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Location: Delaware | Haven't been in the forum for awhile but was looking at a 70's Applause AA-31 SN185786 - had the ugle headstock and have not been able to find specs for it. Can anyone tell me its nut width and solid or laminate top? Does it have a standard neck or is it aluminum? What might value be for one in good shape with case? Thanks very much. (Hi Tweeter!) |
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Location: Caribou, ME | The AA-31s were made in Korea beginning about 1983. There were no US made AA-31s to my knowledge. They have 'real wood' necks and fingerboards as opposed to aluminum. The nut width on my AA-31 is 1-11/16". All AA-31s have laminated tops.
From a marketing standpoint they were meant to replace the Moosup AA-14s (Hi Alison!). |
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Location: Caribou, ME | As to value, I've bought them as cheaply as ten bucks on ebay (a fluke). They hover around the $100 mark for the most part.
Now if you're talking THIS pimped out '31, well, now, that's altogether different!
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Location: Delaware | Thanks for the response ksdaddy. I bought the one I was looking at although I paid more - $200 w/shipping. I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I think the guitar is beautiful even though not the pimped up version - your pimpdaddy applesause is gorgeous! Do you have any videos in youtube or anything that would help me hear how she sounds? Also is it a deep bowl? Appears so in photos - which I prefer for deeper tone. The one I bought looks just likes yours except it is plain. Is your pimpdaddy applesause original like that? Amazing! |
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Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | Nice get, Skip. I think you will be pleased with the instrument. Get a good set-up done on it, and it will truly talk to you!
Oh yeah, and your favorite flavor in acoustic strings. |
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Location: Caribou, ME | No idea who was *cough* responsible for the paint job. No idea what they were thinking either.
It's a regular deep bowl. I have one AA24 which has a little shallower bowl. I don't hear much difference to be honest. |
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Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | Seen a lot worse. Frankly, I'm too old to understand those DJ Ashba critters. |
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Location: Delaware | thanks for the comments guys (I see you Tweeter :) |
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Location: Delaware | Well friends it seems I got burned this time in ebay. Seller had lots of photos interestingly all of them avoided the areas where things are wrong. Guitar and case were described to be in "very good condition" and nothinig is further from the truth. The damages were obviously present when the guitar was listed and did not happen during shipping because the guitar was safe and secure inside the case. Please check the video link at end of this note. The upper bout on back is cracked in several places and top has delaminated on that whole area. Can this guitar be salvaged or is it over?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dw8yUNhhm00 |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | Since a new Applause can be had for $200 anywhere, anytime, and ksdaddy correctly told you that he regularly buys used ones for $100, I think you know your answer. It would cost more to salvage it than it's worth.
I'm always suspect of any ebay ad that starts with "vintage". My wife would say that means "old, worn out and worthless", kind of like me. |
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Location: Delaware | thanks mark - if repaired i would attempt it myself thus the interest - a learning dummy is how i look at it. ive bought plenty of used and vintage gits on the bay over past 10 yrs and this is first time burned. like riding a motorcycle - you ride long enough - you will be involved in an accident. |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | A DIY attempt would be the only way to go. I have only tried the basic stuff with guitars. Some glue, clamps and time could do a lot. |
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Location: Cork, Ireland | Originally posted by ksdaddy:
The AA-31s were made in Korea beginning about 1983. There were no US made AA-31s to my knowledge. They have 'real wood' necks and fingerboards as opposed to aluminum. The nut width on my AA-31 is 1-11/16". All AA-31s have laminated tops.
From a marketing standpoint they were meant to replace the Moosup AA-14s (Hi Alison!). Mine says both 'AA-31' and 'Made in USA' on the label. Neck is plasticky - possible aluminium inside. The fretboard is dark hardwood.
Sorry to hear yours didn't work out though. They are a great budget guitar. Mine is often admired by people who haven't been told that plastic guitars are no good. Worth repairing if you can. |
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Location: Delaware | Thanks Mark and Sycamore - good information. A question - my SN 185786 seems to suggest 1979 according to the SN record in Reference here at the site. Can anyone positively tell me the year this guitar was made. It was definitely made in Korea (small black print under larger white text on label. Also a little red tag is sewn into case liner under place where neck rests saying Made in Korea. I'm posting a 6 part video series showing what I did to this guitar in the other thread titled Ovation Sting in the Bay or something like that. |
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Location: closely held secret | You can't determine dates from S/N on imports.
If you bought this on ebay I would definitely file a SNAD and at least get some of your money back. |
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Location: Delaware | Waskel - seller refunded me 100% and also asked me to keep the guitar because it was not worth the cost for them to cover return shipping. |
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Location: Tennessee | Nice ending. Congrats. |
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Location: Cork, Ireland | Even better if you can get it to a working condition. Had mine over 20 years and woudl be very slow to part with it, hope my kids will use it to learn on when old enough. |
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Location: Delaware | I have it repaired enough to play and am watching to see if the repairs hold. There was evidence that previous owner had left the guitar a long time under full string tension because the neck was slightly bellied down and low E was unwound and stretched out at top near tuner post. There was just enough adjustment left in trussrod to bring the neck ever so slightly belly up before restring and now it is perfectly flat at full string tension. Bad news is action is very high, 1/4" or more at 14th fret and saddle is already as low as it should go because the angle to bridge is less than 45° and should not be lowered further. In other words this gutiar has reached the end of its useful or playable life. Time will continue to pull neck belly down and there is no adjustment left to stop it and action is high enough to make the guitar difficult to play and will only get worse with time. I will probably keep it because I admire the relic and also because I cant imaging trying to sell it unless all the above is explained - and who would but it then? |
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Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | bowl-bend. not for the faint-of-heart, though. |
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Location: Delaware | Chris - are you saying the action can be recovered by something called "bowl-bend"? I'm listening! |
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Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | You heat up the bowl, where the neck meets the bowl, and judiciously apply force, to "reset" the neck angle. Had mixed results with the procedure, though. |
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Location: Delaware | |
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Location: Delaware | Interesting - only you would try such a thing! I guess I'll just leave this one be. Might test a replacement saddle to lower action and see if the decreased back angle to bridge hurts tone noticably. Intonation on 6th is off too so I'll compensate that at same time. Tell you what, this old Applause with lam top has pretty good tone and volume - impressive. |
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Location: Caribou, ME | Can a bowl bend be performed on a shiny bowl? |
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Location: Texas | I momentarily considered attempting a bowl-bend on an old Legend I have. It seems to me that it would be pretty darn difficult to precisely reposition the neck even with some sort of elaborate brace system, so it would be near impossible on top of an ironing board… ;)
I never found much info on actually performing a bowl-bend, other than "don't try it." ;) I guess you'd use a heat gun to soften the bowl?
In most cases, if an old (US made) Ovation has any value to the owner, (whether $ or sentimental,) sending it back to mother would be the safest bet, by far…
…but in the case of your Applause, I suppose it might be worth a try, since it cost you nothing. If you do it, let us know and please take photos?
A simpler alternative might be to just leave the action high and learn to play slide on it.
Good Luck |
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Posts: 100
Location: Delaware | hey standing thanks for reply. im not even considering the bowl-bend at all, not even on this old, high action, broken and repaired, near end of useful life Applause. The high action is playable and tone is surprisingly good. I am planning to make a new saddle that will be lower and do some comparisons on video vs original saddle to see if tone is significantly affected by lower saddle and lower declination angle. Other than that I won't do anything more except at next string change will add more resin to cracked area on bowl with a piece of fiberglass cloth for additional reinforcement. That will pretty much finish my interest in the guitar. So far my repair holds! |
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Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | Figured it probably would. You might sand down the bridge itself so you could lower the saddle. Also rout out the saddle slot, down to the soundboard. There's bracing underneath it, so it is supported.
I found the older bowls were easier to bend than the newer ones; maybe, different materials. Old ones were probably chemically molded, and the newer ones thermally molded. |
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Posts: 100
Location: Delaware | thanks for the suggestions Chris. i dont have good tools to rout the saddle slot under any controlled condition so i'll just test a shorter saddle - either treatment will lower the declination angle and reduce tone or volume theoretically. ive done it on other guitars and honestly could not hear a difference so maybe it will be acceptable on this one too. what do you mean "chemically" molded? you mean they were able to basically cast the bowl shape vs injection molding today? |
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Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | Yep. "Hand-laid fiberglass" on the early ones. |
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Location: Delaware | interesting. |
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Vintage Applause AA-31