I lived in Bend, Or. For 18 years. Used to teach skiing on Mt. Bachelor, and Breedlove had a corporate pass for their employees. Met many riding the lifts and my dream is to one day own one of their Bend made guitars.
They have a great crew down there in Bend. We’ve been many times, and helped people like yourself find that special bend made guitar whether it’s a custom guitar or a nice production guitar made in their shop.
Curious, do you supply your Chinese factory with Alaskan Sitka? I bought a $300 Breedlove a few years back that has a solid spruce top (I assume Sitka) with the most amazing Bearclaw figure I've ever seen, with perfect book matching which lines up the "claws" perfectly. I was also thinking this might be Pine beetle killed wood, but it looks just like bear claw to me? Any thoughts?
Breedlove actually uses the same woods for the overseas models as their USA production models. The grade is usually different but yes it’s from the same source in most cases. Bear claw is really just a growth anomaly in the spruce wood. It’s actually quite common, but you can get small variations of it in all types of spruces. There are of course some woods eta that have a massive large amount of it that is wild and almost flamed looking. These are beautiful examples of bear claw spruce
@@MusicWorldStores thanks for the informative reply! All I can say is that I am very surprised that whoever topped this guitar did not set this top aside and ask a supervisor about what to do with it?? It is truly the most exotic and beautiful bearclaw top I have ever seen! The normal grain is top notch too, with very tight even grain except at the last 3/4 inch or so towards the sides where it widens out a bit. Too bad I cant post a pic, as I know that some of the big time guys charge a super premium for heavy bearclaw and this is heaviest I've ever seen (been playing for 39 years FYI).So I'm surprised it didnt end up on a top notch USA Breedlove or at least top end Chinese. My guitar is the lowest grade I think, a Dicovery MP dread but it plays and sounds fantastic. Thx again!
@@RayPal1111 Its not a real bear claw mark, but certain spruce trees when cut on the quarter contain these "bearclaw" looking marks in the grain. I dont think anyone knows if it is genetic or how they develop, but a lot of people find them attractive and some say it is a sign of quality. They usually fetch a premium and are used in several makers high end guitars, often by request.
Density is mass over volume not wood over water. Specific gravity is the comparison of the density of water to the density of other substances - water having a specific gravity value of one. Sitka spruce has a specific gravity of less than one therefore it will float in water.
Correct! Although we consulted with Breedlove on how to simplify this illustration of wood density and this was the clearest “elementary” example we came up with. The slightest changes like the moisture content of the wood to be used would then changed the overall specific gravity of the wood. It wouldn’t be drastic as the wood is still the same species, but a wetter wood that has not gone through multiple stages of drying to desired MC would have different gravity reading than one that was at the target MC.
All of the footage that took place at Alaska Specialty Woods was shot by Breedlove during a wood procurement trip. The footage was supplied to us by Breedlove. Thanks!
Why so you talk about "harmonic"tonewood? Isn't the word "harmonic" used for describing musical things like intervals, chords, overtones? How could wood be harmonic, or non-harmonic?
Woods are capable of producing what we call “notes” or more accurately “frequencies” that we hear as sound. Harmonics make up specific frequencies through the overtone series by each note that is produced. The name “Harmonic Tonewoods” is a just a play on words that we thought sounded nice for a video series such as this one. There were more videos to be produced but it was delayed. More to come in the future.
@@MusicWorldStores That is not correct. Wood itself cannot produce "harmonics", you have to hit it, put a string on it etc. Every Material in the Universe has the same ability to create these overtones. There are allways harmonic and inharmonic overtones in the sound. Anyway, you are saying, that you try to find good wood for guitars, and that is fantastic.
@@MusicWorldStores Your video is very nice, your guitars are superbe !!! I never had a doubt about it ! Good wood is essentiell for good sounding guitars. I did not try, to criticize your product.
Wood is beautiful but doesn't bracing it reduce its flexibility? They thin the wood to make it vibrate better then they put braces all over it to keep it from vibrating. Weird. Like everything else; boats, planes, buildings, etc., Wood will ultimately be surpassed by another stronger lighter material which doesn't need bracing, just as vibrant or more so and which doesn't react to temperature or humidity. Hey, it already has been surpassed! Also, I don't know why strings are anchored on the soundboard. They should be anchored at the bottom of the guitar as in jazz boxes. Let the soundboard do its thing and not have to hold on the strings as well.
John Geddes, not quite sure what you are seeing in the video, there is no signal chain from plugging in directly to the guitar. All the playing examples were recorded on microphones, as you can clearly see in the video.
I lived in Bend, Or. For 18 years. Used to teach skiing on Mt. Bachelor, and Breedlove had a corporate pass for their employees. Met many riding the lifts and my dream is to one day own one of their Bend made guitars.
They have a great crew down there in Bend. We’ve been many times, and helped people like yourself find that special bend made guitar whether it’s a custom guitar or a nice production guitar made in their shop.
good density of information to water ratio in this vid
Ok if you say so. Those guitars do sound very good, as far as I can tell over TH-cam.
Curious, do you supply your Chinese factory with Alaskan Sitka? I bought a $300 Breedlove a few years back that has a solid spruce top (I assume Sitka) with the most amazing Bearclaw figure I've ever seen, with perfect book matching which lines up the "claws" perfectly. I was also thinking this might be Pine beetle killed wood, but it looks just like bear claw to me? Any thoughts?
Breedlove actually uses the same woods for the overseas models as their USA production models. The grade is usually different but yes it’s from the same source in most cases. Bear claw is really just a growth anomaly in the spruce wood. It’s actually quite common, but you can get small variations of it in all types of spruces. There are of course some woods eta that have a massive large amount of it that is wild and almost flamed looking. These are beautiful examples of bear claw spruce
@@MusicWorldStores thanks for the informative reply! All I can say is that I am very surprised that whoever topped this guitar did not set this top aside and ask a supervisor about what to do with it?? It is truly the most exotic and beautiful bearclaw top I have ever seen! The normal grain is top notch too, with very tight even grain except at the last 3/4 inch or so towards the sides where it widens out a bit. Too bad I cant post a pic, as I know that some of the big time guys charge a super premium for heavy bearclaw and this is heaviest I've ever seen (been playing for 39 years FYI).So I'm surprised it didnt end up on a top notch USA Breedlove or at least top end Chinese. My guitar is the lowest grade I think, a Dicovery MP dread but it plays and sounds fantastic. Thx again!
No problem! Glad you enjoy it!
Sean Grexa what the heck is a bear claw in the wood ?
@@RayPal1111 Its not a real bear claw mark, but certain spruce trees when cut on the quarter contain these "bearclaw" looking marks in the grain. I dont think anyone knows if it is genetic or how they develop, but a lot of people find them attractive and some say it is a sign of quality. They usually fetch a premium and are used in several makers high end guitars, often by request.
Love your acoustic tune at 5:17 - what tuning are you using?
Hi Fran - it’s just standard tuning, and the chord I played at 5:17 is just a B played open, so there’s a high E in the voicing. (Bsus)
This has been a torrifying experience
very nice :)
Density is mass over volume not wood over water. Specific gravity is the comparison of the density of water to the density of other substances - water having a specific gravity value of one. Sitka spruce has a specific gravity of less than one therefore it will float in water.
Correct! Although we consulted with Breedlove on how to simplify this illustration of wood density and this was the clearest “elementary” example we came up with. The slightest changes like the moisture content of the wood to be used would then changed the overall specific gravity of the wood. It wouldn’t be drastic as the wood is still the same species, but a wetter wood that has not gone through multiple stages of drying to desired MC would have different gravity reading than one that was at the target MC.
Might have been nice to give credit to Alaska Specialty Woods since you used their footage.
All of the footage that took place at Alaska Specialty Woods was shot by Breedlove during a wood procurement trip. The footage was supplied to us by Breedlove. Thanks!
When he's doing the fish bowl tests with the weights and bobber he looks like a head and pair of hands if it wasn't for the decals on his shirt lolooo
Why so you talk about "harmonic"tonewood? Isn't the word "harmonic" used for describing musical things like intervals, chords, overtones? How could wood be harmonic, or non-harmonic?
Woods are capable of producing what we call “notes” or more accurately “frequencies” that we hear as sound. Harmonics make up specific frequencies through the overtone series by each note that is produced. The name “Harmonic Tonewoods” is a just a play on words that we thought sounded nice for a video series such as this one. There were more videos to be produced but it was delayed. More to come in the future.
@@MusicWorldStores That is not correct. Wood itself cannot produce "harmonics", you have to hit it, put a string on it etc. Every Material in the Universe has the same ability to create these overtones. There are allways harmonic and inharmonic overtones in the sound.
Anyway, you are saying, that you try to find good wood for guitars, and that is fantastic.
@@andreasfetzer7559 once again it is just a play on words relating to guitars for this video series
@@MusicWorldStores Your video is very nice, your guitars are superbe !!! I never had a doubt about it ! Good wood is essentiell for good sounding guitars. I did not try, to criticize your product.
Wood is beautiful but doesn't bracing it reduce its flexibility? They thin the wood to make it vibrate better then they put braces all over it to keep it from vibrating. Weird. Like everything else; boats, planes, buildings, etc., Wood will ultimately be surpassed by another stronger lighter material which doesn't need bracing, just as vibrant or more so and which doesn't react to temperature or humidity. Hey, it already has been surpassed! Also, I don't know why strings are anchored on the soundboard. They should be anchored at the bottom of the guitar as in jazz boxes. Let the soundboard do its thing and not have to hold on the strings as well.
Tonewood showcase with piezos- not brilliant.
Hi John, thanks for watching, although not quite sure what you are implying. Can you clarify?
John Geddes, not quite sure what you are seeing in the video, there is no signal chain from plugging in directly to the guitar. All the playing examples were recorded on microphones, as you can clearly see in the video.
Tried to delete all but one reply but they came back. Maybe I’m just getting the ol yt comorsssion everyone talks about. Ciao!