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| Hi, I was doing some research on a guitar a friend has, and can't get a difinitive answer on the year of it.
Kaman ka17 sn 016xxx
On your sn finder, it is missing the section that covers this number, but would indicate 1973 if chronological
Yet on another site, the ka17 is listed as 1980.
Ovation says it is a student level guitar and they didn't keep real good records on those.
Does anybody have any solid info on this model as to what year?
Also, is the ka17 a nylon string only guitar?
Thanks much. |
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Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | Nope. It's a steel-string guitar, with a wide neck, and 12-frets-to-the-body. It is, and was, a student-level instrument. It has a plastic top, with the molded, deep-bowl back.
As one of our astute members termed it, "It's 'wrong' on so many levels, and sounds a lot better than it should."
It is quite a collector's item, really.
As to the year, it appears you are on the right track. It's at least 25 years old. |
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Location: 6 String Ranch | this is an Academy, right? 79-81 time frame |
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Location: Phoenix AZ | Someplace I've got a production run sheet on them. Bill's right it was 79-80 timeframe.
Don't forget the braces! It HAS NONE. At least not in the traditional sense. The top has "braces" made from the same or similar material as the top. The "braces" are molded right in with the top.
KA14 is a paddle head version with Aluminum fretboard. Basically a 12 fret wideneck version of the Matrix neck/fretboard. KA17 is a 12-fret slothead version with rosewood fretboard. Both are 1-7/8 width and were made in cream-white or grey-blue color. Some had height adjustable saddles. They were designed for steel strings, but as it was a student guitar a large number seemed to have ended up being string with nylon. They actually sound great with nylons.
Dave |
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Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | There, you have it. Enjoy. I think Beal suggested Silk & Steel is a good choice for strings, also. |
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| Hey thanks guys. I thought it played fine.
As for the serial number, did they change the runs? or formats?
The serial number is such that it would indicate being made in 1973.
The numbers that are for 79-80 are completly different in form.
Also this does not say ovation on it anywhere.
This is a six number sequence, no hyphons, spaces, letters.
Is there no documentation on this model?
Ovation doesn't have anything definitive.
Well, happy hunting, hope something is out there for it. If it is a student guitar, how much can it be worth?
Thanks |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | Originally posted by Gallerinski:
Don't forget the braces! It HAS NONE. At least not in the traditional sense. The top has "braces" made from the same or similar material as the top. The "braces" are molded right in with the top.
Dave Technology CompositeAcoustics, currently lists as a unique feature of their high-end models. |
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Location: SoCal | Originally posted by Gallerinski:
KA17 is a 12-fret slothead version with rosewood fretboard. Some had height adjustable saddles. I dug one out in the garage. It has the adjustable saddle.
Is there a drop-in conventional saddle replacement? |
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Location: Phoenix AZ | Originally posted by noah:
Is there a drop-in conventional saddle replacement? I think you'd have to fabricate something. |
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Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | IDK, I kinda like screwing in the saddle. OOPS, sorry. |
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Location: SoCal | I prefer the backseat of the car, but then I'm not a horse person.... |
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Location: Brisbane Australia | More of a dog person???
ROFL :D
Sorry Paul, couldn't resist
BTW Deb says hi
AJ |
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Location: GA USA | Ahem.
snail, as to its worth... it IS a collector's item, mainly to the collectors who frequent this board and have found out in just the past two years how good they sound. And it's a rare find. But in terms of money, not an awful lot. If you were looking to sell it, you might get around $100 or a little more. If it has any issues, probably less. But that's 3X what they brought 2 years ago, before we started buzzing about it.
So I'd say $75-$125. Any body disagree? |
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Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | no, sir. sorry, my repartee was a bit off-colour.
I think the guys had some fun with my KA-17 at the NW Gathering, recently. |
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Location: 6 String Ranch | Capt, you in the range I think and you summed it up correctly. |
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Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | I have had a KA-17 in my possession for a few weeks now. I think the owner is coming by to pick it up sometime, but I don't think I'm gonna be home :)
The only thing I have to say is that this guitar plays and sounds waaaaay better than it should.
Is it an Adamas, well no. But, it's decent and nearly indestructible. What's really kewl about it now (and I really want one of my own for this reason) is you can draw on it, do pictures, whatever, with a dry erase. The dry-erase technology wasn't where it was today when this guitar came out. But that would have been a groovy selling point. Today, sell it with a set of dry-erase markers and they wouldn't be able to build them fast enough. |
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Location: GA USA | There you go, snail. Between this and the other Academy thread, we've gotten testimonials from the two people in the world who know these guitars best, and declarations of "I want one" from two high end Ovation collectors. So if you were thinking about selling, now may be the best chance you will ever have.
Depending on color and headstock variation, the value could be different. Even if don't want to sell, it would be great if you'd post pictures for us to see. We like to know all about every noteworthy Ovation that's out there. |
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Kaman ka17