My New Favorite Toy

I meant to blog about this last week (when I actually got it) but I’ve been in a blogging funk lately, and haven’t felt like blogging. But I can’t hold this one back any longer — I love my new Guitar!

It’s a Breedlove 12 string, with Spruce top and Mahogany back and sides. It sounds as close to an orchestra as a guitar can. It’s only the second guitar I’ve ever owned, and while my first one (a Hondo) served me well for 15 years, it eventually fell to pieces (hey, 15 years is pretty good for a $100 guitar!). This one was [ahem] quite a bit more expensive.

Why a twelve-string? A few weeks back I went to a conference in Houston, and got to see (and meet, too, actually) Derek Webb in concert. If you don’t know Derek Webb, you should. Listening to his Mockingbird Album was in large part what inspired me to start writing songs again after a five year hiatus, and it also showed me that there’s such a thing as Christian music that doesn’t suck.

Anyhow, at the concert, which was in a small, coffee-house environment, Derek played his entire set by himself, accompanied by nothing but his acoustic guitar. Which was a twelve string. His style is one that, like mine, consists mostly of rhythm guitar (heavy on the strumming, light on the picking). His sound is fairly close to the “folk simplicity” that I aspire to, but the 12 string gives it a full sound that needs no other instrument.

I was hooked, and went home to do some more research. In the process, I found out that another musical hero of mine, John Denver, also favored the 12 string — usually a Guild or a Taylor. While I would love to own a Taylor, they can often cost as much as a small car, so that was out. But then I found Breedlove. Kim Breedlove studied under Bob Taylor, and made custom guitars for many years before recently launching his own production line, of which mine is one. I think John Denver would be ok with that.

Anyhow, here’s hoping that this one will carry both me and my songs well into old age. I love the way it sounds.