Even a rainy October day can't take the shine off of a tricked-out, hydraulically expandable bus-of-love like this! If you see it rolling your way, give it a wave, it is chock full of goodies and has a way of getting around. Colin says he'll be going all the way out to Bangor, Maine before he heads home. Inside the bus, Cream City staff and customers were shown some very exotic guitars, one with a highly figured back and sides made of a wood called (forgive me if I get this wrong) "ziricote." Another from Australian blackwood. Breedlove prides itself on the quality of materials and craftsmanship. They have their contemporary models and the more traditional designs, which they do beautifully. Here are two likely suspects, Brian Douglas, of Cream City Music on the left, and Colin, happily picking away. Brian is playing a Master Class C-20 Custom... thus the smile.
Joe Gallenberger, owner of Cream City Music, (along with his wife Jessi) tried out the Quartz FF Mando and liked it a lot. Really, what's not to like about any Breedlove? They put a lot of love into each instrument. In fact, Colin spent 5 years building them and was tapped for bus duty when the bosses noticed how much he loved explaining the painstaking process of creating a Breedlove. Eloquent Colin and Joe had time to sit for this informal portrait, Joe is holding the aforementioned beauty, with classic lines reminiscent of the F-styles from early last century. Smile boys!
Breedlove has been building electric guitars for some time now,with the Mark I, Mark II and Mark IV, (No explanation for the mysteriously missing Mark III, we figure it exists on the 13th floor of Breedlove Building!) All custom shop models have chambered bodies and necks and electronics to die for. You, the customer call the shots, in essence building your own dream guitar. You choose everything - the color, the pickups, and should you want it, an f-hole or a Roland-ready synth pickup. John Majdalani (below) in the master bedroom, gazes across a amazing array of nice electrics, with a couple mandos thrown in for good measure. This would be a hard bus to sleep on, the temptation to play music would have to be overwhelming!
One more for the road, here's Johnny, (again!) cradling a very sweet, Mark I Pacific. Every guitar we picked up and played was a dream - Thank you Colin and Breedlove for making a gloomy Friday in October a little more tolerable. Stop in anytime and experience what we did, an amazing playing experience with a great looking, well crafted guitar - Breedlove is here to stay and word is definitely getting out.
More Breedlove! This soon to be classic, from earlier last year, a gripping account of two young men searching for the holy guitar-grail in a land even further west than Iowa!
GO WEST YOUNG MEN!
Brian and Andrew travel from Cream City to wilds of Oregon to learn how Breedlove Guitars are lovingly crafted.
Kim Breedlove, Brian Douglas and Andrew Feller at the Breedlove factory.
Brian plays the orbital sander.
Brian's Tale
Deep in the heart of central
In early October,
The fruits of this journey are now on their way to Cream City Music. Brian and Andy chose a wide variety of hand-built custom acoustics in various body shapes and built with exquisitely figured tone wood combinations that not only stimulate the eyes but capture the ear and imagination. These instruments are conduits of creative expression in the truest sense. In addition to the customs on the way, they also hand-picked more beautiful pieces of raw wood that will be crafted into new instruments and be on the way as early as January ’09. In addition to Breedlove’s customs, Cream City Music is also stocking their new Atlas series of guitars that capture all of the Breedlove sound and vibe at a price that anyone can afford. Be sure to stop in our store and check out our incredible selection of instruments and let Brian and Andy show you what makes Breedlove such a special ‘breed’ of instrument.
Andrew, fingers still intact, threatend to put his fingerprint on a guitar in the drying room.Andrew's Tale
Breedlove is located in the beautiful town of
The next morning Brian and Andrew headed straight to the shop. Every Monday the crew starts with an all hands meeting to discuss the goals for the week ahead. During this meeting the crew interacted more like a family then a team. This showed our guys how much they really care about delivering the best possible guitars to each customer. Once the meeting adjourned the guys met Jason Bowermen. He is one of the master luthiers and is head of design under Kim. Jason gave a full tour of the place, explaining step by step what goes into each guitar.
There are four design elements that sum up every guitar that carries the Breedlove name. They are: eye, ear, hand, and heart. The eye is basically the look of the guitar. They don’t just want to build a guitar; they want to build a beautiful instrument. The ear is how it sounds. Does the guitar sing like an angel? The hand element relates to the comfort and feel of the guitar while playing. This combines the first two elements to make everything work together in harmony. The functionality of a guitar is very important because if it is beautiful, sings like an angel, but you do feel good playing it then why would you. Lastly there is heart. Breedlove loves everything they do. Their passion for their instruments can be seen and they make sure that every Breedlove is something they are proud of.
In Breedlove’s American shop every top of every guitar is hand shaped according to each individual piece of wood. The design concept is to have a longer and thinner top on the bass side to create an overall balanced sound. Breedlove also use a JLD bridge truss system that ensures stability of the top wood, but also allows it to be thin enough to resonate to its full potential.
Another unique thing about Breedlove is their use of Myrtle wood. This is a native tone wood to
Our boys sure had a lot of fun and learned so much for a very dedicated group of people. The folks at Breedlove shared their passion for creating some of the most beautiful, in sound and aesthetic, instruments available today. So be sure to stop in our showroom and check out some of these works of art.
And Even More Award Winning photos!
Oregon, no mistaking it for the flatlands of Wisconsin!
Cutting out a back
Clamping the sides.
Looks like it turned out!
C&C machine, more commonly known as a robot, carving a neck. Real humans put on the finishing touches.
Looking real good, about halway there.
Andrew tries his hand at hammering in a fret.
Brian traces a back for a custom made model for Cream City Music.
Great looking piece of wood, nice tracing Brian!
A place for everything, everything in its place. Aren't you glad they're organized?
When in Oregon, make sure you see at least one waterfall!
Our triumphant reporters pose for the Oregon papparazzi.