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August 2002
Posts: 8307
Location: Tennessee | While taking a leisurely cruise through cyberland, I stumbled upon Glen Cambell's website and came across this picture ...
http://www.ovationfanclub.com/gallery/huh.jpg
This looks like a Viper with a Deacon 12 string neck ... was this ever a production model? Anyone know about the electronics on these? Do these ever come up for sale? Have the two Pauls ever traded enough parts to make similar frankensteins? :D |
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January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | bluebird 12 |
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May 2002
Posts: 1445
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada | Hi Stonebobo;
The topic of the Bluebird guitars has come up a number of times on the site. Here is one of the more interesting threads. You can find more info in the "search" feature.
Wayne
Ovation Bluebird thread
Here is a thread with some pics |
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Joined:
August 2002
Posts: 8307
Location: Tennessee | Thanks ... before I posted I searched but since I didn't know this was a Bluebird, I only found a couple of hits on Viper 12 String. As always, this board is an amazing source of all things Ovation.
I guess after reading the thread, the only way I'll ever have one is when my lottery ticket hits all six. |
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May 2002
Posts: 3005
Location: Las Cruces, NM | Or maybe catch one of these guys in bed with a blonde T-head and resort to blackmail.
After that flippant remark I just had a stroke of genius, if moodypi can build a Viper Deluxe, couldn't we build a Viper 12 string with parts off of various solid bodies. All we need is the neck, which Paul M has shown can be switched, and a 12 string bridge that can be adapted. It will be worth a fortune! And it could be painted blue, no RED, with certain red bird decals which certain of our members are proficient at.
Call it the stealth red bird project, and we can circulate computer enhanced photos of ELVIS playing our WOODEN red bird BEFORE GLEN CAMPBELL and his blue plastic toy!!
Bailey
[ November 24, 2002: Message edited by: Bailey ] |
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May 2002
Posts: 1445
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada | blue plastic toy!!
Hey Bailey, please refrain from using the dreaded "p------" word on this site. Ovationist from the beginning if time have had to defend the use of non-conventional materials to build their stringed instruments of choice! :p
I like your idea of an Ovation Redbird guitar...it could be an Elvis Signature model. And if we are going with digitally enhanced photos, we can have pics the Big E playing chords ABOVE the third fret! Yeah!
Wayne |
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May 2002
Posts: 3005
Location: Las Cruces, NM | Wayne
Sorry, I used that term as I got carried away with marketing hype because of us owners of the plebian wooden Vipers envy of the legendary Bluebirds. I didn't mean it to apply to the acoustic guitars of excellent quality as we all know.
That said, I am revising my design of the Redbird to the Redheaded Bird, called the Woody and it will have a decal of, Ta Da, Woody Woodpecker on the body and "What's Up Doc" routed into the pickgaurd. Built in will be a chip programmed to play, at the flip of a switch, the Woody Woodpecker Song:
Ha duh da ha ha, Ha duh da ha ha,
It's the Woody Woodpecker song,
Ha duh da ha ha,
He's pecking it all day long,
Though it doesn't make sense,
To the dull and the dense,
All the lady woodpeckers long,
For ha duh da ha ha, Ha du da ha ha,
It's the Woody Woodpecker sonnng
Now if that doesn't make one a star, I don't know what would, and don't try to tell us there is a switch on the Bluebird that plays Jimmy Dicken's "May the Bluebird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose" cause we all know Glen C. wasn't in to classical music.
Please don't bring down the board with accolades, just a quiet "Well Done" will suffice.
Thank you, Thank you
Bailey :cool:
[ November 25, 2002: Message edited by: Bailey ] |
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Posts: 15677
Location: SoCal | Well, it was interesting.... |
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March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | You can always tell the "end of the month" is approaching, . . . . . . . . . Bailey's medication runs out! |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 15677
Location: SoCal | Retired and on a fixed income obviously.
Maybe we should take up a collection and send Bailey some dog food so he can afford his medication.
Seriously tho', the thing that scares me is that Bailey has so much time to write this stuff.
But it is fun. |
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December 2001
Posts: 7236
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | Only one problem with the above idea (unless I missed something).. The Original BLueBirds, both 6 and 12 strings, were "foam-over-aluminum" bodies. |
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May 2002
Posts: 1445
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada | They are Miles, but any Ovation named the "Woody" would be a bit ironic wouldn't it?
Wayne |
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August 2002
Posts: 8307
Location: Tennessee | Maybe given the construction, they should be painted orange and black striped (ala George Lynch) and should be named Flying Tiger? Sort of keep the winged theme going and bring the aerospace connection into play ...
Sheesh ... maybe I should be sorry I started this thread ... :D |
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Location: Las Cruces, NM | Gee
If the first Mr. Kaman had to put his ideas on this board, he would have given up and built a Silvertone copy and a Piper cub with the propeller pointed up instead of a helio. Youse guys can sure destroy a good idea, now I have to edit all my posts and replace "plastic" with "foam covered aluminum" it just doesn't have the same ring to it. I'm going to take my Woody idea to a board with modern ideas. I think the guy who is running Ford would like to update the Edsel with something that would sell. The Woody Edsel has a nice ring to it especially when coupled with a complimentary custom Viper 12 string with the woody decal, they've reissued the Thunderbird and this would have the same impact. You all can laugh, but when I drive by with my Woody Edsel convertible blaring the Woody woodpecker song with 1000 watt bass backing the Ha duh du ha ha's with my Woody Viper on the custom rifle rack on the roll bar, you'll wish you'd listened (the Edsel would have been a winner if they had had modern wheels that will be on my Woody).
At least I'll have one, and that's more than most of you can ever say about owning one of those "foam covered aluminum" Bluebirds that don't even have a Cadillac convertible with a long horn hood ornament like Buck Owens drives named after them.
I'll drag you guys into the modern world of great ideas in spite of yourself.
Bailey :cool:
[ November 26, 2002: Message edited by: Bailey ] |
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October 2002
Posts: 56
Location: Alabama | ROFLMAO Bailey, I think you're ready for Leno. :D |
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March 2002
Posts: 1380
Location: Central Oregon | What? No four wheel drive??
Nils |
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May 2002
Posts: 3005
Location: Las Cruces, NM | Getting 2 wheel drive to work is hard enough on an Edsel, 4 wheel drive, more than likely would result in the same damage to the Edsel as experienced by the victims of drawing and quartering as each wheel goes it's own way.
I've given up on the Woody after it's lukewarm reception by you Ovationists as I respect your opinion. I went to my local welding and sheet metal shop and had a cast iron frame and neck made to my design similar to the Bluebird aluminum one, and covered it with insulating foam polished to a dull gloss and finished in Rustolean orange (I happened to have a company provided spray can left over from marking pavement for utilities during construction). The machining went well and everything fit, as a historical touch, I had the head machined to the dimensions of an early slot head which should impress some of you. There is a little roughness from chipping of the casting flashing, but the orange paint covers it fairly well. Some misunderstanding caused the casting shop to include the strings in the mold design, which upset me until I hit a few chords and found they sound as good as any cast iron strings I've ever used so I'll leave them on till they wear out if they ever do.
In light of the critical comments this guitar is sure to elicit, I am calling this prototype the "Irony". Oh the Irony of this desire to help the deprived who will never know a Bluebird but can have a custom made slothead Irony for less than $50.
Bailey |
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May 2002
Posts: 1445
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada | I surrender Bailey...a battle of wits with you would be like bringin' a knife to a gunfight! :)
Wayne |
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May 2002
Posts: 3005
Location: Las Cruces, NM | Wayne
I'm secretly trying to attract some attention to the solid body electrics, we never seem to interest the Ovation company in reissuing one so I thought a few good ideas might result in that wonderful event happening. Note that no Ovation official has even shown any interest in these suggestions, so I'll attack them where it will hurt.
I snuck into an El Paso Ovation shop and took the measurements off of an Elite T. I used these dimensions to build what will probably replace the Elite T in the market. It is a guitar similar to the Bluebird in that it is made from aluminum. I went to a forging shop in Juarez and had the frame and the BOWL forged out of aluminum alloy, the fretboard is forged black iron, much better looking than ebony as is the forged black iron bridge. The top is forged 1/16 inch steel with the appearance of book matched spruce forged on the surface, to give it the resonance needed in acoustic mode. I installed the electronics that I was able to get through this board, (it's suprising what some members will do for money) and finished it in gray auto primer For that gothic look. Surprisingly, it all worked, and I have a guitar that can be sold for $139.72 at a hefty profit and outperforms the Elite T in every way. It will be sold as the "Elite T Forgery" and will have Ovation on their knees in no time.
I'll be taking wholesale orders soon when I get the maquiladora plant up running. I'm getting financing in Juarez from a small bank that praises my idea as "mucho chinguadera" which I translate as "a great idea" from my limited Spanish. They were polite enough to give me an armed escort out of the building to protect the proprietary information I have. Why they threw me half way across the street seemed a little to exuberant for a bank teetering on greatness.
Bailey
[ November 28, 2002: Message edited by: Bailey ] |
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One I haven't seen before ...