Breedlove WebLog

In this picture, Gary Flaherty takes a break from stringing up the very first Breedlove Mark II electric guitar, and holds it up for an audience gathering outside his window. This is actually the very first of a small batch of Mark II instruments that we’re building for the Winter NAMM show. What does the front of this new instrument look like, you ask? Well, you’re going to have to wait just a little longer to find out…

Kudos to Mr. Sam Aiello, our intrepid sales representative for the western U.S., for finding this nugget within the pages of OK Magazine. Apparently, Gary Dourdan, an actor on the juggernaut procedural crime drama CSI, not only enjoys playing acoustic guitar and other stringed instruments, but is also the owner of a Breedlove CM Classic. The article features a cool shot of Gary with his kids and his CM. Thank heaven for the unmistakable body shape of this guitar, because for some reason, headstocks usually don’t make it within the final cropped borders of magazine shots like this. According to wikipedia, Gary will be playing Phil Lynott in an upcoming biopic about the Thin Lizzy frontman… which is pretty cool by itself.

Page ©2007 OK! Magazine (reproduced from November 5th issue)

A theremin brought in by string-up tech Billy Mikelson turned out to be a popular distraction yesterday. Here, Breedlove’s Gary Flaherty does his best to not sound like a cat in pain, while Head Inspection/Quality Manager Dod Mohr looks on, patiently awaiting his turn. Unfortunately, I do not have any audio to accompany this post.

On a recent walk through the Custom Shop, this new species was identified - first ever Breedlove Revival D to be built with a cutaway.

This recurring weblog feature is called “What’s Kim Up To?”, and it will feature regular peeks into Kim Breedlove’s workshop, so we can all find out what he’s been working on. As you might imagine, there is a considerable backlog of material that can be aired here, so we’ll have a combination of current and ‘historical’ “WKU2″ posts.

This week, we find Kim doing some final detailing on the binding of a very special Kim Breedlove Private Reserve mandolin built for Ron Morrow. Ron’s FF features an inlay that is part of a three-instrument triptych. As you can see, it also features some spectacular Myrtlewood, and some very fine luthiery. This image was actually shot in mid-October. You can see more pictures of this instrument inside the Breedlove Gallery, and it is also featured in the 2008 Breedlove Calendar.

A few weeks back, Breedlove’s Gary Flaherty found a bit of Breedlove history in the bottom of a cabinet drawer. Gary is himself a big part of Breedlove’s history, having worked continuously for Breedlove since the very early 90’s. What Gary found was a Breedlove brochure - actually, the very first Breedlove brochure ever. He happened to find a very well preserved copy in the bottom of a drawer, and brought it to me to archive. Gary added that he remembered that this particular brochure was a large part of the communications effort at the time, and it was a bit of a big deal for the company.

The brochure is a tri-fold design, with a folded size of 11″ tall by 5 3/4″ wide (17 1/4″ wide when opened/flat.) It features images of some very cool early Breedloves, including first generation C1s, a couple of RD “Rounded Dreadnoughts”, and of course, the unmistakable CM.

And so, I am pleased to kick off the new Breedlove weblog by sharing with you…

The First Ever Breedlove Brochure (PDF, 1 MB)

Please do not write or call requesting your own copy of this rather rare brochure. I’ve only seen the one, and it’s staying here!