Here is a very special Breedlove mandolin indeed... a "K5", serial
number 007 - the 7th Breedlove mandolin ever built. The K5 model went on to
become the Breedlove Cascade mandolin. This is a pre-production instrument,
and as such was completely hand-made, built and finished mostly by Kim Breedlove,
with Kim's close oversight of any processes he was not handling directly.
Basically, this is a really choice piece - a great player, but also from a
historical standpoint, a terrific mandolin for any discriminating Breedlove
collector.
This instrument was originally purchased by a collector with a number of interesting
Breedlove instruments in his stable. He decided to sell because he never played
it, and wished to get another Breedlove guitar - so it was traded in to Breedlove
against that new purchase. Prior to arrival at Imagine Guitars, Breedlove
upgraded all of the instrument hardware to Master Class, as follows. First,
the butterbean tailpiece was upgraded to the gold Monteleone tailpiece pictured.
Second, the tuners were upgraded to gold. And the original silver bridge adjustment
wheels were removed and replaced with gold ones. Finally, this K5 was given
a complete factory inspection and set-up.
To look at, this mandolin is a work of art. The sunburst finish is more subtle
than that found on current Cascade models, and gives the instrument a warm,
even glow. As a player's instrument, it's a great sounding mandolin - punchy
and resonant, with a traditional tone thanks to tonebar bracing and some very
attentive voicing during construction. And it could use some playing, I'd
say - it barely saw any action while sitting in the relative quiet of the
aforementioned private collection, and so it feels as new as it looks. So
you could buy this instrument for investment purposes, knowing that you're
picking up an extremely rare and very early Breedlove in pristine condition...
or you can buy it to play it day in and day out, and enjoy the unique pleasure
of hearing this beauty open up a bit more, knowing that you are playing something
truly unique and rare.
