This is a highly customized Breedlove Pacific. This instrument was built as
a custom order for one of my customers, but he has since decided to thin the
herd a little (as I think we all do at some point, although I often find that
with both myself and my customers and friends, the herd tends to get thicker
again within a year!) But I digress... the bottom line on this guitar is that
it's a top-notch Pacific with some very cool upgrades. First, you'll notice
a top of stunning Bearclaw Spruce. The silking pattern is striking - there
are beautiful, diagonal wiggles of silking that seem to converge on the bottom
side of the soundhole. And since we're now at the soundhole, let's talk about
the Abalone rosette. Hand-picked by the customer, the Abalone used for the
rosette and purfling is some of the sparkliest, multi-colored shell I've seen
- really beautiful. The back and sides are of quilted Maple - again, a particularly
gorgeous set of AAAA/Master Grade wood. It's on fire. The binding is Bloodwood
- an excellent choice, one of my favorite Breedlove bindings. This is a cross-grade
from the Koa bind on the standard Pacific. And the nut and saddle are of Fossilized
Walrus Ivory. Finally, the guitar is finished in an absolutely spectacular
sunburst finish - this was another aspect of the appointments list that the
original owner paid close attention to. And for his trouble, he got an amazing
finish - from dark and mysterious to light and lively, and back again. Overall,
this guitar sports a simply fantastic feature set - no expense spared.
This guitar has a terrific tone - clear and focused, as I have come to expect
with Maple-backed Breedloves (my first ever Breedlove was a C1 in quilted
Maple - they do wonderful things with this wood.) The sound is almost bell-like,
with excellent string-t0-string clarity. While this guitar looks like it should
be played all day in delicate fingerstyle, it's actually a great guitar to
play with your favorite plectrum - you'll be delighted by the substantial
volume and projection you get from this instrument. Just super!
This instrument is in fantastic condition. The things keeping it from mint
are basically mild play wear - some light but even pick marks on the treble
side, some tiny marks on the top near the tail (possibly the brushing of a
sleeve button on the instrument.) There is also a tiny, thin finish lift on
body over the binding, just to the bass side of the neck. It is minute. I
am very picky about describing condition, and I can assure you that you have
to look very closely to see these things.
