I’m currently playing a prototype Breedlove Hawaiian guitar based on my 1920’s era Style 2 Weissenborn that is proving to be a really excellent instrument. I brought my old Style 2 to Breedlove last year and Jayson Bowerman and I spent a good day examining, inspecting and measuring this fine instrument.  

We are working on two versions of this guitar; one will be a standard Weissenborn style Hawaiian. The second version will have some very interesting modifications, most notably to the fretboard. This guitar’s fretboard will be slightly thicker on the bass side with partial frets below the bottom three strings. This allows me to play pieces like “Homage,” for example, where I’m playing with the slide and fretting a bass string with my little finger at the same time.

I love the one I’m playing and expect that these guitars will be absolutely superb.

We're excited that the Breedlove Hawaiian Guitar is in production and that we will have one for sale here shortly. The instrument will feature:

Figured Myrtlewood top, back and sides

Figured Walnut fretboard, bridge,
binding and headstock veneer

Half-herringbone rosette

Special custom fretboard with partial frets
under bass strings*

We will post a notice here as soon as the instrument arrives. Contact us for prices and availability.

*What makes this instrument much different than a standard, Weissenborn style guitar is the addition of partial frets on the bass side of the fretboard.

The fretboard is also thicker on the bass side, bringing the bass strings a little closer to the frets. This allows me to, for example, bar across the seventh fret with the slide while fretting the low E string at the fourth with my little finger (listen to my pieces "Homage" or "Shallow Brown" where this technique is used). One can also use the left hand thumb to fret bass notes above the slide. As far as I know this has never (or very rarely) been done. I think it opens up a whole lot of new possibilities for the instrument.