Breedlove ff vs rigel a+

[RobP]

Hey Gang,

I have been playing a Rigel A+deluxe as my workhorse for the past 5 years. Love it. Plays great, sounds great.

Anyways, the talk and photos of the breedlove ff are tempting me. I seem to have a thing for the non-traditionsl. I would love to do an A/B with the Rigel, but I can't find one local. I have heard one or 2 over the phone, but hard to judge too much from that.

Can any of you compare the breedlove ff w/the rigel A+? Chops etc.

Thanks

Rob

[John Hill]

I had an A+ for a long time (but was several mandolins ago...) and now own a FF. My A+ was a rather quiet mando and had a sweet tone so it wasn't suited to covering many musical bases (I'm sure others will have different opinions about their Rigels). But my FF is a great little beast with nice chop and plenty of volume, growls when needed and has a nice tone that is a musical chameleon. I love it and would not hesitate to recommend one...I just wish mine had the built-in pickup. A steal for the $.

[wichitamando]

I recently purchased an FF and I love it. Great tone and plenty of volume. Very good playability. The wider nut and thicker neck took me a little while to get used to, but it feels very comfortable now. (I picked up my Kentucky the other day and thought the strings were too close together...) The Mandolin Store added an internal K&K pickup with an endpin jack and it works great. You can get a factory installed Shertler too.

I've played an A+ once in a store. Great tone and very loud. I really liked it. I hear the pickups are awesome too.

I don't think you could go wrong either way.

[RobP]

Ok now I have a Breedlove ff in hand to do some comparisons. I have 2 days to decide if I want to keep it. I have one with a red spruce top.

So far all I can say is that they are like 2 different people talking to me. Hard to decide which one is "better". One plus for the breedlove so far is that I can drive it pretty hard way up the neck with good sound. The rigel gets a little soft up around fret 7. Not sure how much setup influences that though.

Well I will play for a few hours and report back. If I can figure out how to post them maybe I can share some sound clips of both.

Cheers

Rob

[RobP]

Well, I finished my evaluation and decided to keep the new breedlove. It has a different sound than the Rigel for sure - a little punchier on the chop and a bit stronger way up the neck. The Rigel still sounds very good, its just that I think the Breedlove suits my current playing style a bit better. Mixed emotions tough - the Rigel has been my friend for 5 years. Maybe the topic of a separate post.

Cheers,

Rob