Weber Hyalite vs. Breedlove Quartz

[Steve_R]

How do the Weber Hyalite and Breedlove Quartz OF
compare? Anyone play these? I'm trying to decide
between one of these and a Michael Kelly. I prefer
the A style of the Weber or Breedlove.

The Breedlove has maple back & sides with a very nice radiused fretboard & 1 3/16" width @ the nut. The Hyalite has a mahogany back & sides with a flat fretboard & 1 1/8" nut width.IMHO the Breedlove has much better playability.

[ira]

don't own, but have played both a few times, and you can't go wrong.
here are my 2:
surprisingly as i like a radius and big frets as well as, a wider fret board, the hyalite played like a dream to me, and the breedlove was certainly decent, but not quite as good.
tone and volume: the breedlove has the weber for volume hands down, as the mahogany doesn't project as well. however, the tone of the hyalite was sweeeeeeeeet as sugar. among the most beautiful sounds i have heard on a mando. i understand-though i may be wrong- that they will make the hyalite in maple for you, but i'm not sure what that would sound like.

as i said you can't go wrong. truly depends on your ear and type of music. if you do folk, celtic and the like- especially if you are amplified go hyalite, if you want a well rounded instrument that can cut through and sing sweetly- the breedlove, if you have scroll envy - go mk, lots of folks love em, and it is financially, a great deal for what you get. good luck

[pickinNgrinnin]

Both are nice Mandos. Not a real apples to apples kind of comparison though since the material are different. However, it's hard to beat Weber's customer service. The Weber comes with a hardshell case and unfortunately, the Breedlove comes with a grocery, er..gig bag.

[acumando]

i have a d-hole hyalite with the mahogany back that really sang straight from the get-go -- very open, resonant sound, nice bottom end, great sustain. #i just tried a breedlove oo on approval that i didn't like as much, so i sent it back. #the neck did feel nice, and they are very nicely built, but i thought the sound was much thinner and tighter, volume seemed less too. #just my experience, YMMV, two others of the same make could give different results.

new hyalites are more expensive than new quartzes, however -- i got my hyalite at a pretty deep discount. for the price, the quartz is a good deal.

you might also email howard morris, he had an a5 on ebay recently which he priced @$795 IIRC.