Vice President of Stelling Banjos specializing in Bird of Prey series of exotic banjos with highly detailed and ornamented resonators and necks that were considered the €œRolls-Royce€ of instruments. 1989 - Larry Breedlove and craftsman Steve Henderson depart from Taylor Guitars to start the Breedlove Guitar Company in 1990. 1990 - Breedlove becomes a repair center for Taylor Guitars and develops the Breedlove Guitar Line of six string and twelve string fingerstyle guitars while exploring techniques to open up the bass resonance and sustain of the acoustic guitars and basses. 1991 - Breedlove introduced to Don Kendall of JLD Guitar Research and begins experiments with the JLD bridge truss system and bracing techniques effects on balance, sustain, resonance and bass creating the "Original Breedlove Sound". Breedlove buys used/broken thickness sander and discovers the balancing effect of graduated top thicknesses on instrument balance. The "Original Breedlove" sound is formed. First Breedlove guitar in stores. 1994 - Kim retires as farrier and moves family west to join brother, Larry Breedlove, at Breedlove Guitar Company in Bend, Oregon to build high-end acoustic guitars. Soon after, Larry Breedlove departs to follow love interest and returns to Taylor Guitars. Breedlove wins second ASIA award for best new guitar design for the CM Classic. 1995 - Tonal experiments continue in body depths, sizes, soundhole diameters, bracing patterns, top graduations, back and side thicknesses. Prototypes of the Ed Gerhard signature model are completed featuring extremes of the experiments tuned to Ed€™s particular needs and tastes. Dod Mohr joins team Breedlove and heads Breedlove string up team and warranty departments. 1995 - Kim develops the first Breedlove mandolins featuring bolt-on necks with floating fingerboards and highly resonant tops and backs, and radiused fingerboards. Jayson Bowerman joins Breedlove through college school to work alliance. 1997 - First Breedlove mandolins in stores. 1998 - Steve Henderson develops innovative Breedlove nylon string guitars designed as steel string cross over instruments with slender necks 14 frets to body with radiused fingerboards. 2000 - 10th Anniversary Breedlove Guitar Company, Breedlove wins two Players Choice Awards from Acoustic Guitar Magazine including award for the Ed Gerhard Signature Model. 2004 - First Breedlove Revival Series Guitar by customer requests and executed by Jayson Bowerman, Third Player€™s choice award from Acoustic Guitar Magazine. 2008 - Celebration of Kim Breedlove's 35th year of building fine instruments. Breedlove completes new building and focuses on the future. Breedlove launches expanded electric guitar line with the Mark II, and Mark IV and wins the Winter NAMM Show€™s "Best in Show: Trendsetter Award" for the new (Mark II) electric guitars. Last edited by tomana; 12-02-2013 at 12:26 AM. 
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#2
12-02-2013, 01:27 AM
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You forgot, 1991 I got my first Breedlove C2 with a Cutaway and in 1993 I got the first Breedlove C2 with a Cutaway out of "The Tree". If you are gonna do Breedlove history
 Nice job, glad to see you gave Jayson his due!
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https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-T...56266954411686 http://www.reverbnation.com/jayhowlett http://www.jayhowlett.com Guitars: I'm really happy to have a few nice ones.
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#3
12-02-2013, 01:41 AM
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thanks for posting this, some real interesting things there I didn't have a clue on.
I've played a lot of very nice Breedlove guitars-love the Ukes and Mandolins(and own one). Ed G is my favorite artist of all time-get to see him next week. d
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#4
12-02-2013, 08:55 AM
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Breedlove
Hey Tomana!
Minor issue, but isn't it JDL bridge system, not JLD? Also, do you know when Steve Henderson left Breedlove? My SJ25W is one of his and I'm gonna be buried with that thing
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#5
12-02-2013, 09:57 AM
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It says Kim retired as Farrier. That means he was shoeing horses ?!?
I always wondered what the relationship was between Breedlove and Taylor. I've seen Bob Taylor write about Larry Breedlove in articles and interviews. Kind of odd that Larry started the company and left it and now Kim run's it. Frankly, I am surprised R. Taylor (the boutique line) didn't "merge" with, or absorb Breedlove somehow.
__________________
Fazool "The wand chooses the wizard, Mr. Potter" Taylor GC7, GA3-12, SB2-C, SB2-Cp...... Ibanez AVC-11MHx , AC-240
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#7
12-02-2013, 10:12 AM
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Thank you for that tomana.
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#8
12-02-2013, 10:24 AM
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Quote:
I was Breedlove's first dealer/retailer, and between 1991 and 1995 I sold about 1/4 of their entire production. I then went to work for Steve directly for the entire year of 1996 as VP of sales/marketing (and as part-owner, although that didn't work out too well). We built over 600 handcrafted guitars that year for our dealer network, their biggest handcrafted production numbers before or since (AFAIK). I left (amongst several reasons) to pursue my music.
__________________
Larry Pattis on Spotify and Pandora LarryPattis.com American Guitar Masters 100 Greatest Acoustic Guitarists Steel-string guitars by Rebecca Urlacher and Simon Fay Classical guitars by Anders Sterner
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#9
12-02-2013, 06:28 PM
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Quote:
and no, I don't know about Steve. I did a copy/paste so I did not compile the info. I should have made reference to the write up, not just say 'I came across a write up ...". Will include original reference(s) from now on 
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#10
12-02-2013, 07:11 PM
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So, Larry,
Do you own any Breedlove guitars at this time ?
__________________
2010 Guild F47R 2009 G & L Tribute "Legacy" 1975 Ovation Legend 1986 Ovation 1758 12 String 2007 Walden G2070 2008 Guild D55 Prototype 1998 Guild Starfire IV 2016 Guild Newark St. X-175 Sunburst 1996 Ovation 1768-7LTD " custom "
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#11
12-02-2013, 07:23 PM
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Quote:
No, I do not...
__________________
Larry Pattis on Spotify and Pandora LarryPattis.com American Guitar Masters 100 Greatest Acoustic Guitarists Steel-string guitars by Rebecca Urlacher and Simon Fay Classical guitars by Anders Sterner
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#12
12-02-2013, 07:34 PM
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That timeline sorta skips a lot between the mid-2000's and now where they unfortunately diluted and hosed up the Breedlove brand perception....
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#13
12-02-2013, 07:42 PM
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Breedlove
...........................
Last edited by PTC Bernie; 12-02-2013 at 07:50 PM.
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#14
12-02-2013, 08:55 PM
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Hmmm...
Trying to figure out if Larry didn't end up liking the instruments or .... something more political about the company/people. Probably reading too much into it.
__________________
2010 Guild F47R 2009 G & L Tribute "Legacy" 1975 Ovation Legend 1986 Ovation 1758 12 String 2007 Walden G2070 2008 Guild D55 Prototype 1998 Guild Starfire IV 2016 Guild Newark St. X-175 Sunburst 1996 Ovation 1768-7LTD " custom "
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#15
12-02-2013, 09:15 PM
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Quote:
Hey Larry, did ya actually own a guitar store or were you just seeing em from home?
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