PG's Jordan Wagner is On Location in Spirit Lake, IA, where he
sits down with Tom Bedell of Bedell Guitars within their compound
appropriately titled "The Barn."
Bedell broke into the music
industry in 1964 at the age of 14. By taking one of his father's
(Berkley Bedell) contacts in Japan, he started importing guitars under
the Bedell name. After a short, but successful run pursuing his first
passion of music and guitars, Tom followed in his father's footsteps
and conquered the fishing world with the line of various Berkley
outdoor products and accessories. Now, Bedell is back in with his first
love and has two new lines of guitars; Great Divide and Bedell. Oh, and
don't forget about the new Bedell Guitars' Custom Shop that allows a
guitarist to virtually browse and pick the woods for tops, back, sides,
fingerboards and headstocks. You can literally see and pick the EXACT
piece of wood for all the parts of your new acoustic.
The Great
Divide line includes four series of guitars; the Solid Cedar, the
Summit, the Independence and the Origin. The Solid Cedar has a solid
Canadian red cedar top, sapele back and sides, mahogany neck with
rosewood binding, fingerboard and bridge. Solid Ceder series offers
three body styles, including dreadnought, orchestra and parlor.
The
Summit series guitars have a solid sitka spruce top with sapele back
and sides. Also, they come with a mahogany neck with rosewood binding
and fingerboard. The Summit series offers four body styles, including
dreadnought, jumbo, orchestra and parlor.
The Independence
series guitars feature a laminated spruce top with sapele back and
sides. Also, they come with a mahogany neck with maple binding and
rosewood fingerboard. The Independence series offers four body styles,
including dreadnought, jumbo, orchestra and parlor.
The Origin series features a linden top, back and sides. And is offered in several body styles and colors.
The
line of Bedell acoustic guitars has two different series; the
Performance and Inspiration. The Performance series can feature a solid
Canadian cedar, solid Alaskan Sitka spruce or African sapele for a top.
The sides and backs can be made of solid African sapele, solid Indian
rosewood or solid Canadian flame maple. Also, they can feature an ebony
fingerboard and bridge (along with other various wood options). The
body styles offered are dreadnought, jumbo, orchestra and parlor.
The
Inspiration series guitars can feature tops made with either solid
Alaskan Sitka spruce or solid Canadian cedar. The woods for backs and
sides can be solid African sapele, solid Canadian flame maple or solid
Indian rosewood. The four body styles offered within the Inspiration
series are dreadnought, jumbo, orchestra and parlor.