Breedlove Crossover Mandolins are beginning to ship to dealers

[Folkmusician.com]

I just received shipping notification from Breedlove. The Crossover Mandolins are inbound now. :)

No additional information other than that. We will soon see how they stack up.

[telepbrman]

Thanks for the update...dy.

[Pasha Alden]

Hi Robert Fear - do excuse my ignorance
Crossover Breedlove mandolin?

[Markus]

Let us know what you think, Robert.

[allenhopkins]

Hi Robert Fear - do excuse my ignorance
Crossover Breedlove mandolin?

Breedlove is introducing a line of Asian-made instruments, in addition to their US-made mandolins. Lengthy recent discussion. (http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/showthread.php?96850-Chinese-Breedloves&highlight=breedlove)

[Pasha Alden]

Hi Allen
many thanks. That makes sense. I was thinking we have a hybrid between a mandolin and something else. I certainly missed that discussion. I will be sure to read it.

[9lbShellhamer]

These crossover models will or will not have a radiused fretboard? my understanding was no, but maybe i'm wrong?

I can't wait to play one... I'm curious how it will compare with the Eastman 505 and 315? (and how it compares to the Breedlove OF model...) The Eastmans only being $100 more and offering a radiused board... (and the 505 offering even more upgrades as its an A shape)

Excited.

[multidon]

I have seen some of the specs on these. They have a radius rosewood fret board. Solid carved top with laminated maple back and sides. Bound top and back I believe. Carbon fiber "truss rod" which is just a neck stiffener and not adjustable. Gig bag included not hard case. Available in all black or natural f holes or oval so four different ways. Not sure how they came up with the Crossover moniker. Perhaps it is being marketed to players of other fretted instruments who want to try mandolin with spending a fortune. Breedloves have been popular with doubling guitarists because of the radius board large frets and wide nut. It appears these will also have those characteristics. To me the hardest sell is going to be the laminate construction when you can have an all carved Kentucky in the same price range. Of course those have more traditional specs. I am very curious about the sound. If they have an acceptable tone they could make a good and sturdy beater for outdoor gigs and such. I doubt the bluegrass crowd will give these even a passing glance.

[shortymack]

I can't wait to play one... I'm curious how it will compare with the Eastman 505 and 315?

Excited.

I dont really see how a laminated b/s model can compete with any all solid hand carved offering at the same price. If they sound better than my 315 I will eat my headstock, lol.

[9lbShellhamer]

I dont really see how a laminated b/s model can compete with any all solid hand carved offering at the same price. If they sound better than my 315 I will eat my headstock, lol.

I definitely just assumed they were all solid! When even a $300 Kentucky is all solid I figured the korean Breedlove would be.

Hmmnn...Even though there are some good laminates out there, I am definitely stuck on solid wood unless its a travel instrument which flies a lot or needs laminate for whatever reason...hmmn.

I'm disappointed now. Buzzkill

[eastman_315]

Hmmnn...Even though there are some good laminates out there, I am definitely stuck on solid wood unless its a travel instrument which flies a lot or needs laminate for whatever reason...hmmn.In general, I would agree with you. I must add, though, that sometimes laminates sound pretty good for the $s. I did buy my laminate Voyage-Air VAOM-2 guitar strictly for travel & boating, but I have to admit it holds its own in the rotation among my 3 guitars, the Voyage-Air & 2 Martins. :-) Yes, I was pleasantly surprised.

Frank

[foldedpath]

If I was shopping for a mandolin in this price range, the laminated back and sides would bother me much less than the lack of a truss rod.

It's one thing to buy a non-rod, carbon reinforced neck when it's coming from a high-end, small shop luthier who will stand behind it with a lifetime warranty. But an instrument in this price range? If they're aiming this at guitar players wanting to get into mandolin, then most of those guitar players are used to instruments having a truss rod. It's irrelevant whether the carbon rod actually immobilizes the neck for the life of the instrument. Some people like to tweak their own neck relief, and others just like seeing a truss rod on the feature list "just in case."

Well, I hope it's successful anyway. I'm a fan of the company, and an owner of a custom-order 4-string Breedlove mandola.

[Folkmusician.com]

Well, I have to say.... The box design is great!

108086
Images and quick first impressions coming shortly.

[Folkmusician.com]

108089
We don't have the "good" camera at the shop today...

Here are some "phone shots"

108087
108088

These appear to be unique mandolins. I don't recognize any similarities between the Crossover and the other imports. So they are not a rebranded cookie cutter mando. The workmanship is very clean for an import. None of those fit and finish flaws that we are used to seeing on our $500ish mandolins. The necks are consistent. I have 6 here and all of the necks have identical relief. It looks like the reenforced neck is working well. It is interesting in that the necks are cut from a single block of wood, then cut into three pieces (I assume for the reenforcement), then glued back together. Speaking of the neck, it has a little more depth to it compared to the other Breedlove Mandolins. So "Crossover" does at least mean, "larger neck". The tuners are fine and the post holes are all consistently lined up. Again, something that I am not used to seeing on mandolins in this price range. I like the look of the cast tailpiece and it is of good quality.

How does it sound?
They did a good job of pulling off the Breedlove voicing with these. It isn't quite there with the higher models, but they are good sounding instruments. They do not sound laminated and I'll go on the record right now. These are flat out better sounding instruments than the vast majority of all solid mandolins in the price range. If no one told you, and you didn't try to match the grain on the inner and outer surface of the back, you wouldn't know that this had any laminated woods.

What I don't like. It would have been great to have some flamed maple on the back. Since the back is laminated, it would be doable. I am not sure about the color of stain used. It doesn't look bad, isn't my favorite though. I wish it had an adjustable truss rod (I don't see a problem with movement, but I would like to be able to set the relief I want). The neck is larger than average... I don't personally mind this and if they are targeting Guitar players, it may be perfect. They do not include a case from Breedlove. Off the top of my head, that is really about it. I am actually very pleased with the quality for the money.

[roysboy]

thanks so much for the in depth breakdown of these new Breedloves, Robert.....interesting that tone-wise you found them as good or better than most solid wood models in the price range .....

[Marty Jacobson]

Robert, can you comment on whether they are carved or flat tops? They look pretty flat from here. Maybe they just don't have a recurve... not a bad thing necessarily. I'm just curious.

[Ron McMillan]

A curious set of marketing initiatives from the Breedlove people. Robert's point that these mandolins sound as good as or better than solid mandolins in the same price bracket is well taken - but how many people are going to hear him before they start considering their next budget purchase?

Reasonably well-informed buyers are going to compare the specs to the competition, and two elements of the Crossover specs are going to be automatic 'walk away' factors. No adjustable truss rod and the use of 'laminated' woods - the posh term for plywood, folks.

If I was in the market at this price level I'd walk straight past these and head for the competitors that use solid woods and include a truss rod, a set-up/fine tuning tool that has been recognised as vital to such instruments for a century already.

ron

[pheffernan]

Reasonably well-informed buyers are going to compare the specs to the competition, and two elements of the Crossover specs are going to be automatic 'walk away' factors. No adjustable truss rod and the use of 'laminated' woods - the posh term for plywood, folks. If I was in the market at this price level I'd walk straight past these and head for the competitors that use solid woods and include a truss rod, a set-up/fine tuning tool that has been recognised as vital to such instruments for a century already.

I don't think they're aimed at the informed mandolinist on a budget, though. They're crossover instruments for guitarists who might see them hanging at national chain stores. They have brand recognition with that audience and features, such as the wider nut, to ease the transition between instruments. If they leave Breedlove with any kind of setup, then I can see how someone coming from a rock background would choose to take one home over a Kentucky 250 or The Loar 520 on the same wall. Honestly, the lack of an adjustable truss rod was not an issue for me on my first (or second) mandolin, and while the laminate would have been, that doesn't seem to stop people from buying an awful lot of Seagulls at those stores.

[Folkmusician.com]

Robert, can you comment on whether they are carved or flat tops? . These do have an archtop and back.


It will be a hard sale with the laminated back and sides, at least for online shoppers. In person, these really stand apart from the field. There is no other mandolin at the price point that has went this route where we have really clean workmanship at the expense of specs. It is always the other way around.... All solid, hand carved, nitro finish, gold plating, massive inlays, etc. then cut corners in the fit and finish to hit the price point.

[Steve L]

Breedlove doesn't seem to aim at the "traditional minded" buyer as their guitars don't look like Martins and their mandolins don't look like Gibsons. They seem to offer things for people seeking "something else". A laminated top would be a walk away for me, but not laminated back and sides. The carbon re-enforced non-adjustable neck would be okay with me as well. What I'd be looking for at this price point would be a balance of tone, playability, and value which, from my experience with the Quartz mandolins and the Atlas guitars, Breedlove is good at providing.

I'm a non-bluegrass player and I've played a number of Eastmans and The Loars and didn't care for the sound of any of them, though I thought the workmanship/ value equation was good. If I were shopping at the $500 mark, these Breedloves would be some of the first things I'd look at.

[roysboy]

Breedlove doesn't seem to aim at the "traditional minded" buyer as their guitars don't look like Martins and their mandolins don't look like Gibsons. They seem to offer things for people seeking "something else". A laminated top would be a walk away for me, but not laminated back and sides. The carbon re-enforced non-adjustable neck would be okay with me as well. What I'd be looking for at this price point would be a balance of tone, playability, and value which, from my experience with the Quartz mandolins and the Atlas guitars, Breedlove is good at providing.

I'm a non-bluegrass player and I've played a number of Eastmans and The Loars and didn't care for the sound of any of them, though I thought the workmanship/ value equation was good. If I were shopping at the $500 mark, these Breedloves would be some of the first things I'd look at.

I think I'd agree with Steve L's comments above. I recently played a handful of Kentucky F's Michael Kelly A's and F's , couple of Eastmans - all under the 6-700 dollar range and ended up purchasing one of the new Kentucky Km 150 A's ....it just had a better sound than all the others mentioned , in my opinion , (with the possible exception of the Eastman MD 315 F) at 1/3 the price . Plays beautifully too. I'd be VERY curious about the sound and playability of these new Breedloves at that price

[Astro]

I like the look of the body , although proportionally, the headstock looks too big.

I dont mind laminate back and sides on entry level to get the price down as it has minimal effect on sound and is more durable for camping and travel. But it does weigh more too so I would still prefer all solid if other factors (volume, tone, and price) were equal.

The truss rod issue is more troubling. In a 200 dollar camping mando I'd say what the heck. If it lasts a few years, fine. In a 500 dollar home or gigging mando, I'd have to pass.

[Stone soup]

JUst can't seem to get excited about these, I never really liked the Atlas guitar either, took it back and got a taylor. The crossover is a good idea but looks like it was executed wrong. There's too many other imports that are a better deal.

[Mike Arakelian]

I had a chance to see and play a crossover Breedlove today and pretty much agree with what Robert Fear has had to say. The store that I visited had just received several of these and had not taken them out of their boxes yet, and did so at my request. The box is very well designed to protect the Mando in shipment.

The fit and finish is pretty darn good, and IMO, better than The Loar 400 that I compared it to. The sound is also good, but not nearly as good as the Breedlove OF VTG that I played right after it. The downside is that it's really a PLAIN JANE! I doubt that many people will ever buy this instrument for its looks. It needs something to give it a little pizzazz, and just doesn't have it. Straight out of the box, it sounded and played nicely. The salesman told me that the instruments are shipped from Asia to Oregon and that Breedlove sets them up before boxing them and sending them to the dealers. The intonation was good and it played easily up and down the board.

For around $500 it makes a pretty nice starter Mando, but If I were looking for something in this price range I'd have to play and compare some Other instruments and decide how I felt about the looks, fit & finish and sound of each before I decided. It's not, IMO, a slam dunk.:mandosmiley:

[shortymack]

Every laminated guitar I have ever played, while some may have sounded good, I can always tell the lack of complexity/depth in their tone. Not sure how mandos are different. Although I know Robert knows his stuff I still find it hard to believe that they sound as good if not better than other all solid comparable carved offerings. They definitely arent the prettiest girls at the dance thats for sure and even if they do sound good, that will end up hurting sales in the long run at 500 bucks a pop sans case.

[Markus]

Given that they give a setup in Oregon before releasing them, I would think this might be a mandolin that does very well with the giant online vendors who will finally be able to ship a budget mandolin without needing to open the case.

For the Musician Friend and Amazon world, their lack of setup would not matter and one of these ordered anywhere could be assumed to play nice. I'm not sure one would get the same result buying the lowest price eBay/Amazon new Loar or Kentucky of the same price range.

[Mike Arakelian]

I think you're right about the big box stores and Amazon as outlets for this crossover. It's definitely not a blue grass instrument, and I don't think the BG'ers will be attracted to it. I failed to mention that it does have a wide nut, radiused board and cast tail piece. These are all pluses, but I'm not sure that these features would win me over.

[shortymack]

So after hearing the soundbite at TMS of the BL, the headstock on my Eastman is safe. Sounds pretty good but not better than my 315 IMO. I know it would be different in person but considering I payed the same for my Eastie new, better sound, looks, and a strap hanger to boot, not even close for me IMHO keeping all that in mind.

Its great to have another quality offering to choose from for those on a limited budget though. I'm still skeptical however about how its going to fare against a KM505 or a MD305, for example, in that same price bracket.

[Garyinboston]

Hi There,

This mandolin has me intrigued..........

The wider nut / radius neck very much appeal to me

I am not a blue grass player so the oval hole would be my choice probably

A question though.

Could the small Fishman acoustic pickup fit the oval hole ?

If so this could be another plus for my needs

Any help always great

Thanks,

Gary