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Posts: 888
Location: Louisville, OH 44641 | FOR SALE: VERY CLEAN 1537
As many of you know, I recently purchased a beautiful burst from Dave Witko. I love the burst and the 1537's but this means I have to let go of my NATURAL 1537. It is in excellent condition. Check my gallery for detailed pics. If you enjoy the natural 1537's, this is a great one. There are no finish cracks anywhere and the scratches are minimal. It is not a fixer upper. The fretts are in great shape, the neck is straight and the tone is wonderful. Don't forget it is a stereo guitar and all electronics work nicely. The case is in good shape.
Here are the minor flaws:
Ther is a tiny chip missing from one of the wooden knobs (see picture in gallery...it is tiny). The paint on the back was touched up around the access hole. The touch up paint matches and adheres well and doesn't look as bad as what the picture shows. The case is in good condition but is missing the small strap inside that prevents the lid from falling over.
Asking $975 + shipping/2 (in Continental US)
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Posts: 659
Location: Hiram, Georgia | Very Nice Jim, Good price too! I hope someone near me gets it, I'd like to do a side by side with my 1537 also in natural, btw mine is an '84...phil |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | Looks just like mine, too. Now that you have the sunburst you won't be just like us. |
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Posts: 1421
Location: Orange County, California | Let me just make one comment. I got the C2078LX back from loan to my brother in law. Did my usual, clean it up, string it up routine, and I have been enjoying playing it, noting it's amazingly well balanced tone, etc. Then, I picked up my 1537....
I even played a little 3 chord rif to my wife, first on the Custom Elite, then the 1537, just to make sure it wasn't just my imagination. She asked "why is that one so much louder?", referring to the 1537. It is 150% more guitar than anything except maybe a textured top Adamas. Total Martin Killer. Seriously. Play a coffee shop gig with it, and you wont need a PA. You will need to learn to sing louder, but that's another problem. If anyone is one the fence about this, or is thinking "I don't really need another Elite", trust me. You do, and this is a great deal on a fine example. |
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Location: big island | dangit stellarjim,
you have email or soon will... |
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Posts: 555
Location: Wooster, Ohio | Played this one last week over at Jims. It really is exceptional. Not just the tone, which is awesome but the neck and set up just feels right. I can't imagine that anyone would be disappointed with this one.
Steve |
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Posts: 403
Location: Thailand | Jim, you have an email! |
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Posts: 659
Location: Hiram, Georgia | probably the best wood top Ovation ever made, less then $1000, great opportunity...
Back in Nov. when the humidity changed in this area I was really getting into my 1778LX, I just kept going to it, but whenever I'd pick up the 1537, I just shake my head, these truly have a mystical quality about them!!! phil |
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Posts: 5576
Location: big island | just stop it! i'm already dehydrated from all the drooling i've been doing. and i told myself no more wood top guitars but i just can't afford another adamas right now. i need a guitar with acoustic volume and it seems this one might fill the bill. plus it's good lookin' too. |
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Posts: 2503
Location: Fayetteville, NC | Hey JustBaby the wood top guitars and you'll be fine. Now..go Drink some water and come back when you're hydrated! :D |
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Location: South of most, North of few | Jim, ya just had to post pictures of it, didn't ya? :mad: |
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Posts: 713
Location: Alberta, Canada | OOOOH....soooo....nice. Do you have a lay-away plan? :)
I better turn this off. I can't afford Gas right now. Damn it all anyway!
Jim, I would be most willing to store that for you. Wouldn't even cost you anything. :)
Dave |
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Posts: 888
Location: Louisville, OH 44641 | SOLD! I want to thank everyone for their interest and support. It's always great working with this group because I know everyone here understands and appreciates the O's.
Jim |
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Location: big island | :cool: |
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Location: Warren,Pa. | So who got it??? |
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Location: Warren,Pa. | I see now. |
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Location: Hiram, Georgia | Congrats Lanaki, Nice one...phil |
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Location: big island | mahalo, phil! i have ovation elation. |
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Location: Thailand | Congrats Lanaki & Jim |
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Location: big island | thanks povation! i know you were in line right after me. |
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Location: Round Rock, TX | Nice, Lanaki, very nice. Congratulations. |
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Location: Thailand | You're the lucky owner!Lanaki |
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Location: South of most, North of few | Lanaki, my wife thanks you. It was close, but the gas passed. (Congrats, BTW) |
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Location: big island | when i was speaking with stellarjim on the phone, i heard his wife in the background telling him she wanted to deliver the guitar to me. :D |
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Location: big island | mahalo, wilblee and jp. |
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Posts: 888
Location: Louisville, OH 44641 | Randy:
My wife has her bags packed and is ready to deliver your guitar. She's got a Google map to your house and has the inside of the guitar packed with Dove chocolate bars. Funny thing is that she hasn't invited me yet!?
Jim |
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Location: big island | Won't that be a mess! The guitar is coming from cold Ohio to tropical Hawaii full of chocolate bars.
No problem, Dove is my favorite "over-the-counter" brand of chocolate, especially the dark ones. I suppose the chocolate is for my wife though to soften her up about me gettin' another guitar. Good thinkin', Mrs. Stellarjim! Since you ain't comin', Jim, I'll have to escort your wife around to the ukulele shops. |
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Posts: 2503
Location: Fayetteville, NC | Uh.. You plan on doing this all alone??!!
I just don't know if this is a good idea! :) ;)
Congrats on the guitar by the way.I know you'll enjoy it. |
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Location: big island | thanks, steve. i am really looking forward to the day of its arrival.
my wife knows ukuleles well too. i'll let her do the escorting. |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | Congrats, Lanaki. This is the cream of the crop. |
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Location: big island | Mahalos Mark! I appreciate the kudos coming from you based on what you have in your collection :) |
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Posts: 12761
Location: Boise, Idaho | The 1537 was one of my first "must haves" after spending some time on this board. I don't play it as much now that I have quite a selection, but every time I do, I remember how great that guitar is. It just plays and sounds fantastic. I can play barre chords with fingerstyle better than any of my other guitars. It's just that easy to make it sound good. You will really enjoy it. |
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Posts: 4903
Location: Phoenix AZ | The 1537 is a must-have for anyone serious about wood topped Ovations. It was definately one of their best efforts. Dave |
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Location: ranson,wva | its on my to get list......jason |
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Location: big island | thank you, dave! well, i must say that i was not in the market for a wood topped guitar due to my experiences in recent history. since this guitar is already well-seasoned, it might just survive the environmental conditions here that wreak havoc on most things wood. i cannot hang guitars on the wall. they need to stay in their cases when not in use and i am now using dessicated silica bags to absorb moisture in the cases. it is a good thing that guitars are not (usually!) made of leather. new leather turns green and grows hairs here in a matter of a couple weeks. running a dehumidifier regularly increases the electric bill $200+ per month so that is not an option on our budget. this is not a problem throughout hawaii, just in the windward (north/east) areas where most of the moisture tends to collect. we could relocate to a drier area but wealthy mainlanders have bought up those properties and driven the real estate market out of reach for most of the local population.
i will baby this 1537 as much as possible but i am getting it to play it exhuberantly, joyfully and frequent. hopefully it will help me make some money in the process. |
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Location: Tidal Mudflats of Virginia | Lanaki,
I've had my 1537 for about a year now, it came to the islands from Minnesota. No problems at all dealing with the climate change. Our place stays in the 60-80% humidity even with the A/C running round the clock at 75, we are in the H-3 pass between Kaneohe and Hononolu. Strings are another issue though, they start tarnishing 5 minutes after changing them.
I also keep the guitars in the case except for show and playing. I think your going to find the Ovations are tuff sob's and more resilient to the moisture round here than the squarebacks.
Tim |
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Location: big island | that's good and welcome news, tim. mahalo! |
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Location: big island | we ain't got no A/C either. but usually do not need it. it gets rather muggy here when the volcano is lettin' off steam and vog fills the air, but generally the trade winds are blowing. |
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Posts: 629
Location: Houston, Texas | I just want a weather report right now there in Hawaii. I'm just outside Houston and its 28 degrees outside with rain and sleet and icicles hanging off everything with 15 to 20 mph winds and the heater is balking. |
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Location: ranson,wva | its 32 here in frederick. feels like 24. winds coming out of the northwest at 14mph. humidity is 61%. forecast for tonight...clear skies. 32% chance of snow,rain and hail. with a 100% chance it wont do shit....jason |
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Location: big island | today is an incredibly gorgeous day after about 13 straight days of rain. woke up to an immense rainbow outside the window as the light mist was falling on Mauna Kea and the sun was rising over the eastern shore. it is 81 degrees, trades blowing at 7 mph, sunshiney skies. got all the windows wide open!
sorry for that painful report rick. :cool: |
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Location: Houston, Texas | No, that actually helps. At least I know it's warm somewhere in the world.
BTW, you're gonna really like the 1537. |
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Location: big island | hey...Ugot12! mahalo rick! |
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Location: big island | it's a girl! and she sure is sweet. took delivery of my new 1983 1537-4 yesterday. the stork, who goes by the name of USPS and drives a little white truck, did a quick and safe job of getting her here all the way from ohio in 3 1/2 days.
she and i are quickly warming up to each other and so far, i am mostly impressed. i'm gonna shim her saddle just slightly to improve volume and decrease the strum buzzes. at first glance, it appears there is a crack developing, almost 6 inches long on the bass side of the lower bout. the more i study this indention the more i believe it is where the top is glued to one of the braces and the wood fiber has shrunken somewhat along that line. the indention does not follow the grain but seems to coincide with the brace underneath.
she has one of the finest and most comfortable necks i have played in years.
i believe we are gonna get along just fine. she's everything jim said she was and more.
jeff w owned her before jim, but i'm not sure if she was a "he" then or not? or should that read "heathen"? ;) |
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Location: SoCal | Congrats! These are really wonderful guitars. Is this one of the early serial number ones? |
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Location: big island | 301081 - you tell me! |
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Posts: 1900
| With the volumes of dialogue about the 1537, I wonder if Ovation has ever figured out why it's such a phenomenal instrument? What did they do then that isn't done now? We know some of the exact same models today will vary widely in acoustics, but I have never heard of a 'dead' 1537 Elite...ever. It's like it was a once-in-a-lifetime instrument that has been lost for posterity... |
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Posts: 4903
Location: Phoenix AZ | Some elements of the 1537 can be found in other guitars. Same bowl, neck, elecronics, etc. Other elements are just cosmetic (wood binding trim, etc.). But I think the real difference is the TOP. It had not been done before, and not since. Maybe it's the extra ply on the upper bout or something, but I think the top is really special on the 1537. But ultimately it just proved too costly to make. The expenseive top and the adamas electronics. So the elite turned into something much more manufacturable (and I suppose more profitable), but the 1537 charm got lost in the process.
In my opinion this is a "must have" for anyone serious about collecting great sounding ovations. And it's great that they are actually available and not too expensive. A few years ago 1537's were selling for $1200-$1500. Now they can be had for under a grand.
Dave |
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Posts: 12761
Location: Boise, Idaho | Register it on Dave's list. You might also be interested in searching for a thread on the number of 1537s made. It might have been a poll. Congratulations. Now I'll have something to play when I come visit you in Hawaii! |
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Posts: 555
Location: Wooster, Ohio | Talked to another guitarist whose dream was a McPherson because of the acoustic sound. Both have a a fingerboard that floats. Probably the one thing that they can't do for the later elites.
Steve |
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Posts: 15682
Location: SoCal | Tup said:
In my opinion this is a "must have" for anyone serious about collecting great sounding ovations
So Dave, do you own one? |
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October 2006
Posts: 5576
Location: big island | after hearing phil keaggy play his mcpherson, i think that is my new dream guitar.
the fingerboard on my 1537 is not a floater, unfortunately. there is a black resin of some sort filling in the gap. that may be why the volume is not quite what it could/should be. i added a shim under the saddle to the two that were already there.
the action and intonation are still right on and she is now buzz-free. i believe the volume increased somewhat. added a new set of nanowebs for the icing on the cake. i am really enjoying how she sounds playing hawaiian-style slack key (Ki Ho'alu) music. it is very "nahenahe" (na-hey-na-hey) or sweet sounding. i will probably video myself playing one of my original slack key songs on this guitar and upload it to YouTube soon. |
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Location: SoCal | Keep in mind that a player like Keaggy would make anything sound good..... |
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Posts: 799
Location: Athens, GA & Gnashville | Originally posted by mtnbikerfred:
Let me just make one comment. I got the C2078LX back from loan to my brother in law. Did my usual, clean it up, string it up routine, and I have been enjoying playing it, noting it's amazingly well balanced tone, etc. Then, I picked up my 1537....
I even played a little 3 chord rif to my wife, first on the Custom Elite, then the 1537, just to make sure it wasn't just my imagination. She asked "why is that one so much louder?", referring to the 1537. It is 150% more guitar than anything except maybe a textured top Adamas. Total Martin Killer. Seriously. Play a coffee shop gig with it, and you wont need a PA. You will need to learn to sing louder, but that's another problem. If anyone is one the fence about this, or is thinking "I don't really need another Elite", trust me. You do, and this is a great deal on a fine example. Very well put!! My 1537 is THE most respnsive guitar I've ever owned. Congrats to the buyer!! |
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August 2003
Posts: 888
Location: Louisville, OH 44641 | Randy:
I'm very much looking forward to hearing and seeing your Youtube video with your new guitar.
Jim |
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Location: big island | give me a day or two jim and i will post it. mahalo! |
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October 2006
Posts: 5576
Location: big island | i'm amazed, guys! i opened the case of my 1537 this morning to discover the indention that i suspected was going to develop in to a crack has vanished. the top that was so wavy looking when i first saw the guitar has now leveled out and looks wonderful. i suspect that the guitar became a bit dry after stellarjim boxed it up and then sent it to me a few weeks later. the moister climate here has replenished the wood. i am thrilled with this awesome instrument. |
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Here's the good news!