In November, Marianne, a 67-year-old California grandmother, lost her guitars in the historic Camp Fire, only to win the Breedlove Custom Masterclass Extraordinary Experience Promotion in December. Marianne’s name was chosen blind by a random numbers generator from more than 25,000 entries.
“This kind of stuff doesn’t happen to me. I couldn’t believe it when I got the news,” she says. “It was overwhelming because of the contrast to what I had just experienced, but goodness, to have a wonderful guitar to play, that’s just for me, it’s breathtaking and quite a thrill.”
Marianne and her husband lost everything— their house, their belongings and six cats—barely escaping down a blazing mountain road with their lives.
“It was surreal,” she adds. “We made it down okay, but we were going through areas where fire was just pouring down. It was really crazy, and really scary, and I don’t want to ever go through that again.”
“Sometimes the right person wins,” says Breedlove owner Tom Bedell of Marianne’s luck. Marianne hopes to collect the dream guitar at Breedlove facilities when the instrument is complete, a few months from now. “We really do want to go up there to Bend, and see where they are,” she sighs. “I’ve heard it’s beautiful.”
Looking Back on 2025: A Year of Controlled Chaos (Emphasis on “Controlled”)