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Posts: 12761
Location: Boise, Idaho | I just read Mike's post about my 7000th post being a good one and decided to start a new thread again about the Lost Art Vintage Koa Collector. Maybe it's good karma that number 7 of 12 arrives just in time for post 7000.
Anyway, it is a beautiful guitar. Al's pictures did not do it justice. He had too much sun that day. Should have taken a lesson from Damon when we were at Miles. The wood is much darker and figured. Mine has a couple of dark grains and a nice bookmatched swirl, with a lot of what reminds me of flame maple throughout.
I only had a few minutes last night to tune it up (yes, the dummy plug is a pain, but one came with the guitar) and play it a bit. I'll eventually take a shim out, but it plays and sounds like a deep bowl Ovation should. Maybe a bit more crisp and woody sounding than my Folklore. I'll do a side by side later. I suspect the Koa will loosen up a bit.
The workmanship is impeccable and I checked it over pretty closely. By this weekend, I should have some time to try to figure out the VIP and give it some good playing time. I have one more guitar than I have wall hangers now, so some modifications to the music room are in order. I'd like to hang all the 12 fretters together, but don't have room.
I was thinking about how this Ovation collection has gone over the top. I don't remember thinking that before, but maybe I just forgot. Then I figured that this is one very unusual, special guitar. Koa, contour bowl with the side sound hole. It is really very different from all my other Ovations. Thank you again Al for taking the time to make these available. With only one 12 fretter left and a few 14 fretters, someone else needs to get off the fence and get one. |
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Posts: 5881
Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | Good comments, Mark. If you ever play out with it, folks who are familiar with Ovation products are always very puzzled and ask lots of questions. It is, as you said, unlike anything else produced by Ovation. Al has the grounded xlr cables if you prefer not using the dummy plug. |
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Posts: 12761
Location: Boise, Idaho | I got one of the grounded xlr cables from Al. I haven't plugged it in yet. I had to use the dummy plug to turn on the tuner. That probably would have taken me forever to figure out, if I hadn't anticipated it from reading this board. The OP Pros don't need that.
Not likely I'll play out soon, but I'll play around with the VIP and my amps this weekend. |
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Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | No doubt, they ARE sweet looking. for the short time I had Waskel's, I felt it really liked fingerstyle. Should be a good fit. Enjoy. |
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Posts: 6996
Location: Jet City | Congrats again Mark. You have to start up a few more posts on your Koa I think so I can congratulate you a few more times.
You know, I can pop in an OpPro on the 2080 and not worry about that silly plug. If you use the VIP's tuner, just remember to pull the plug or you'll wonder why you battery keeps needing replaced.
Woody had the 14 didn't he? I sure had a good time with that one up at the gathering. |
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Posts: 1889
Location: Central Massachusetts | Mark, nicely done on the Koa. Next up, Redwood!
Oh, and...
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Posts: 12761
Location: Boise, Idaho | Yes, Woody has the 14. I didn't spend nearly enough time with it. Seems like your 1537 kept calling me, Damon.
Pics will follow, David. Maybe this weekend. I need a cloudy day so I can get the color right, but we haven't had many of those lately. I don't have an external flash, so I'm afraid the indoor flash pictures will wash out the color.
I think it will be a long time till a Redwood. This is getting crazy. 7000 posts and 16 guitars. I need to get a life. |
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Location: Omaha, NE | Congratulations! I'm sure you will love it.
And if #2 is any indication, you can expect it to open up a TON! Mine was pretty tight at first. It really didn't bloom for several months. |
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Posts: 10583
Location: NJ | only one more 12 fret left until they are gone gone gone forever. |
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Posts: 4413
| So no pressure then.... |
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Posts: 12761
Location: Boise, Idaho | There's nothing special about being second last. Somebody go for the DLBF (dead last but finished) trophy. Then you can do your own review and post pics and I won't have to do it. |
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Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | (sniff . . .) |
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Posts: 4413
| Cliffie - just give up drinking for a week and buy it.... |
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Location: NJ | It's not the drinking, it's the $600/month for my daughter's HealthInsurance that keeps me "in the hole" . . . |
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| Send her to live here - it's free. |
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Location: NJ | Screw THAT!!! . . I'll just move there mySELF!. |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | I'm quite certain there are extradition agreements in place. |
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Posts: 4413
| Just building a new shed. Anytime.
We can offer 2 Adamii, 2 Ovations, plus another 7 guitars that should cover any requirements you might have (apart from an original slothead). Including a flamenco guitar that would buy you 2 original slotheads,
And only 10 hours from Temp.
All you have to do by way of rent is say every time SWMBO enters the room "Why schro, you have almost NO guitars". |
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| Downside is jw is coming to stay. |
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Posts: 12761
Location: Boise, Idaho | Kids are expensive. My oldest is sort of self-supporting, if that's what you call living in the woods of Northern California with her hippie, drummer boyfriend. She's getting one of the guitars that will make room for the LAV Koa. I suppose I should be saving up for bail money or an intervention, but I prefer to pretend that I'm optimistic and carefree. |
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Posts: 11840
Location: closely held secret | Originally posted by schroeder:
Downside is jw is coming to stay. Upside is we're forever in your debt. |
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Posts: 4413
| Please don't post this kind of stuff - my daughter is 15 and so far we're safe.
For all her life I've been telling her that boys are stupid, smelly and pathetic. So far it's the only thing I've told her that she believes. I don't want to read anything that says she might develop her own opinions on this.
I mean, guys, be honest - do you really want your daughter going out with a guy??????? |
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Posts: 11840
Location: closely held secret | Originally posted by schroeder:
For all her life I've been telling her that boys are stupid, smelly and pathetic. And we admire you for being the example for all of us. |
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Posts: 4413
| My pleasure.
But let's not forget she has a brother who helps with the general picture of male idiocy. We all play our part.
Be honest - if you look a 1000 years into the future who is more likely to have turned out to be surplus to requirements, men or women? |
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Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | Tyrannopenis Rex |
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| You are uninvited.
(Unless you bring tax paid Benedettos and Rappahanock wine)> |
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Posts: 13303
Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | Originally posted by cliff:
It's not the drinking, it's the $600/month for my daughter's HealthInsurance that keeps me "in the hole" . . . Cliff, send me some info. Maybe I can offer some suggestions to help lower that a bit. |
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Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | Thanks Stephen, but since she finished school, she's riding-out(I'm paying-out) the COBRA on my Plan (and there'd be a lot of extenuating circumstances if we "changed") . . .
Back to this guitar . . .
. . where's the pics Mark?? |
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March 2005
Posts: 12761
Location: Boise, Idaho | Weekend isn't here yet. I spent this evening trying to figure out the VIP. Where is the list of models?
I did a comparison with the Folklore. It has Clapton's Choice strings and is set lower, so it's not apples to apples, but the Koa had much more punch. Not really volume, just a much more crisp sound. Also seemed to have more bass, but it might just be the difference in placement of the soundholes. Definitely a sound difference to go with the difference in looks. Glad I didn't just get a fancy Folklore for 7 times what I paid for the Folklore. |
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Posts: 5881
Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | Mark, as I recall, a number of us discussd our preferred settings on the VIP some time ago. I haven't messed with it for awhile so it just stays where its at, but my recollection is that I preferred options 2 and 4, with the imaging mixed in at about 30% or even a bit lower. |
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Posts: 1126
Location: Omaha, NE | That's pretty much where I am too. I leave it on image #2 all the time, and might go up to as much as 50% on the slider or down to around 10%, depending on my mood and where we are playing. |
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March 2005
Posts: 12761
Location: Boise, Idaho | The manual says something like the 5 images are listed on a hang tag. My hang tag didn't have any listed. I searched, but didn't find a list of the image selections for this. Anyone know what they're supposed to be? I probably won't plug in enough to remember which ones I like, so I'll just leave it alone, but it would be nice to know what they are supposed to sound like.
I have DSP on my Crate Acoustic, too, so I can get some effects from that. I haven't tried it with the guitar's DSP combined with the amp DSP to see what that does. |
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Posts: 1126
Location: Omaha, NE | That's what we call Double Digital Signal Processing, or DDSP. And any time you are dealing with "Double-D", its all good. |
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Location: big island | check the archives. there have been at least a couple threads listing the VIP settings. i think paul t had posted them previously also. |
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Posts: 12761
Location: Boise, Idaho | I tried several searches, but didn't go back to the archives. I guess these have been out for awhile. |
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February 2005
Posts: 11840
Location: closely held secret | I knew it was back there somewhere (originally posted by Matt).
These are for the 2006C Koa:
1 Large diaphram condensor Contour cutaway Figured Koa Multi Sound Hole, Elite style
2 Dynamic Contour cutaway Figured Koa Multi Sound Hole, Elite style
3 Large diaphram condensor Deep Cutaway Uni-directional composite graphite Multi Sound Hole, Elite style
4 Large diaphram condensor Deep Non-cutaway AAA Spruce Center Sound Hole, Legend Style
5 Dynamic Deep Non-cutaway AAA Spruce Center Sound Hole, Legend Style |
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Posts: 12761
Location: Boise, Idaho | Thanks, John. I would never have guessed. |
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Posts: 12761
Location: Boise, Idaho | 
Here's one, but now I have to figure out how to downsize the pics. |
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November 2003
Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | sexy thang. |
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March 2005
Posts: 12761
Location: Boise, Idaho | 
This is a little better. I'll have to try more to see if I've got the hang of it. |
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March 2005
Posts: 12761
Location: Boise, Idaho | 
Now I'll forget how to do this for another year. |
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7000 posts and LAV Koa