Cool Breedlove story

[HAMFIST]

Hey y'all ... just taking a break from working through a bunch of tunes out of the fake book -- old swing stuff -- with my limited edition Breedlove C20-SMYR.



This is essentially the C20-SMYE with a few special appointments, one of 24 they made.

I have had the guitar for a while, and it is stellar. The one issue with it had to do with an imbalance in volume between the high E and B strings and the rest of the guitar while plugged in via the L.R. Baggs dual source pickup system. Unplugged, balance is fine. A while ago, the guitar tech at Hartland Music where I bought the thing (and study with a really great player) split the saddle for me, and that helped quite a bit. But it was still not perfect. So I consulted Breedlove. Yes, you can get someone knowledgeable on the phone there.

I guess some of the Oregon series has had this issue, and they were able to get me an answer directly from Lloyd Baggs. Lloyd suggested just sticking a little bit of electrical tape under the pickup transducer beneath the two affected strings. That is what the tech did (free, since I get a year of bench time with an instrument puchase). The tech also got on the phone with Breedlove, and confirmed the exact approach from Lloyd. I also had him install a bone saddle from Bob Colosi, which the tech said was the hardest piece of bone he has yet encountered (no crude jokes, please -- this is a family forum).

I went to pick the guitar up, plugged it in to give it a test and ... OH SNAP! The string balance is dialed in just fine, thank you very much. The guitar was always very resonant, but now it feels like the back vibrates more than it did before. I am about to knock the strings off and install a fresh set of D'Addario EXP16s. That ought to wake the thing up even more, as the strings are currently a tad dead. I love me some fresh strings. The guitar does not sound quite as dark and complex as it did with the old saddle, and I am wondering to what extent that has to do with psychoacoustics, how much has to do with old strings that have had tension taken off them for a while (during the work on the saddle and pickup) and how much may be due to the new saddle material.

Anyway, just wanted to send some props out to the folks at Breedlove for being easy to get a hold of, offering great tech support and making just a killer, killer instrument.

[HAMFIST]

Threw on a new set of D'Addario EXP11s and the complexity is back. And it comes through just fine when amplified.

[Oldguy64]

I love Breedlove guitars.
Every one I've played has impressed me.
I used to hand Passport series guitars to guys at GC to try out when I was in there playing my way thru the inventory.
I stopped that cause they kept buying them out from under me!

Enjoy!!

[HAMFIST]

I just think it is cool that guitar manufacturers can be this accessible and easy to deal with.

Breedlove. Larrivee. Two quality organizations. Got some good feelings for both right now, but my Breedlove is the flagship guitar as of this moment.