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Joined:
December 2006
Posts: 3
| I have seen references to Ovation with MIDI pickups on the web. Do people have experience with MIDI? is there any standard kit available for Ovations?
thanks, rt |
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Joined:
February 2005
Posts: 11840
Location: closely held secret | No 'standard' kit for Ovations, to my knowledge. They have made a couple models for use with MIDI, the last was 'Roland-Ready'. They're pretty hard to come by.
The easiest way these days is to use a GK-2 hex pickup made by Roland to a Roland guitar synth (GR33, etc...). I have one on my Viper. |
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Joined:
August 2003
Posts: 430
Location: Lebanon, TN | I have the GK-KIT sat upstairs for me to install on the 1787-T that I got from Al recently. I am just waiting for time for me to carefully consider where I intend to drill holes in the guitar to fit the pick-up and switches :D
This is not the GK3 "wart" type controller that you see on sale and fitted to a number of electric guitars. This is the kit Roland sell to guitar makers to install the wiring and switching in their guitars. I believe this was what Ovation used to install in their ROland Ready guitars when they sold the CL and CE versions with this installed.
You can see details of this kit here:
Roland GK-KITGT3
Al told me that the factory will reluctantly fit one of these as originally specified if you custom order it, but I felt like being brave and having a go myself:-)
Needless to say this give you the 13 pin GK output which you need a piece of gear to turn into MIDI. I use the Roland GR-33 but there are other devices you can plug this into.
There was an Ebay listing for a Celebrity with the wart style pick up installed. Unfortunately at the time of posting it only has 15 mins to go. But no offers so far. The BIN is just over double what that pick-up would cost new.
Ebay Auction for Roland Ready Celebrity |
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Joined:
February 2005
Posts: 11840
Location: closely held secret | That would work much better for an acoustic. I've used them on a few electrics, haven't had as good of results with the synth on acoustics. Not sure why, they just don't seem to track as well. |
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Joined:
May 2005
Posts: 486
Location: North Carolina | I put a GK-2 on my 1869. The secret to good tracking is to get the PU as close to the stings and break point as possible, a very time consuming and frustrating procedure. I did it with double faced tape, and I must say I'm happy with the results. |
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MIDI pickup with Ovation