Breedlove Guitars at the 500-600 price pont.

PeterHall

Folks, 

I'm looking to spend about 600 pounds on a new acoustic. I have been impressed by Breedlove. Sadly, none of my local shops have them in stock-but can order.

What is the general opinion?

I can visit a Breedlove dealer(which is a 21/2 drive(I live in the Netherlands and there are not that many shops.

I mainly finger pick, but do regularly play chords.A smaller bodied acoustic would be fine.

Musicwolf

I've had my Breedlove AC/25 SM for coming up to 20 years now.  I've been very happy with it, but I'm not really acoustic player (in fact I've just run my finger over it and you could almost write your name in the dust).

PeterHall

I'm mainly a SG guy. I'm 60 soon,so I fancy a birthday present

Epsilon

I think they're very good in that price range. Higher up my list would be Eastman though. 

PeterHall

Thanks for this. I will take a look

Tannin

Breedloves in that price range are Eastmans. I have never seen one; the Americans don't seem to be all that impressed by them but I'd want to try for myself before forming an opinion.

Epsilon

Tannin said:

Breedloves in that price range are Eastmans. I have never seen one; the Americans don't seem to be all that impressed by them but I'd want to try for myself before forming an opinion.

Not sure I understand that sentence. Are you saying they are the same because in the 500-600 range they will be 'import' guitars rather than US?

 Or that they are made in the same factory? I don't think they are, though stand open to being corrected. 

It's true that a lot of people (particularly in the US) feel very let down at Breedlove going down the mass manufacturing route and diluting the brand-name, having once been an exclusive and boutique US-based operation.

Tannin

Cheers @Epsilon - Breedlove still make small-volume, high-quality guitars in Oregon. They cost a lot - at a guess maybe $3000 USD, or perhaps $5000. 

These days they also sell guitars mostly made by Eastman in China but with a Breedlove badge and a much, much lower price. At 500-600 (pounds or dollars) they could only be the Chinese ones. Actual made-in-Oregon Breedloves cost 5 or 10 times that much.

Epsilon

Tannin said:

Cheers @Epsilon - Breedlove still make small-volume, high-quality guitars in Oregon. They cost a lot - at a guess maybe $3000 USD, or perhaps $5000. 

These days they also sell guitars mostly made by Eastman in China but with a Breedlove badge and a much, much lower price. At 500-600 (pounds or dollars) they could only be the Chinese ones. Actual made-in-Oregon Breedloves cost 5 or 10 times that much.

Thanks Tannin. I'm pretty familiar with Breedloves across the US, Korean and Chinese models; but had never heard of the Chinese models being manufactured by Eastman. In fact I hadn't heard of Eastman manufacturing guitars for any other brands other than the partnership they have with Bourgeouis. Do you have a source on that? One of the big Eastman claims is that they don't use CNC machines, which would presumably make it impracticable to build others' designs. My info might be out of date though.

Certainly the import Breedloves I've played share no construction or finish similarities with Eastmans I've tried and owned, but open to being wrong on that.

Tannin

Doh! 

Breedlove Bourgois ... two small American makers which both start with "B". I mixed them up!

drofluf

Tannin said:

Doh! 

Breedlove Bourgois ... two small American makers which both start with "B". I mixed them up!

Let’s just hope you ordered the right guitar when you were down in Devon….

Jalapeno

Got a 2nd hand Breedlove Passport OM/Mme (mahogany) from the for-sale here for ISTR £250 or so.  It's been great !

lincolnblue

I have a Korean made Atlas AC25 SR Plus  from 2004 and love it. It was their affordable range (was about £800-900 I think) and for an all solid wood guitar it was great value. It's my no1 acoustic. I don't know how their current range are but if it's anything like mine, I'd highly recommend

PhilKing

I have a Persuit EX which is a Chinese made Breedlove, but it is my "couch" guitar and is very nice to play.  I also have an Atlas bass, which does feel a bit better, so if you can find an Atlas I would go for it, though the Persuit is very nice and I got mine on sale so the price was good (btw, I have expensive acoustics that I could use, but go to the Breedlove more than them).

PC_Dave

There is a Breedlove Stage C250/CK for sale on Facebook marketplace (no affiliation with the seller, just remembered seeing the advert)

I think he’s got it on for £600