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Drawing of the Breed
guitar from the 1890 patent |
Plan for reconstruction of
Breed's 1890 guitar design. Notice the Martin-style pyramid bridge and
v-jointed headstock. |
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Although at first glance, the drawings and description of the guitar in
George Breed's patent appear to be quite detailed, a closer examination
shows that the patent conceals as much as it reveals. This is true of
both the electrical circuitry and physical construction of the
instrument. Recreating Breed's 1890 design has involved two distinct
challenges: one, recreating the electrical configuration Of Breed's
design and two, reconstructing the physical design of the guitar. |
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The
electromagnet of the Breed guitar |
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John Hall, of Rickenbacker International Corporation has been
instrumental in the decipherment and recreation of Breed's circuitry and
electromagnet design. Dr Brian Flynn of the University of Edinburgh has
also given great assistance in determining possible configurations of
Breed's circuitry. Doug Kensrue, president of MK Products, Santa Ana,
California has used his manufacturing expertise and resources in making
a replica of the guitar's electromagnet, the key component of Breed's
design. |
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Scraping the
rosewood back of the guitar to the proper thickness |
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Part of the difficulty of reconstructing the physical aspect of Breed's
design is that the guitar shown in the patent drawing, while at first
appearing to be similar to a typical late 19th century American guitar,
actually has several aspects to its design that are impossible, or at
least highly unlikely. |
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Bending the
rosewood sides of the guitar |
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While the electrical elements shown in Breed's patent are relatively
well detailed, the physical characteristics of Breed's guitar are, not
surprisingly, decidedly less so. The representations in the patent of
the headstock, neck-heel, and bridge have particularly improbable
elements. However, this is not surprising since Breed's purpose was to
patent the apparatus and circuitry of his invention rather than provide
a blueprint for its construction. |
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Checking the position of the
electromagnet |
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In
reconstructive Organology it is typical practice to substitute
or
replace design elements that are impracticable or unknown, with ones
from contemporaneous instruments.
It should be emphasized that much consideration is given before such
modifications are made. The goal is not to make an exact copy
(since we don’t know exactly what the original was like), but
historically accurate; that is, as much as possible, only using in the
reconstruction those elements which the original maker would have had
available to him or her.
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Checking the
fit of the sides of the heel and slipper joint |
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This is the case even when such choices are detrimental to the
instrument’s functionality. For example, while recreating the electrical
circuitry of the Breed guitar, it was discovered that adding a capacitor
to the circuit greatly enhanced the instrument’s performance while at
the same time reducing some of the guitar’s problems with overheating.
Unfortunately Breed’s design predates the capacitor by some 30 years.
While a modern capacitor would greatly increase the efficiency of the
guitar, the objective is not to try to improve Breed’s design, but
recreate it as faithfully as possible- warts and all. |
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Reconstruction of
the switch for the variable rheostat of the Breed guitar |
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