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Location: Ottawa Canada | I am the current owner of a guitar that has many stories that came with it but not one of them have been confirmed so I will not repeat them.
I have a 1983 Elite 1537 and love it. I would like to get as much information about this guitar that I can, and so far all I have is the year of mfg. The serial number is SN301192 and am told it is a stage model. It has a round access hole in the back and 2 guitar plug in's, one marked mono and the other stereo.
This baby plays like no other guitar I have even played or held before and has turned me into a true Ovation fan.
Could anyone tell me how to find out Who or What store it was originally sold to, or other than writing Ovation which I have done, how to find out more about its past.
Thank You
Jim |
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Posts: 11840
Location: closely held secret | Welcome, Jim!
I can't tell you who the original owner of a 25 year old guitar might have been (someone else here might be able to tell you how to find out), but I can say you have one of the best models to ever leave the factory. |
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Location: SoCal | Welcome Jim. Yours is a very early 1537, built in late 82 or early 83. You may not be able to find out what the story is on the guitar, but what's your story with it? How long have you had it? Where did you buy it? What kind of music do you play? What other guitars do you have?
At the factory, if the guitar warrenty was sent in by the original owner, then they have a card with that owners info. But it's in a huge card file (this was before computers) and somebody's got to go thru it by hand to find that card. They won't give you any info on the owner (gotta protect his id), but they can tell you where and when the guitar was originally purchased. But it does take time and the search is not a high priority (giving great service on guitar repairs is job 1!).
Can you post some pics of your guitar? The only real difference on the early 1537's is where the battery holder is located.
Almost all Ovations are stage guitars. But the 1537 is one of the very best wood topped Ovations ever built, whether you are talking about the quality of the build, the details of the build, the ease of playability, or the sound. You have a great guitar. Go out and play it in this world of Martins and Taylors and be prepared to have people blown away..... |
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| Welcome to board, Jim. That is one mighty fine guitar you have there (speaking as another 1537 owner). That's a relatively rare and highly desirable model among Ovation cognoscenti, often called the "wood-top Adamas" because of its beautiful tone and incredible volume.
I can't tell you the provenance of your particular guitar, and it might be difficult if not impossible to trace its travels, but you'd be hard pressed to find a better-sounding Ovation. Check out the Ovation Gallery . If an OFC member once owned it they might have registered that serial number. These particular guitars have a way of being passed around among the membership here - but not mine, it's found its last home.
Oh, and unless you're selling this one, this post would've been better off in the General section, rather than the For Sale. Stick around and enjoy the craziness here. Don't let some of these goofballs scare you off, they're (mostly) harmless. And if you get a chance, try to hook up with one of the numerous OFC Gatherings taking place. You'll get a chance to meet a bunch of great folks and play some seriously nice Ovations and Adamii (just check out some of the photos of previous Gatherings). |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | Use the search function for 1537 and you'll find plenty of threads on this guitar. I don't know if I'm a "cognoscenti" or not, because I don't know what that means, but the 1537 is one of the most popular models among the Ovation fans. |
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| An attorney who doesn't know Latin?!?!? ;)
cognoscente
noun
plural: co·gno·scen·ti
Etymology: obsolete Italian (now conoscente), from cognoscente, adjective, wise, from Latin cognoscent-, cognoscens, present participle of cognoscere
: a person who has expert knowledge in a subject : connoisseur |
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Location: Marlton, NJ | Originally posted by g8r:
... obsolete Italian... Heeeyyy! |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | Attorneys, and probably others, learn Latin so that people don't understand them, but may be foolish enough to be impressed. At least that's my excuse for not learning it. |
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Location: Florida Central Gulf Coast | You guys are killing me. The more I hang around here being exposed to your knowledge, the more GAS I get! (I know, take two Adami and post in the morning...)
I love that 1537 sunburst!  |
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| Learning Latin - the nuns gave me no choice, as my knuckles may attest. |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | You must be really old, Serge. Weren't those meter sticks and pointers a bitch? We didn't need to learn Latin, but we could say a lot of the words without knowing what they meant until they changed the Mass to English. My mother had years of Latin in high school, but could never really explain why.
Oops. Back to 1537s. Incomparable. |
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Location: Ottawa Canada | I have had this for less than 24 hours and most of it I could not sleep because I had to get back out of bed and play it more.
I live in Ottawa Canada and an older well known musician in the area called me on a guitar I had for sale, and proceeded to tell me about this guitar he had being the Ovation and how he wanted it to go to someone who would continue to play and enjoy it.[ Glad he never mentioned a good player or I would have never earned it ] We made a deal and exchange on guitars and honestly we both knew he gave me a huge deal on it. Bought it home and have hardly set it down since, I can honestly say my search for my ultimate guitar is over, I would never believe I could find a guitar that exceeds my every expectation.
I play country/rock Eagles type music and mostly play bass. My other acoustic was my previous bragger before this is a Epiphone J-200 which for $285.00 including case and in mint condition was a gold mine [ I always figured nobody makes a better copy of a Gibson than Gibson ]
Thanks for all of the replys and will be on here a bunch now.
Oh by the way the story on this guitar is that it Once belonged to Jerry Reed and was given to him while he played on the Glen Campbell show, and honestly I dont care if it is true or not cause it dont make a spit of difference on how this baby plays.
Jim |
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Posts: 5575
Location: big island | well...that is quite a story on your 1537 and, if true, it couldn't get much better than that.
oh yeah...aloha and welcome to the OFC jim! there are several canadians in our membership. |
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Location: closely held secret | Congrats on a great deal on an excellent guitar!
That story might have some problems. Glen's show went off the air 9 years before the guitar made built... |
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Location: big island | leave it to the waskelly wabbit to pop the balloon. ;) |
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Location: NJ | ". . Once belonged to Jerry Reed . ."
Oh, Christ!!! . . . Moody just had t'go change his shorts . . . |
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Location: SoCal | Wabbit, Campbell had a show on in 82-83 that was a half hour music show, no variety. He was playing his 1537 prototype, and Reed was a guest on the show one night. The story may very well be true.
Goober might know. Where the hell's that boy when you need him..... |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | My 1537 was also a stage guitar supposedly and came from Canada. I couldn't get some of those French stickers off the case. It was also allegedly mint when Noah bought it off ebay, but that turned out not to be true. It was pretty minty when Noah sold it to me, though. Maybe I should do a little investigating into mine. Don't think I could afford Moody, though. |
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Location: NJ | ". . no variety . ."
THERE's a rave review . . . |
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Location: Ottawa Canada | Well the story did originate from Nashville and from a in house musician on the Grand ol Oprey |
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Location: Ottawa Canada | Those french stickers leave a bad taste in your mouth when you try and bite them off, and you have to watch that the of ribbet does'nt come into your vocabulary/ |
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Location: closely held secret | Oh... yeah. Forgot about the second one. My apologies, Jim! |
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Location: Ottawa Canada | I do have pictures just dont know how or where to post, you know us Nortern Yankees you have to tell us everything. |
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Location: closely held secret | Picture posting instructions . |
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Location: SoCal | Originally posted by cliff:
". . no variety . ."
THERE's a rave review . . . Bite me..... |
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Location: CA | Regarding Jerry Reed — if you type his name into YouTube.com you will get all sorts of old vids of him, a few even with Glen Campbell, although I don't know if it was on the GC show or not. FWIW, none of them show him playing an Ovation, but MANY of them show him playing some sort of unidentified acoustic that appears as though he made cutaway out of a full-bodied guitar — It looks as though he actually sawed the thing off and patched a few pieces of wood over the holes. Pretty crude. Here's a video that shows the guitar, as well as JR's odd picking technique where he doesn't use his index finger. The guy was a maestro tho! |
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Location: CA | Regarding Jerry Reed — if you type his name into YouTube.com you will get all sorts of old vids of him, a few even with Glen Campbell, although I don't know if it was on the GC show or not. FWIW, none of them show him playing an Ovation, but MANY of them show him playing some sort of unidentified acoustic that appears as though he made cutaway out of a full-bodied guitar — It looks as though he actually sawed the thing off and patched a few pieces of wood over the holes. Pretty crude. Here's a video that shows the guitar, as well as JR's odd picking technique where he doesn't use his index finger. The guy was a maestro tho! |
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Location: CA | Oops, forgot the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni8KBhnebwE |
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Location: GATLINBURG TENNESSEE :) | There must be something to playing without one of your fingers. Phil Keaggy did it quite well also.
Phil Keaggy on Youtube |
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Location: GATLINBURG TENNESSEE :) | OH MY ... Check this one out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwq0i6jP7dQ&feature=related |
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Location: GATLINBURG TENNESSEE :) | Sorry ... I got off topic, but this guy is amazing! |
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Location: closely held secret | Yes, he is. You should see him do it live sometime. |
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Location: GATLINBURG TENNESSEE :) | I'm really sorry, but I've never seen ANYTHING like this ...
Phil ... Salvation Army Band |
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Location: SoCal | Originally posted by Oddball:
..but MANY of them show him playing some sort of unidentified acoustic that appears as though he made cutaway out of a full-bodied guitar — It looks as though he actually sawed the thing off and patched a few pieces of wood over the holes. Pretty crude. Here's a video that shows the guitar, as well as JR's odd picking technique where he doesn't use his index finger. The guy was a maestro tho! That guitar is an old Baldwin that the Prismatone p/u in it. He did have it modified as a cutaway. He loved that guitar and played it a lot. He former guitar player, Paul Yandell has it now.
As to his picking, when he really got going, he'd tuck his 1st finger up and out of the way, using his thumbpick, middle, and ring finger.
It's sad to say this while he's still alive, but he WAS one helluva a great picker. A true original. A lot of today's great pickers took what he did and ran with it...... |
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| I remember seeing Jerry Reed play with Campbell at the Curtis Hixon convention center in Tampa, back when the Breadwinner was a new guitar. Reed played some blues medleys. That was quite a long time ago... |
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Location: East Wenatchee, WA | Jim,
I too have a 1537 that I have owned since about 1995 or so. It was only my second "real" guitar with a very nice Korean Fender being my first. All others were $30, make your fingers bleed, specials. I thought the Fender was as good as it gets, until I tried the O. I was a full blown convert.
True story that in about 2002, I decided that since I could afford an expensive guitar, I should have one. So, the wife and I packed up the 1537 (too trade it off) went to a GC in the Seattle area, and sat in the "expensive room" for about two hours, sampling Taylors, Martins and anything else they three at me. Played them all in comparison to the 1537.
When we were done, my bride looked at me and said, "explain to me again, why you want one of these".
Well, I did buy a couple of Adamii since then, now owning a 2080. I am also a bass player first, rythym player second. When I want sheer overpowering wood tones and volume, I pull out the 1537 and send the Martin and Taylor boys running for their amplifiers.
Sweet instrument. If you don't have finish cracks yet (just got my first when I took it to Yellowstone a few years ago), make sure you humidify it, although where you live, it may not be as much of a problem. They are harmless, but pristine examples do seem to get a premium should you ever go to sell it. |
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Ovation 1537 Elite