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March 2002
Posts: 873
Location: puerto vallarta, mexico | anybody care to get into a thread about ovation necks? some of my ovations have pretty complex necks and others look pretty plain from the outside. i have heard the terms 3 piece, 5 piece, fixed, etc but don't know if these are mostly cosmetic considerations or for technical reasons as well.
also, what is the truss rod actually like. bill mentioned a different cross section in another thread.
and those foam necks are pretty mysterious to me, though i understand them from a standpoint of getting consistant results and lowering production costs and making a more predictable neck with regard to warping. i understand it is polyurethane foam, but it must be allot denser than the foam used for insulation that i know. is this another ovation innovation? i have no experience with them, but again, in our coastal climate in the tropics it seems like a good idea. i need some student guitars for a few helping hand kind of projects we are involved in and think this might be a good way to introduce a student to guitar on a good entry level guitar that will hold up down here. one comment in another thread makes me think they might be easy to dent. by the way did that cat ever get fixed? |
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January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | Ovation started with the 5 piece neck. the outside were opposing grain mahogony and the inside were 3 maples, the two outside opposing grain and the inside cross wise to them. That was for added strength. They had the standard tension rod adjustable at the nut. 14 degree peghead.
There were some two piece and they were opposing grain mahogony.
There were alot of headstock breaks so they went to a 7 degree peghead. This lowered the repair problems but it really took away from the sound I think.
Adamas has always been 10 degrees. I think that started with the slothead but on a slot it doesn't matter because the string goes down into the peghead and the effective angle is greater than 10 degrees. When it changed to a flat head the angle stayed the same.
When we came with the K-Bar in the neck we stayed with the 7 degree head so we wouldn't have to retool the factory. It would have been expensive but they would have sounded a bit better.
Some necks had grafite reinforcement with the tension rods, magnums, Deacon 12, and the slotheads. The grafite was hard to work with so we went to the aluminum K-Bar which grew out of the Applause neck
The Applesause neck was aluminum with the foam around it. No wood, no splinters, no harvesting old trees yada yada yada.
From that neck came the Balladeer special which was foam with a real fingerboard and an aluminum structure that had a tension rod. This structure was modified to fit into a wooden neck with a boltable heel. That's what there is today. Good but it's heavy. It's twice as strong as a normal t-rod neck yet just as adjustable. I did the measurements myself.
What is needed is the next generation neck reinforcement to take a pound out of the neck. Then you can have the bowls with microbaloons. |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 873
Location: puerto vallarta, mexico | thanks bill. that k bar would be something like 6061 t-6 extrusion special for this application i suspect. do you know the reason for the peghead angle changing the quality of sound?
i sent you a couple of e mails to your kaman box next time you have a chance to check. this mexican isp isn't reliable so if they didn't come through let me know. |
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March 2002
Posts: 15674
Location: SoCal | Microbaloons? |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 873
Location: puerto vallarta, mexico | paul, check out cwk2's post regarding ovation bowls. micro balloons are microscopic glass hollow balls that are used in grp laminates and to reduce weight and to thicken resin oe epoxy. i've used them for years in boatbuilding. |
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March 2002
Posts: 15674
Location: SoCal | I've tried to catch most of the posts on here, but I think I missed that one. And hey, I'm a small time city thug. Boats are great..... when they belong to other people.
I like this website. Everybody here has been great, and I've learned a great deal about Ovations, their construction, and their history.
Paul |
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January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | Russ,
The peghead angle determines the string tension and it seems the sharper the angle the higher the tension and the better the responce and sound of the guitar. Now this may not be the case so if there is an engineer out there come forward and talk. I just always noticed that the 7 degree pegheads always sound wimpier |
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Joined:
October 2002
Posts: 56
Location: Alabama | I found this thread searching for comparative info on five piece vs. two piece necks. Would anyone like to share their thoughts on how the two compare? For instance, would the Legend 12 string with the five piece neck be a substantialy better instrument than the 12 string Balladeer with the two piece neck? It would seem to me the five piece by design would be the more solid, stable structure, but does it substantially outclass the two piece? :confused: |
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Joined:
May 2002
Posts: 1026
Location: Back in the Valley of the Sun Mesa Az. | I know my 1117 Legend has the 5 piece maple/mahogany neck, but what does my 1711 Balladeer have for a neck? It looks like two piece mahogany, but perhaps it's a little stouter than that. It is very heavy at the neck(but then again, so am I).
Norse(and thanks again for the strings Paul!)man1
[ December 04, 2002: Message edited by: Norseman1 ] |
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May 2002
Posts: 3005
Location: Las Cruces, NM | Russ
My Viper seems to have a one piece neck that waves in the breeze, I think it is because of the 25 and 1/2 in length but I learn to compensate by whipping it back in forth on Hawaiian songs to get that early steel sound. Really glad to hear from you, I was getting worried but I Know us Nuevo Mejicans will survive the Apocolypse.
Bailey |
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ovation necks