Breedlove converts to sustainable materials in eco guitar range

Irene Dong

Irene Dong

Oregon, US-based instrument brand Breedlove has introduced a new eco-guitar collection to complete the company’s transition to total tonewood sustainability across all price points.   

Founded with the passion of bringing music to people, Breedlove has for more than 30 years designed and crafted unique guitars. Now, to harmonise its life with nature, the music company has embraced sustainable materials in its instruments. 

“We care about protecting the forests, we care about protecting the wildlife, and we care about protecting the indigenous populations,” says Breedlove’s owner, Tom Bedell. “If we’re not improving the world’s forests, then we’re not doing our job.”

After a lifetime of entrepreneurship in the music business, Bedell bought Breedlove in 2010 and soon after embarked on the brand’s “sustainability evolution”. 

From now on, anyone who buys a Breedlove guitar will be able to track the wood used to make the instrument not only to its country of origin or a particular forest – but to an exact tree stump. 

By adopting a new approach to construction that avoids a soft centre core that can dampen sound, the company was able to use sustainable tonewood materials in the guitar. The wood is obtained without clearcutting trees.   

“Part of the excitement about sustainability in the jungle is becoming intimate with the uniqueness of every tree in an ecosystem of millions and millions of life species – they just buzz,” says Bedell. “The music of the jungle is just incredible.”

Watch Bedell and his team explain how it creates its eco-guitars.

Bedell has now visited 15 countries to source the finest-sounding tonewoods and monitors each supplier’s practices. He walks the forests and follows up to ensure compliance – and if a mill will not allow timber tracking, he won’t buy from it.

Breedlove’s new eco collection with construction from clear-cut free, sustainable tonewoods can address both of the company’s core values: developing great acoustic guitar sound and protecting the world’s forests. 

Irene Dong

Irene Dong

Irene Dong is a graduate of Ho Chi Minh City University of Foreign Languages and Information Technology with a major in international relations, specialising in public relations, communications, and media. An aspiring writer she has a passion for fashion, sustainability, and languages.

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