Eastwood Guitars Breadwinner

A tribute to te Ovation Breadwinner, built as closely as possible to the original :

24 frets bolt-on Maple Neck, mahogany body, two mini humbuckers (like a post 1975 Breadwinner) and active electronics (one 9V battery).

Original tailpiece with individual saddles.

The body and neck shapes are the same as the originals. Therefore, ergonomy is at a great level.

The sound is bright and precise. For me this sound is a little bit 60'.

Unplugged, the sound is great and the lutherie performs very well :)
The intonation is perfect.

I play on a GT6 and a JC60 from Roland.

Playing some Johnny Marr riffs is great with this guitar : the sound is shiny, precise and dynamic. The controls are efficient, very intuitive and you can find your sound very fast. I was not really the same on the original Breadwinner !

Overdriven sound is still precise. The volume button allows you to find crunchy sounds with great precision.

Playing with distorsion, flanger and chorus is also great. The guitar is stealth in the mediums, so this is very easy to set a sound with turning effects. I use them a lot as my guitar style is like Siouxsie and the Banshees, Killing joke, Fields of the Nephilim.

The active electronics are silent, even with tone at 10. Great !

The guitar was delivered in perfect condition, the pick gard and pickups beeing protected with a removable film.

Intonation was perfectly set, but the action was a bit low for me. (I also play the bass and the 12 strings guitar : a lot of energy !)
Pick ups are well balanced.

Paint, and lutherie were perfect.

I bought this guitar for live performance. Just one gig until then, and it performed very well. No mysterious "buzz" in the amp.

The chrome hardware is at standard quality, and will last some years.

I just wonder about the paint I find a little thin compared to other guitars and basses I have.

Strap buttons : standard, no opinion as immediately replaced by security locks.

I looked at string saddles and I don't fear any string break during playing. The profile if round and the chrome finish perfect, so you don't have to fear anything from the bridge.

I bought this guitar from Eastwood website.
Service was excellent and contact very easy and helpfull.
Many companies should take example fron Eastwood on this point.

Warranty is 3 years.

Well, playing since a few decades (from 2, this is plural LoL), I am first a bass player but I play guitar for myself, writing, and secondary bands. I own some Music Man Stingrays, one Ovation Breadwinner, and self made semi accoustic guitars.

I choose this guitar as I love the Breadwinner, as simple as that !
But mine is so old, that I have to protect it from intensive and risky use, so I bought the Eastwood Breadwinner. And this was a good choice.

If this guitar was lost, I would rebuy one, of course !

My favourite feature is the bright sound. And it is aslo 1Kg lighter than the original : a good thing for some "non-sportive" guitarists.

This is a non official reissue-like of Ovation's innovative Breadwinner, based on late models, with mini humbuckers and jack on the front plate. It comes with a custom made and strong bridge with individuals saddles adjustable in length and height. The configuration of controls is similar to the original, with a three way selector for pickups, and a two way selector to switch from Fender-like sound to a Gibson-like sound (humbuckers sound).

The body has exactly the same shape and size as the original, but the head is an original Eastwood design. It is a light guitar despite the mahogany body.

The tuners are mini tuners with standard pegs.
The 24 frets are standard size.

I like to test guitars first unplugged to have a good idea of the guitar building performance, and Eastwood Breadwinner sounds bright, is perfectly set up (intonation is correct), and the harmonics-tuning method is easy and results in a perfectly tuned guitar.
Chords make the guitar body sing whereas lead playing is clear and the notes are equal on 80% of the neck (frets over 18th sound a bit weaker, but this is due to the shorter string in vibration). I like very much the bell-like notes of frets 10 to 18. The G string sounds OK even on 1st ad 2nd frets, this test is part of my "ugly-guitar-design-detection-procedure". In this case, the design is great.

Well, let's start the real business and plug this guitar !
Controls are very efficient, the output level is high.

I play a lot of in the post-punk style (like Siouxsie & the Banshees, Bauhaus, Killing Joke, Fields of the Nphilim, The Mission and so on) and I need a guitar that offers a wide range of sounds. Sometimes I need some very "thin" and light sound for lace-like rythms patterns whereas other songs require thicker and powerfull drive for energy riffs and themes. The Eastwood Breadwinner do all of that and performs brilliantly. I must say that the active electronics are really efficient (for example, the tone knob at 5-6 equals a 10 on passive guitars I own), and I don't have the problem of the non-linear rendering of the volume control you can read in an above review.
Even with tone and volume at 10, the electronic noise is very low, I tested with headphones on a GT6.

And, as I am a lucky Ovation Beadwinner owner, I compared the elder and the youngster :
- Eastwood Breadwinner is lighter about 1Kg (2 pounds) this is great for non-sportive players :)
- Eastwood breadwinner performs quite similary in both configurations, but the sound is a bit more 60'. The Ovation sounds a bit more "thick" and rich.
- The necks of the two guitars are similar in size, scale and shape. The playing feeling on the neck is close to be the same.

The factory intonation setup was perfect. The action was low and easy.
Pickups were adjusted and don't need further setup.

The frets are perfectly adjusted to both finger board edges and they don't grab your skin while playing.

The finish is perfect, I bought it with the special hardcase, and the guitar arrived in perfect condition despite a 4500 miles trip from Eastwood to my home. The frontplate and the pickups were protected with a safety film.

I bought this guitar for live performance and immediately replaced the strap buttons with security locks I have in stock.

Well, I always bring a backup for gigs, but this is mainly to keep playing if a string breaks. Considering the string saddles with ther round guide, I guess the problem will be very rare or never be with this guitar.

To me the paint looks thin and may be this a weak point of this guitar. It could be fragile after years of use (neck...)

The hardware : The Bridge looks sturdy, and the tuners are standard.

I bought this guitar on Eastwood website, and I can say they are very friendly, and have a great customer support.

The guitar was shipped the day I bought it and arrived within the delay indicated.

As writen above, I also own an original Breadwinner, a MM Stingray, a 12 strings from HK, and some self-made guitars of "special design".
I play on a Roland JC60 and the Eastwwod breadwinner is very glad of it :)
You will be happy with it if you need a comfortable, all terrains performer.
This guitar is a good choice if you can't have a functional original Breadwinner. It has 90% of the features from the original, plus the benefits of modern electronics.

Made in Korea, 24 frets, solid body, white, Volume (more on this later), Tone, active on/off switch, 3 way pickup switch. Outrageous body style! Ordered it with the case since the shape is very distinctive.

I play in a groovy 60's/70's cover band and we play some Partridge Family so this guitar is perfect. It sounds somewhere between a tele and a strat, it can get that tele slappy sound. So it's bright.

The volume knob is hysterical. 0-2 is the only place where the volume changes. After 2 it's maxed and turning the knob does nothing. If only the volume control was more linear. Basically you can turn it up all the way and that is it. I'd say a "9" but the useless volume knob makes it a 7.

I bought it from Sf Guitarworks and they set it up before I got it.

This seems like a really solid well built "axe". (it looks like an axe, get it?)

I didn't deal with eastwood but I've heard they are alright.

I have a number of rickenbackers and epiphones, and this guitar, while not as nice as the rickys and not as "normal" as the epiphones, is pretty awesome. It looks so unique and fun, and it sounds great too, that volume pot is pretty ridiculous though. I noticed the other review mentioning that too, so it must be the pot or some other element to the guitar.

I bought this because Keith Partridge played one. What else is there to say? The fact that it is crazy comfy and good playing and sounding is icing on the cake.

This is the much talked about Ovation Breadwinner clone fom Eastwood. The so called "battle axe" shape makes it the ultimate "ergonomic" design as it balances perfectly strapped on and makes all 24 frets easily accessible. Unlike the origional however, this one is available with a srat-style whammy if you want one, which works well and doesn't get too far out of tune when you really wang on it. I own an origional Ovation Breadwinner and this copy is every bit as playable and comfortable. Plus she's painted shiny white and is a real looker.

The pickups are mini humbuckers that actually have somewhat of a strat/tele sound when used seperately. Together they sound a little like the neck and middle pickups of a strat together, making them good for a Skynard or funk sound. The electronics are a little wierd as the volume control does nothing until it's rolled down to "3" before it starts to reduce the volume, plus the tone control does nothing unless the volume is set on "10". There are active electronics which are switchable on or off, but the controls work the same either way. Nevertheless, the sound is good and the gange of sound is great for any player wanting to go from rock to country to soul to jazz styles.

Eastwood always does their own setups, and my Breadwinner was actually in tune and PERFECTLY set up when I took it out of the case. I had to do nothing but start playing.

Like it's Ovation pedecessor, this one is built to last and made for lots of abuse onstage.

I've called Mike several times and he always got back to me with answers in record time. He and the company will do what it takes to make the customer happy. Plus they have a 3 year warrenty on their products accessable online.

I've been in the biz for over 30 years and have a buch of guitars (my origional Breadwinner, a Karera semi hollow, a Line 6 Variax, and a very nice Easwood Airline 3p DLX) and the new one is a welcome addition to my collection.