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Location: cincinnati, ohio | Well, I acquired my 3rd Ovation today-- a CS 257 Deluxe. I know-- it's not an Elite or an Adamas, but it's an epaulet guitar and it's a damned fine axe, and it's going to be a working guitar. I have this thing about taking a Rolls-Royce out on the freeway when a Lexus will do. The 257 blows the doors off my Ibanez (which had been my Lexus up to now). I guess this will be my main performing axe; I'll tune my Fishman-equipped Balladeer to "double dropped D" (a'la Neil Young)and the Ibanez to open "G" (a'la the Stones), and use the 12-string for variety here and there. The OP-30 preamp is incredible!
I have infrequent G.A.S. attacks. I bought my first Ovation (the Balladeer) in 1971, my second one (a Pacemaker 12-string) in 1974 or '75, and this one today (we won't mention that little Ibanez aberration a couple of years ago). Neat thing is, I bought all my Ovations from the same music store and the same guy! He was just a kid like me in '71, and I was one of his first sales. Now he's the district manager. He's always treated me well-- thrown in a hard-shell case free on all three guitars-- and given me a really good price. If I ever buy another "O," I'll look him up.
Unless he retires first! |
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Location: closely held secret | Congratulations, Rick! I'm sure it will serve you well! |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | Great story. I can't even remember where I bought my first O in 1977, but I still have it. I'm pretty good at remembering what I paid for anything, though. |
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Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | Got my first acoustic guitar (Ovation Balladeer)from a piano store in Houston called BROOK MAYS. They had a small section off to one side that had amps, guitars, basses, and drums....but over 90% of the building was pianos.
It is also where I used to get my local concert tickets before big business (like asswipe Ticketmaster) took over. It was great. You could walk up to the front desk and the salesguy would whip out a few stacks of tickets and you could pick your seats.....and if you were really good friends, he would usually hold back some kick ass floor tickets for you. |
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Location: Upper Left USA | I was exposed to an Ovation Nut at a young age. The trend continues.
Congrats! |
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Location: SoCal | Stephen, where was Brook Mays and when did you buy it? I bought my first Ovation in 1972 from Parker Music, out on the west side.
Rick, great story. Ovations, not matter how much you spend on them, are meant to be played out. |
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Location: Houston, Texas | There's several Brook Mays in Houston. They are still a piano store and still just like you describe them except maybe for the ticket part.
I hadn't been in one for decades until last year, then happened upon one and got a great deal on Ernie Ball electric strings for three bucks a set. Didn't think much of their guitar selection though. I was shopping for an electric at the time and didn't even notice if they still carry Ovations or not.
What part of Houston did you live in? |
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Location: Houston, Texas | The Parker Music in Memorial City Mall? |
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Location: SoCal | Yup. In 1972 it was this narrow little store. Ovations were in the display window and then back in the store, on the back left wall. I remember standing in front of the front display window after the store had closed and just thinking that Ovations were the coolest looking guitars I had ever seen.
There were some terrific jams in that store. I took lessons there for about a year.
Last I saw (about 21 years ago) the store had moved into a huge area. Didn't look nearly as inviting. |
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Location: Houston, Texas | Yeah, I remember how narrow it was. That was back before I even had any thoughts about playing guitar, but my sister took classical guitar lessons there. I was just a kid and used to work at the movie theatre there. So obviously you're much, much older than me.
:D :p |
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Location: SoCal | Hell son, look outside. See the dirt? I'm older than that (at least my kids make me feel that way).
By the way, if you remember Parker Music in the old store, then do you remember the Town & Country Six Theaters, on West Belt? I used to be the head usher there. So treat me with respect..... |
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Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | Wow....Parker Music...sure I remember them but with my limited driving range they were far away.
I used to live in Glenbrook Valley which was very near Hobby Airport. Brook Mays was located on the Gulf Freeway off of Airprot Blvd (and I can't believe that I remembered all those names or that Moody grew up in Houston also)!
Anyone remember Milby Park and the great free Sunday rock bands....and the trail through the woods were all the dealers had the tables set up offering their various smokes and dopes??? |
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Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | Originally posted by moody, p.i.:
Hell son, look outside. See the dirt? I'm older than that Then I know you remember nickel bags and two dollar matchboxes! :cool: |
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Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | I also used to ride my bicycle on the big mounds of dirt that later become the 610 Freeway. Wow, haven't thought about that for years.
Moody, what high school did you grad from? |
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Location: East Tennessee | I bought my first Ovation in 1972. 12 string Pacemaker. I still have it and except for having the frets dressed once and the saddle reset to improve the intonation, it still sounds great. I also put a Martin thinline pickup in it in the eary 80's when I started to play out again.
Ovations are a workhorse and can take a lickin' and keep on pickin'. :D |
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Location: Houston, Texas | Originally posted by moody, p.i.:
Hell son, look outside. See the dirt? I'm older than that (at least my kids make me feel that way).
By the way, if you remember Parker Music in the old store, then do you remember the Town & Country Six Theaters, on West Belt? I used to be the head usher there. So treat me with respect..... Hah, yes I remember those little things. I was pretty much the only usher, but we had a humongously big balcony, which was never open because the theatre was so big they could never come close to filling it. We had a big winding stairway leading up to it that filled half the lobby. On slow nights I used to sneak up there with snack counter girl. :D |
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Location: Houston, Texas | Originally posted by stephent28:
I also used to ride my bicycle on the big mounds of dirt that later become the 610 Freeway. Wow, haven't thought about that for years.
Moody, what high school did you grad from? Now, YOU are older than dirt! When I was a teenager in high school ZZ Top released their first album with a song called 'Master of Sparks'.
"Out in the stix, on Hiway 6...".
Highway 6, back then was a two lane asphalt road with absolutely nothing but cow pastures and a very old but small graveyard with a single overhead light. Now its 3 and 4 lanes in each direction and nothing but subdivisions and strip shopping centers.
I spent most of my Friday and Saturday late nights back then out in the stix on hiway 6. There used to be a spillway at Barker dam where everyone gathered.
I'd bet Moody went to Westchester. I went to Memorial but was from one of the poorer families there. I never spent much time on your side of Houston but I remember that big Brook Mays sign on the way to Galveston. |
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Location: cincinnati, ohio | Wow You guys have been busy while I was out working in the yard. This is GREAT! This is what I love about the OFC-- when folks get rollin' and telling personal anecdotes, and connecting with people from the old hometown. On some level, all of us can relate. I can see more than one person out there smiling and nodding as they read these, remembering similar fond memories of their own-- or maybe not so fond, but falling into the "we'll laugh about this someday" category. Well, "someday" is today! I'm sitting here recalibrating my amp for the CS 257. Man, this is a BEAUTIFUL guitar, and it sounds great. Mark in Boise, it looks like this is the nutmeg color you described. Gorgeous top!
When I got my first Ovation in '71, the Balladeer, Ovations were still considered a really "radical" instrument. We used to play a couple of the local folk clubs back then, even though we were acoustic rockers in the Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young vein and not folkies. I would get the evil eye from more than one folk "purist." In later years, they would throw up their hands in horror at pickup-equipped guitars and refuse to plug you in, putting a guitar mic on you instead. People are funny..... |
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Location: cincinnati, ohio | Oh, I forgot-- Moody, you have a good point about "Ovations of any kind are meant to be played out." Maybe someday I'll treat myself to an Adamas or an Elite. Right now, though, I'm enjoying the new arrival. |
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Location: south east Michigan | Ovation Loyalty???
Guilty...guilty to a fault perhaps.
Got my sixth a couple days ago. I've never sold one of my Ovations. It has been suggested that I "broaden my horizons" and not dismiss the wood box models out of hand. I have played as many quality wood box guitars I could get my hands on. A couple days ago I again spent some time with the Doyle Dykes model Taylor. It's very, very nice...but it won't ever come home with me.
Obsesive?...perhaps. But it is a healthy, logical obsession backed with reason. My Ovations have been good to me and they more than enough varieties than I will ever need. |
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Location: Hicksville, NY | Congrats on your new guitar! :)
Ovation Loyalty? Hmm... as far as I know, I will always be loyal to Ovations, but somehow the Os doesn't like me much :( Since purchasing my one and only O, the others that followed were non-Os ... *sigh* perhaps, someday the odds will work in my favor ... |
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Location: cincinnati, ohio | Thanks for the congrats, Gil, and to everyone else who offered good wishes. Funny thing is, I can feel G.A.S. pains growing the more I play and enjoy this new guitar. I thought it was supposed to work the OTHER way around-- buying one was supposed to curb the urge. I find myself, in the words of John Fogerty's "Fortunate Son," wanting "MORE, MORE, MORE, Y'ALL!" |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | Rick, check out the pics of my daughter's 247 in my gallery. I love the big smile on her face when she got it at Christmas.
Brad, my wife suggested once that I was obsessive and should try something else. So I took that as permission to get an Adamas. I even have a witness to that conversation who now has 2 Ovations. I hope to start the Adamas line with a Ute. |
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Location: SoCal | Westchester, class of '73. But I didn't grow up in Texas. I just went to high school and college there (Austin). I came from California and moved back after college. |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | Punk kid. Colby, class of 71. |
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Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | Jones High, class of '72.
Damn Moody....did I ever bump into you running around naked with all the girls at hippy hollow?? :eek: :cool: :eek: |
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Location: cincinnati, ohio | Roger Bacon, Class of '68. Graduated during the Pleistocene Era. |
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Location: SoCal | I never went out to Hippy Hollow. But I did spend a lot of time in a cove on the Pedernales Rivrer. The cove with the big rope swing was just north of where we'd hang.
You guys are making me feel like a kid..... |
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Location: cincinnati, ohio | You ARE a kid. I got bunions older 'n you, ya young whippersnapper! |
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Location: SoCal | Thank you. |
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Location: cincinnati, ohio | Yer welcome, son. |
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Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | Moody or Joyful, what about Hamilton Pool. Great semi-unknown spot at the time. Supposedly formed from meteor....had the nice waterfall?
I heard that in later years it became more popular and the owner started charging addmission to get to it. |
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Location: NJ | I HAD typed out a lengthy post regarding the shop where my first Ovation (and SlotHead) came from, and even had a scan of a circa.1976 photo postcard depicting the showroom with a BUNCH of O's hanging on wall (along with a stack of the old MusicMan amps) . . .
. . . BUT . . . . this @&#$%^&*)(*&^% RubeGoldberg "Gallery" software won't let me post it! aaaaaarrrrrrrrrrggggggghhhhh!!!
I'll include it in the pics that I send to Jerome and "link" it at a later date . . . . |
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Location: Houston, Texas | I hadn't ever heard of Hamilton Pool and since I never spent much time in Austin I missed out on Hippy Hollow as well.
Yeah, you guys are old geisers, I graduated in '77. Lots and lots of memories from back then. Anyone remember concerts in the long since gone Sam Houston Coliseum? I also used to go there with my Dad to see Houston Apollo's hockey games.
BTW, Rick, congratulations on your new purchase. Sorry for kind of hijacking your thread. |
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Location: cincinnati, ohio | Thanks, Rick-- and no problem. I enjoy reading everybody's reminiscences. Takes me back, too. |
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Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | Hippy Hollow was great.....clothing optional but very rarily ever worn. All the old guys (at the time) would sit on the Pedernales river in their fancy boats with the telescopes and binoculars checking out all of our frolickin. Sigh....back in the day (if you were unlucky) when all STD's were curable.
I used to work for Harry Martin catering driving the mini-train and giving tours inside the zoo. This allowed me access to any HM catering and they just happened to have the contract for the Sam Houston Coliseum. This got me free access to all the concerts there...Zepplin, Hendrix, The Who, Rush, Grand Funk, etc., etc.,
Unfortunately, I was basically lazy and passed on a LOT of probably awesome concerts I wish I had gone to (the Doors being a perfect example). |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | Originally posted by stephent28:
Hippy Hollow was great.....clothing optional. All the old guys would sit with the telescopes and binoculars checking out all of our frolickin. An the reason Texas has among the most comprehensive obscenity statutes on the books. |
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Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | Glad to believe I had a part in helping to define them :D |
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Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | Azusa High, class of 69. And proud of it. |
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Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | Where the hell is Azusa? Is that in Texas? |
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Location: NJ | Didn't you ever watch old Bugs Bunny cartoons??
The obigatory "TrainStation" scene:
". . . now boarding for Anaheim, . . . Azusa, . . .
. . . and Coo-cah-mung-gah!! . . ." |
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Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | No
more of a Betty Boop kind of guy. |
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Location: NJ | that explains a lot . . . |
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Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | well I wouda said Looney Tunes but........ |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | like failing to make that "left turn at Albuquerque" |
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Location: SoCal | That train call didn't originate with the Bugs Bunny cartoon. It was orginally part of a Jack Benny radio skit although it was probably Mel Blanc who did both.... |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | "Jack" who????? |
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Location: NJ | At least SOMEbody knew what the f@ck I was talking about . . . |
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Location: Upper Left USA | Had you spelled obligatory more better I may have had a chance! |
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Location: NJ | oopsie . . . |
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Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | and I knew exactly what you were talking about...before I forgot. |
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Location: CT | What is your 'Rolls'? I would play out with any Ovation, even Adamii. To me, the whole brand is a 'Lexus'. I don't mean that as an insult, they are great guitars that are meant to be played. I've played my Custom Legend out since I got it in '83, and it still looks new. I know a guy who bought an Olsen about 15 years ago for $4,000, and recently turned down an offer for $10,000 for it. He loaned it to a guy and got it back with a big scratch across the top. OUCH. Some of these 'boutique' guitars are out of this world, and cost more than my car. I wouldn't want to play those out, but I can't afford one anyway. |
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Location: CT | Oh, and about your G.A.S., we all have it to some degree. My wife's friend was over the other day and said "...are all those YOUR gutars?..." while looking at my paltry 6 cases. I didn't want to tell her I was aching for more but just can't afford them. I should have told her how many guitars some of YOU guys have, I would have looked like a guitarless monk. |
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Location: NJ | I'll (very)"periodically" use the Slothead at gigs (usually solo gigs at a quiet venue where I can mic it properly, or things like weddings where it's a nice, quiet room). It has to be a place where I can ensure it's safety, and warrants the use of an "unplugged" acoustic.
At the last Tour, Schroeder was slightly amazed that I allowed the guitar to get "passed around" at one of the HotelJams.
I told him that if there was EVER a group that I SHOULD be able to trust with it, it was THIS one.
(Besides, if anything HAD happened to it, I knew everyone's room number, and could easily kill them in their sleep . . . .) |
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Location: cincinnati, ohio | As far as it goes, I personally don't have a "Rolls"--although back in the day when I got the Balladeer and the Pacemaker, they were toward the top of the line, albeit without electronics. My "Lexus" is my new CS 257 (and I don't mean that as an insult either-- a Lexus is a fine car). Since I've always been rather "cash-challenged," I've always been nervous about taking a really nice guitar into some of the environments in which I play. While I'd feel bad if ANY of my guitars got beat up, I'd feel REALLY bad about an Adamas getting hammered. I've always babied my guitars, even as much as I play out; my oldest guitar, my '71 Balladeer, has a couple of barely visible "character nicks" and a scratch on the bowl that I've managed to cover.
Now -- I don't mean to sound like I go play in a bunch of dives-- I don't. I don't play as many bars anymore (I've managed to find a steady source of private gigs, country clubs, nice restaurants and clubs), but I'll take a bar gig from time to time because the money's usually good-- and bars can get rowdy. There's only been one time in all my years of playing that I've actually thought, "Hey, I could get hurt here." But other things can happen. People get lit up, they get happy, and they want to dance to the fast songs. I had a "dancing" (lurching and staggering would be a more accurate description) drunk knock my Peavey Ecoustic amp off its stand with the thunderous crash that can only be generated by a spring reverb (fortunately the amp was ok-- it's a boat anchor). I've had to deal with the irate parents of a toddler; they thought he was just so cute when he was up there banging on the strings of my Ibanez AE18 sitting on a guitar stand while I was on break, and couldn't understand why I got upset when their little rugrat knocked it off the stand and chipped a piece out of the binding in the back (I saw it coming but just couldn't get back up there fast enough). I usually take the Ibanez if I'm really concerned about a guitar possibly getting beat up (sorry, Hoshino!); ironically, this wasn't one of those times. For some reason I just grabbed the Ibanez that day. I was glad I did. Maybe I'm just overly protective, I don't know.
As far as G.A.S. goes, I'm REALLY down on the list. I have three real guitars and an Ibanez (just kidding, Hoshino-- I like the "I", too-- just not as much as my Ovations). |
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Location: CT | Well, I admit, I never actually played to a drunken bar crowd, when I played it was usually more a subdued crowd, and now only at church. If I did, I'd put the O in the case during a break. If I knew it was going to get out of control before hand, yes I'd leave the Custom Legend at home. Touche. |
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Location: cincinnati, ohio | Putting the guitar in the case on breaks would probably be the intelligent thing to do. Unfortunately, my lazy butt overrides my brain. It seems like a lot of trouble to unplug, take off the strap, etc., but that would really be the wise thing to do. |
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Location: NJ | You take "breaks" ? . . . |
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Location: cincinnati, ohio | Not often. I once played seven hours straight at a farm in Walton-Verona, Kentucky. That was a fun gig. They had this great, huge outdoor stage built into a huge barn. It's a beautiful place with a lake and woods and a chalet. It's owned by a fan of mine who became a friend, and he hired me to do a private party there. In the 1950's this place was a stop on the Louisiana Hayride, a live country music radio program that went on tour throughout the eastern states and the midwest. There's a big picture hanging over the fireplace in the chalet of a performance out on that stage. It shows this kid from Tennessee with slicked-back hair and his combo-- the kid's name was Elvis Presley. So I was pumped. They finally asked me to stop playing around 2:00 AM because the audience was dropping off to sleep. Seven hours IS a long time to spend at a concert. Got my own picture taken on that stage! |
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Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | Did you repeat any songs? :D |
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Location: cincinnati, ohio | No, actually, unless I got a request for something from someone who arrived late. I've been called a classic rock "human jukebox." I guess I know about 220 songs by heart (although that number has been dwindling slightly in recent years due to loss of memory cells)and I have this thick binder with lead sheets for about another 200 in there. They're mounted in protective plastic sleeves with looseleaf holes in them to keep weather (and spilled beer) off them. So, between those two resources, I can go a long time without repeating a song. |
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Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | Sorry, I lost track of this thread. Azusa is east of Los Angeles by about 20 miles, up against the foothills. Route 66 runs right through it. Cucamonga merged with Alta Loma and Etiwanda to become Rancho Cucamonga and sits east of Azusa by another 15 miles. Elvis never played Azusa. Nobody ever played Azusa, except the Surfaris who lived next door in Glendora. And the Boxtops came at the height of their career for a school concert. Can't remember what we paid them, but it wasn't much. Life was easy and cheap back then. We all were. |
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OVATION LOYALTY