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April 2008
Posts: 1851
Location: Newington, CT | I know it's kind of an yawner of a topic, but I came to Ovation via a kind of an interesting path...
I started out as just a guitarist...mainly electric. Didn't much care what guitar I was playing...figured I'd look cool with the popular ones.
Bought a bunch of mid-range things, but really started out with a Fender MusicMaster, of all things! Actually kind of fun...I'm a pretty big guy -- 6"4', 280 lbs...and the MusicMaster looked like a ukelele when I played it, but it was the perfect beginnner's axe, and graduating to the Les Pauls, Strats, etc., was a logical move...
I had an old pot acoustic that I ran around with, when not playing parties and the like with various bands...
But, then, the inevitable happened...my playing bored me, and I put down the guitar...forever, I thought.
That was 25 years ago. The long drought lasted some 23 years.
The real reason for my abandoning the wonderful guitar is that I knew I was a fraud. I was a "rocker," and I played it well. I even had fans and groupies...But I knew that what I was playing was garbage.
Then, 23 years later, one of the finest guitarists in the world, a largely unknown guy named Frank Varela, let me noodle around with his Elite. I HAD been playing a low-end Takamine that was like playing on a spider-web. Yeeech! But, not having played better, I didn't KNOW there was better!
The Elite was smooth, sweet and made me -- nearly instantly -- a better guitarist than I had EVER been! Even when was been playing all the time some 23 years before!
After that incident, the fever came back...Kind of like GAS, but also like a hunger. I went out and bought an Ultra 2071. Not as nice as the Elite, but not bad at all. I was still hungry...So I bought an Adamas 2080, and -- here's what I think the Ovation "magic" is -- any talent that I may have, seemed to have all obstacles removed. What a SWEEEEEET guitar!
Since then, I've played at several parties, and even had someone tell me that I was the best guitarist she had ever seen. In fairness, she is not all that knowledgeable, and I have a somewhat distinctive style, but it was nice to hear. And, it's nice to think about playing out again.
You have to understand that at the parties -- friendly crowds even! -- I was TERRIFIED. And my 2080 didn't let me down for a moment.
Lessons:
(1) Equipment IS important. You can't improve your playing with a lousy guitar. Duh! But not that obvious to those who don't have the opportunity to assess various levels of equipment.
(2) Ovation is a superior brand within the "mid-range world" (for lack of a better term), at least from the perspective of "playability." You don't wrestle with your Ovation. Desirability of sound is subjective, but your Ovation will not fight with you to produce that sound.
Ovation guitars did nothing less than bring my love for the guitar flooding back after a long, long dry spell...
I'd love to hear how it is that YOU all think so highly of Ovations or Adami...If, that is, it's not too much of a pain. | |
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Joined:
November 2003
Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | There were many times I saw/heard Ovations but, what put me over the edge was seeing Dire Straits live and hearing Mark Knopfler play that Adamas.
Tingled my gibbs [jibs]...
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Joined:
January 2009
Posts: 379
Location: Alagoas, Brazil | I was out to buy some strings. Don´t recall exactly, but I think this Adamas here followed me home... | |
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Joined:
February 2008
Posts: 747
| Pretty much when I heard these guys play this song at a concert in or about 1973. Same group of people but the lead player used an electric balladeer on stage.
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=beATl3QI2X8
I'd been playing mostly rock stuff on a solid body with a band but I wanted to get into electrified traditional music like Fairport, Steeleye Span and the Pogues.
The acoustic Ovations seemed like a good choice because of the fast neck and good pickup. So I bought an electric artist in 1974 and still have it today.
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=I1gopdN3yTI&feature=related | |
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Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 12750
Location: Boise, Idaho | Interesting variation on a familiar theme, Alan.
Mine's not so interesting. I started playing guitar because someone in the college choir was playing the intro to "Diary" by Bread incorrectly. It pissed me off that someone who was a good guitar player could screw up such a simple intro, so I played the album and figured it out on my little brother's toy guitar. The next time the guy played it, I took his guitar and showed him how.
Never touched a guitar again for a year or so until a broke friend sold me his Univox 335 clone. Learned a little on that and bought an acoustic that someone had made. Cool guitar, but it was a fingerbuster and no way to lower the action. Since David Gates of Bread played Ovations, I noticed them. My girlfriend had a cousin with a Legend that played so fine, so when she said she'd help me buy a new guitar to play at our wedding, we went looking for an Ovation.
I know now that this was just a trick to get me to marry her, but then all we could scrape together after selling both my guitars was enough for a Matrix.
I was a marginal player and refused to play in public except at another couple weddings. That fear turned to refusal when a friend would bug me about "sharing my talent" at every party. She thought Elvis was a great guitar player.
I played less after the kids were born and also put the guitar down for around 25 years until our neighbor tried to sell me his Legend. Teenagers and a new laptop led me to ebay and the Ovation Fan Club and all hell broke loose. | |
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Joined:
January 2006
Posts: 5881
Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | 1973. I went into a local music store while on a trip to Boise looking for a Gibson acoustic to replace my pawn shop beater. The salesman grabbed one of two funny looking roundbacked guitars off the wall and said this one was getting all the attention in the pro world because of its great tone and indestructibility. He then swung it like a baseball bat hard against the very corner of the counter and it bounced off without any apparent damage whatsoever. I bought the other one and have owned at least one ever since. | |
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Joined:
February 2003
Posts: 86
Location: northern virginia | Mine is much too simple… (I’m not making this up) - when I was a ‘youngin, I watched the Glen Campbell show, and I was hooked from that time forward on the cool looking guitars that he played. | |
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Joined:
June 2006
Posts: 7307
Location: South of most, North of few | I too saw Glen, and finally was given an Applause by my ex wife (guitar that is) and played it not too many times in the 15 or so years I owned it. (see, I can keep a guitar for longer than a few days). I ended up selling it to Gway, and the rest, as they say, is history. | |
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Joined:
October 2008
Posts: 489
| I too, thought Glen's guitar looked cool, but on side shots you could see it had a BOWL for a back!? What the hell? Even at 14 I'm thinking "marketing gimmick".
Shortly thereafter I happened to be at a music store. The Ovation detail man was there, explaining how the bowl shape was the best for reflecting sound, but was too expensive to mass produce with wood, but now WE'VE found a WAY with SPACE age materials to do this! I'm thinking, "marketing gimmick."
Fast forward a decade or so and and I need an acoustic to use in a high db band environment. I buy and Ovation. Yeah, I know it's a marketing gimmick but the pickup and pre-amp is there already, so what the hell?
Fast forward another decade and I'm tired of the Martin getting beat up on solo gigs. I go get an 1869 because the old Balladeer (now sold) was indestructible.
I STILL think it's a marketing gimmick, but it works for me, so what the hell? | |
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Joined:
May 2008
Posts: 1553
Location: Indiana | Glen snagged me too. | |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 15654
Location: SoCal | Originally posted by Jeff W.:
There were many times I saw/heard Ovations but, what put me over the edge was seeing Dire Straits live and hearing Mark Knopfler play that Adamas.
Tingled my gibbs [jibs]...
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Joined:
September 2005
Posts: 3618
Location: GATLINBURG TENNESSEE :) | I remember seeing different artists in the 70's playing Ovations, but I had never seen, played, or heard an Ovation in real life. In 1988 I was looking into buying a "nice" guitar and had started playing around with everything I could get my fingers on in music stores and pawn shops. I got my hands on a brochure in one music store I frequented (I still have that brochure)and spent days looking over and over at it. Then one day I stumbled upon a pawn shop in Savannah, GA. I saw this cool looking Elite 1537 and took it down from a wall. The moment I touched it I fell in love with it and instantly knew there was a special magic about it. I put it on layaway and paid the $400 off within a month. Then I went to Japan the same year and experienced the Adamas I and IIs in a couple of music shops there. From then on the fever never left me. | |
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Joined:
November 2003
Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | Don't wear sweat bands. | |
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April 2004
Posts: 13303
Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | Air Supply
their guitarist played Taylor so I went another direction.......... | |
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November 2005
Posts: 4820
Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | Good band name tho | |
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Joined:
November 2008
Posts: 83
Location: North Wales, UK. | For many years I have played solids mainly Fenders but knew that if I was to buy an acoustic it would be an Ovation.
Last year on jolly hols in Pafos, Cyprus we went ito the El Paso bar near Chlorakas and there was a duo on with a Fender bass and the guitarist on an Ovation SSB??? (I will find out which model wgen I go back this June) Well impressed with the sounds this guy was getting out of it so I bought one and now have another and could be the owner of a 12 stringer today!! | |
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Joined:
September 2006
Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Real quick... Back around '71-'72 this pot-smokin' hippie drifted into our town to sit in the "circle" on the Library lawn... We were partaking of the noble weed and beer, and grown-up tourists would be running from Boston or NYC and coming to Cape Cod. Back in them days somebody usually had a guitar, Epiphone or Harmony or Guild.
This dude came by with an Ovation. It was the loudest thing! (and he wasn't beating on it either)
He let me play with it (Leaving on a Jet Plane) and it was the easiest guitar I had ever played in the Library Park.
-{Decades Pass...}-
In 2005 I bought a Lyon Strat Pack thingie, cuz it was cheap and I was bored.
After abit, I decided that I really wanted an acoustic and I went searching. I found a total import Ultra with eppies, but for $500 they weren't gonna give me a case!
So I went to eBarf and found me 4861 Korean Solid Top Balladeer with a case (nice guitar too)
And the OFC...
The rest is History! :p
[The 4861 is gone but I still got the Lyon... tuned to open G, in a gig-bag behind a chair. Never play it] | |
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Joined:
April 2006
Posts: 1017
Location: Budd Lake, NJ | Our worship leader gave Jack his 1111-4 Balladeer back before we were married; for years, Gertrude was our only guitar, and I mostly played her, because she was too narrow for Jack's stubby carpenter fingers--but she was just perfect for me. :D
The stable is much fuller, now...funny how that happens after you discover this place........... ;)
--Karen | |
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Joined:
March 2004
Posts: 1388
Location: Paris/France | In the early 70's, I must be 5 years old and I went every year with my parents and my uncle on vacation in south of France.
My uncle will never leave without a guitar and he often played with his harmonica.
Fascinated by the music of Chet Atkins, Merle Travis, Doc Watson etc. ... and Marcel Dadi of course, he dreamed of owning an Ovation guitar and later an Adamas.
He gave me the taste of that music and guitar and I think that is where it all began for me.
I just realized his dream through my passion for O's and I was so happy to show him my guitar collection last year for the very first time.
He's now 76 years old but he still a good guitar player and my inspiration for years.
I bought my first Ovation in 89 (an old Balladeer from 1976) and it was the beginning of the great adventure for me...
J :)
PS: a picture of Bernard (my uncle) with my Custom Adamas in hands.
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November 2003
Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | No thumb pick....
Are you sure he's French? | |
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Joined:
March 2004
Posts: 1388
Location: Paris/France | He asked me one but I did not ... :D
J :) | |
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Joined:
December 2006
Posts: 6268
Location: Florida Central Gulf Coast | Almost exactly two years ago I purchased my first Ovation, a Celeb CC057 locally via CL. A little Googling and I found the OFC and the 'O'GAS set in.
All this after a 30 year+ hiatus from guitars. What a 'ride'! | |
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Joined:
June 2005
Posts: 1320
Location: Round Rock, TX | In the late 70's I played with a coupla guys, one of whom had an Ovation. It sounded great and played great - much louder than my Japanese Washburn dread, which was my only guitar for a long time (I was poor).
A coupla decades later a friend's wife mentions that he plays guitar very well (true) and my wife responds that I play very well (please) and we decide to get together and play. As it turns out we sound good together and decide to work some stuff up. It becomes very clear that my Washburn isn't able to keep up with his Martin D-35. By this time I'm making good money and decide to get a new guitar. I wind up with a Celebrity CS2000. Real pretty, but not the sound I remembered and the longer I owned it the less it moved me. By this time I had moved into a lead electric position in the band and wasn't playing much acoustic. I would still try out O's in the local guitar shops, but never played one I had to have. Until I played the 1778LX. To my ears it was such an improvement, plugged and unplugged and I took it home. Now I have 4 O's, plus I bought one each for my daughter and son. With my interest in acoustics all aflame I also fell in love with the woody sound and playability of Larrivees. Now between my O's and Larrivees I just pity poor Taylor owners and think, "There, but for the grace of God and the talents of Charlie Kaman and Jean Larrivee, go I." | |
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Joined:
November 2004
Posts: 1330
Location: ms | Glenn, Jim and America. O yea the Doobies. O yea when i was in the 10th grade our band started opening up for a band calld David and the giants. David used an Ovation for everything back then. | |
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Joined:
January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | one day there was this funny looking green fiberglass backed guitar in the house instead of the Martin.............. | |
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Joined:
December 2004
Posts: 4394
Location: East Tennessee | Saw Glen Campbell play one. The rest is history. | |
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Joined:
October 2008
Posts: 639
Location: NW of Philadelphia | I wanted an acoustic guitar to go with along with my 3 electrics. My wife and I went out to look. I came home with a CC257. Its that simple. | |
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Joined:
March 2008
Posts: 2683
Location: Hot Springs, S.D. | My first Ovation was a Tornado that my Dad got for me back in '69. Then in '77 I went to work at the Moosup factory. Met people who turned out to be life-long friends, found my black Legend, played for a lot of years, moved to South Dakota and opened a guitar store, then one day I was looking up an Ovation for a customer and found this place. Now I have guitars that need work, paperwork that needs attending to, lessons to prepare, and here I sit in front of the computer instead! | |
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Joined:
November 2005
Posts: 4820
Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | Yeah, it's a bad influence that way.....
Buddy of mine got a Balladeer in 71-72 and his acoustic drowned mine out. We were a duo, so I bought one just to keep up.
...and all the regular; Glen Campbell Good Time Hour, Jim Croce & Maury Muehleisen, America | |
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Joined:
August 2008
Posts: 121
Location: Maine | When I was a small boy in the early '60's, my mother wanted me to play the guitar like Hank Williams. She signed me up for lessons and bought me a old Kay acoustic. I swear the strings were six inches off the fret board. I banged on that old thing for years. When I went to the University in '71, I went to the music store (the basement of a guy's home) to get a harmonica. He showed me a new line of guitars that he just got in, the Ovation. He introduced me to the engineering and how the bowl made the sweet sound. I went home with a Balladeer and owing him ten bucks a week. I started to play that Ovation and found out for the first time that I really could play. No more struggling with that old Kay. Four years later I was about to graduate and broke, broke, broke, so I sold my Ovation. I played a few guitars after that, but never an Ovation. Too busy building a career and life; wife, kids, etc. Now here I am some thirty years or so later, and just like iffy, bought another Ovation and just ordered another. "What a ride," indeed, Iffy. | |
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Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 5563
Location: Blue Ridge Mountains | Summer, 1967 - a Music Store in Columbus Ohio...looking at a white Gibson SG Custom...when I saw it: a guitar w/a roundback...so cool...
Played Martins (D-28 6&12) when I started giging in 1972...the 12 string neck bowed and was unfixable...1975 bought a 1115-4 in Phoenix; upgraded to a 1615-4 Pacemaker in Lincoln NB on tour in '77; added a Legend Cutaway in 1982; sold both and switched to Elites in '88 as I became an Ovation Keyman Endorsee and have never looked back...From 110 degree frat gigs in the afternoon to airconditioned clubs that evening, I often never needed to retune...
I found this group of GAS powered folks in '05 and now I need to add a room after attending the Factory Tour in '07.
I can't recomend the regional events highly enough!
To the Kaman's and their passion for the instruments...I humbly say thanks! | |
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Joined:
January 2006
Posts: 2120
Location: Chicago | It was a BOLT OUT OF THE BLUE: In 1970 (a difficult year for me) I acquired John McLaughlin's "My Goal's Beyond". It blew my mind!!!! It was a pivotal point between Miles and the wild beyond. A beautiful record made on an OVATION Balladeer. The cover showed it plainly and I've been hooked ever since. As a kid I transcribed all the tunes. I still would like to be able to play "Good Bye Pork Pie Hat" or "Hearts And Flowers" with a like-minded guitarist!!!
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Joined:
February 2009
Posts: 54
Location: Dayville, Connecticut | First let me introduce myself to this group...didn't even know there were ovation fans out there! Glad to meet ya!
I was introduced to ovation because myself uncle was like a shop foreman or supervisor there at the Kaman guitar shop. Mom didn't have much money so "uncle Jim" patched a busted back on a Deluxe Balladeer (factory defect I believe) and sold it to my Mom for the price of a set of D'Darios (spl?) and the fiberglass patch (Like thirteen bucks if I recall) I still own this guitar but haven't played in years because it needs some work (which I'm doing this winter).
I don't know what she's worth, but I do know that my Balladeer was my most prized possetion for many many years and has enormous sentimental value to me. The serial number on mine is "771" so I know it was built sometime in 1968-1969 (or at least before Kaman changed to a four digit code.)(I was 8 years old when I got it.)
Can't wait to start play'n again! :cool: | |
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Joined:
January 2009
Posts: 379
Location: Alagoas, Brazil | Since I was a teenager, I´ve been a huge fan of this guy . Every record I bought of him or any of his group (the "Clube de Esquina" movement) would have in the back drum player, bass player, guitar player, electric guitar player and OVATION guitar player. There was no internet, and the OVATION guitar was a mistery to everybody. We would see one once in a while from afar during a show, and that was it. Ovations were for the serious top artists, way out of our league. Then, in the 90s, guitar importation was authorized and the stores started having O´s in stock. Since then I´ve been thinking of getting one. Last year I had the funds and the opportunity. Now I´m here. Go figure. Already looking for another one. | |
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Joined:
December 2006
Posts: 6992
Location: Jet City | Originally posted by stephent28:
Air Supply
their guitarist played Taylor so I went another direction.......... I did see a picture of him with a white UKII once. | |
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Joined:
November 2006
Posts: 3969
| Originally posted by deadfish:
...my...uncle was like a shop foreman or supervisor there at the Kaman guitar shop... Cool, and welcome. Post your uncle's name - there are folks on this board who knew him.
My story - first exposed to Ovations as a little kid via the Goodtime Hour, then seeing local performers as well as Cat Stevens, Jim Messina, Jim Croce, and especially Nancy Wilson playing O's as I was learning to play. At the time I was a poor student, couldn't afford more than the POS pawn shop gits I had, but always lusted after an O or A.
After college life got in the way & I set the guitar aside, except for the occasional noodling, then came across a Matrix for sale cheap in the very early 90's. Knew it was an Ovation product, didn't know the details & it was hard to research (this was way before google).
Fast forward to a few years ago, freshly divorced, lots of time (and inclination) to play guitar again. One day I decided to get more information about the Matrix (yay, google), found this site, and the rest is history. The Matrix is gone, along with a couple other O's that made their way through my hands, on the way to my current collection , with which I'm quite happy (although my bank account isn't).
Far better than the guitars are the friendships I've made through this board. I've said it before & I'll say it again at every opportunity - a finer collection of people cannot be found. | |
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Joined:
November 2002
Posts: 3604
Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | As is fitting for a charter member of the BFLG, my first Ovation was a busted-head 1111 I got on eBay, about a year before I joined the OFC. Don't recall how I stumbled onto this-here nest of crazies, but never felt more at home, either.
All I had to do what was paste the peghead back onto that old Balladeer, and it was an enchanting siren's song.
I've been through many Ovation-family restorations & reconstructions since then, but Ol' Faithful has never left the fold.
My forays into music have been in fits-and-starts, all of my life, but I doubt I will ever lose my admiration, and enthusiasm, for roundback gitters.
"If music be life, play on." | |
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Joined:
February 2009
Posts: 54
Location: Dayville, Connecticut | Post your uncle's name - there are folks on this board who knew him.[/QB]
My uncle's name is Jim Lazarou. I've already met one of the group here that knew him. Sounds like he was a good guy to work with as well as a good guy to have for an uncle. Used to take me and my brothers fishing a lot too. He had a cottage at schoolhouse pond in thompson that they took us kids to almost every day during the summer...boy I miss those carfree days.
Rick C. | |
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November 2005
Posts: 4820
Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | Welcome deadfish. That's what I love about this gang, the stories and connections to people.
Like Miguels story, how else would we find out about local acts in foreign countries? I can't wait to get home and listen to the link! (forbidden @ work, throws off the rhythme of the rowing crew.)
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January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | Ah yes, Jimmy the Greek. Great guy! Guitar player too if I recall correctly. | |
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Joined:
February 2009
Posts: 54
Location: Dayville, Connecticut | Originally posted by Beal:
Ah yes, Jimmy the Greek. Great guy! Guitar player too if I recall correctly. Yep...that's him! Oh yeah he could play...tried to teach me some too but at that age I didn't listen too good! :D | |
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Joined:
January 2009
Posts: 379
Location: Alagoas, Brazil | Originally posted by fillhixx:
Welcome deadfish. That's what I love about this gang, the stories and connections to people.
Like Miguels story, how else would we find out about local acts in foreign countries? Now you are in for a big surprise:
How is THIS for a local act?
hope you enjoy!
Miguel | |
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Joined:
December 2008
Posts: 1453
Location: Texas | Miguel - BR,
I like both Milton Nascimento and James Taylor, but I somehow missed (or, sadly, forgot) that they recorded together. That is a great clip, and there are a few others from that session there, too.
Excellent! Thanks!
BTW, you ARE joking when you refer to Milton as a "local" artist, I assume? | |
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Joined:
January 2009
Posts: 379
Location: Alagoas, Brazil | Well, it was Filhix that said "local", but, to be fair, he had not seen the clip. I only said that I´m a big fan of Milton and all other members of the Clube de Esquina movement. Nice that you like him too. It seems that we have more in common than just guitars! | |
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Joined:
November 2008
Posts: 9
Location: Columbia, MD | Bought a Dillion a couple of years ago that was an Ovation clone (shallow bowl). When I was looking for a six-string classical (my main ax is an eight string) a Celebrity showed up on Craigs List for a reasonable price. Now I'm hooked. | |
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Joined:
March 2003
Posts: 195
Location: Colorado Springs, Colorado | I was playing a Guild and a Gianinni in 74 when one of my students decides she wanted a better guitar than the Yamaha she was using. She had her heart set on a Martin so we hit the big local music store in search of her new guitar. As we were waiting for them to bring out a couple of D28s, she saw this cool looking guitar hanging on the wall. It was a Custom Balladier. Well, she forgot all about the Martin and bought the O. About six months later, she had progressed so far that she was becoming a much better guitarist than me, so I sent her to an instructor who taught classical guitar. She loved classical, and decided she wanted an instrument more adapted to the style she was playing. Instead of just trading the O in, she offered it to me. I have had it ever since! She has become a wonderful guitarist and I still tell her that I would like to take lessons from her someday! Guess it all comes around in the end! | |
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Joined:
December 2006
Posts: 6268
Location: Florida Central Gulf Coast | Originally posted by Cc:
Guess it all comes around in the end! Neat story!  | |
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Joined:
October 2007
Posts: 2711
Location: Vernon CT | I started playing guitar 8 years ago. I grew up listening to 60's and 70's Rock. Watch the "midnight special" and saw a lot of the greats allready mentioned on other post playing thier "O"s plugged in. The look and more importantly the Tone allways got to me. Fast foward to 2001. Started playing, found a used 1771 balladeer.Played it for a couple of months accoustically and it just didn't 'WOW" me like my "Woodbox". Sold the 1771. Then 6 years later I sarted to plug in at Jams and eventually my own practices and remembered the "Tone" that I enjoyed so much. Decided to give an Ovation another chance. Thats when I bought my 1778lx.
WOW! mid depth bowl and the tone was still there acoustically.AND plugged in, Everything I remembered and more! Found this site, learned about the old deep bowls and the rest is......... | |
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Joined:
April 2008
Posts: 30
Location: Indiana | I had been looking for something acoustic, and having seen many of my fave rockers playing Ovations (Paul McCartney/Wings, John Lennon, Nancy Wilson/Heart and others) always liked the sound, very snappy and very crisp. Good definition. But way back, made of "unaffordium". Couple years back, August of 2005 to be precise, I was looking much more seriously after having been "off the neck" for too many years. I played a LOT of stuff, from Martins to Yamahas to Gibsons....I mean, just about everything. Only Ovations I played were shallow bowls, pretty inexpensive and mostly just didn't sound that good. I was just about to plunk down on an Epiphone Masterbilt AJ500 (non-electric version, I thought the A/E version was perhaps the muddiest, cruddiest sounding A/E I played anywhere) which was for the money just wonderful sounding and had a really great playing feel to it. I made one last trip to one of my more local shops and the guy pulled out a mid-depth Ovation and said "try this". It was probably less than 10 minutes......and that was all she wrote! I looked at my wife and I think we both must have had the same goofy grin. :-)
CS-247, quilted nutmeg with OP-30 module. Other than wondering if the tuning machine on the B string "slips" (that string is the ONLY one that seems to have a habit of going flat now and then) and maybe needs help, she's a keeper. And she was affordable. And with good strings, even sounds pretty good when NOT plugged in.
(My ultimate acoustic = Gibson SJ200, unaffordium at something like $3300 but holy crap, I've never played ANYthing like that one. Plenty of volume, the tone was so equally balanced from lows to highs, and a neck and action to die for. I can see why Pete Townshend likes them......)
And plugged in? Killer, for again, a not terribly expensive one. Somebody once suggested something about I could get an OP-PRO tradeup, and maybe you folks out there would know more about this and just what doing that would actually get me........
I have pix of my guitars, including the CS247, up on myspace.com/duanemantick just click into the photos on the profile page. I may be biased but, part of the above story is that when I first laid eyes on this one I just about fell off my chair. I'm glad she sounds good, too. :-) | |
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April 2008
Posts: 2336
Location: Brighty in Blighty | My story :
bought some, sold some, play them. | |
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Joined:
May 2003
Posts: 4389
Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | When I was a kid I saw a couple of people who played ovations and adamas in the 70's, including:
Bruce Springsteen
Dave Mason
Glen Campbell
Mark Knopfler etc
liked the sound, and seemed best value for money. | |
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Joined:
July 2003
Posts: 3111
Location: Nashville TN. | Always remember the name not sure from where.
Had played a friends UKII when learning.
Went looking for a NEW acoustic on my birthday in 1989.
I got talked into trying the Thunderbolt by a pretty female. She said "try that one, its magic"
I said its ugly... She said "trust me try that one"
I strumed one open E and said sold.
Still have it. | |
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Joined:
March 2007
Posts: 840
Location: CA | In 1971 I drove a delivery truck in Glendale, CA. As part of the goof-off process, on the way back to the store, I would first swing by Fotomat, where my girlfriend worked, then by a local music store where I would grope the equipment two or three times a month. One time I went in and there was this goofy looking guitar with a fiberglass back. It was an 1111-4 and I scraped my pennies together and bought it. No pickup, no case. Just the guitar. It sounded better than anything else in the shop costing two to three times the $200 or so dollars I spent on it.
That guitar traveled part of the world with me, much of it on a private yacht on which I crewed for 2.5 years. Panama, Mexico, Atlantic seaboard, Caribbean, a full year in the Med. It was alternately pounded on and caressed, and seduced many a young lady much more effectively than I ever could have without it. On the way home from the West Indies in a cheapo case, the guitar suffered a broken neck right above the nut. The estimates for repair were more than I paid for it. But the break was above the nut so I figured, what the hell. I mixed up some epoxy, stuck it all together and the guitar plays as good today as it ever did. As to those 'common finish cracks' Ovations are supposed to get (according to eBay ads), the old 1111-4 has yet to show even one. And lemme tell ya, that thing has been through some serious climate and humidity changes.
The only 'drawback' if you can call it that is that the 1111-4s had thin necks at the nut. So my big ol fingers had trouble playing. I saw lots of other Ovations over the years but stupidly assumed that they all had the same thin neck. Imagine my surprise when friend let me play his Ultra Deluxe. Wow, what a great neck! Then I really started looking around and being amazed at what I found (including this website). In the last 6-8 years, I've had my own Ultra Deluxe, a SSB Legend, a Sweetwater T and two 1778Ts. The old 1111-4 sits mostly in the closet these days while I favor the 'lusty red' T and its lusty maple neck. But every now and then I get the old guitar out and plunk away and dream of many happy days and miles and songs gone by. Good times.
Oh, and by the way, the Fotomat girl is now my wife. I even wooed her with the 1111-4. | |
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Joined:
December 2006
Posts: 6268
Location: Florida Central Gulf Coast | Oddball ,
What a GREAT story! | |
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Joined:
February 2009
Posts: 119
Location: New York | It was 1985 and I was a pizza delivery guy. My girlfriend worked in the same shop with me. I started going steady with her in the 11th grade of high school, 1981. So for our 4th year anniversary of going steady, my soon-to-be best friend (and excellent vocalist and guitar player)took my girl to a music shop and instructed her to buy me a Celebrity. I was a singer/front man in a band and never learned how to play but wanted to badly. We went to Niagara Falls to celebrate our anniversary with dinner on top of Skylon tower overlooking the falls. She gave me the guitar in the parking lot before dinner. I still have that guitar . . . and that woman. We have been married since 1989 and she is so wonderful. I told her about this deal on the C778 LX and she is so supportive. Since then I have acquired two more Ovations. | |
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Joined:
October 2005
Posts: 5327
Location: Cicero, NY | Great story. Hope you still have the best friend too! Any guy who talks your better half into buying you a guitar is as much a keeper as she is (if she buys it)! | |
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Joined:
February 2009
Posts: 119
Location: New York | My friend that took my girlfriend to buy me that Celebrity became my best friend over the next six months. I asked him to teach me to play. He said buy some beer, as long as there is beer, I will stay and teach you how to play. Thus began the next awesome six months where we would go to my apartment every night after work with a case of Old Mil exports that cost about six bucks and we would drink beer and play guitar and sing until 12:30 when we would watch David Letterman. Oh, those were good days. The bond that was formed between he and I during this time has stood the test of time and he is still my best friend today. | |
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Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 12750
Location: Boise, Idaho | In 1977 my girlfriend said she'd buy me an Ovation if I'd marry her and play it and sing at our wedding. We went to a shopping mall with her mother, who tried to convince me that an engagement ring was a good investment. When I couldn't get the salesman to promise that he would buy back the ring for more than I paid for it, I told him he didn't know much about investing and walked over to a music store. The girlfriend bought a Matrix, because it was the only Ovation above the Applause level that we could afford.
I never bought her an engagement ring, but fulfilled my end of the bargain by playing the Ovation and singing "Beautiful" by Gordon Lightfoot at the wedding. I sang it again at our 30th Anniversary, playing the Adamas OFC guitar she bought me.
The above is mostly true, although I took a few liberties. She wasn't nearly as happy when I brought home the Hamer last night. Somehow using the money I saved by taking out the sink and toilet so she could remodel the bathroom and using it to buy the Hamer wasn't quite as romantic as the other Ovation purchases. | |
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Joined:
March 2008
Posts: 2683
Location: Hot Springs, S.D. | One of my fellow inspectors back in the day married a girl who put rosettes on. At their wedding, he played Harry Chapin's "All My Life's a Circle" to her on his Legend as she was walking down the aisle singing right back to him. What a GREAT wedding it was! Now, twenty-six years and two kids later, they are still happily married, and still two of my best friends. | |
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Joined:
March 2007
Posts: 840
Location: CA | Mark in Boise,
Now THAT is a great story!
One of the reasons I am limited in my GAS is the deal my own better half made a few years ago: "If you buy another guitar I get to buy another horse." We're now even at five apiece, so whenever I have to have a new git, I have to let one go, too. I must say it's worked well so far for both of us. I only play one or two of my guitars with any regularity, and only one or two of the horses get ridden. Can't see the point of having guitars around that I don't play, and believe me, we can't afford to feed, shoe, vaccinate, etcetcetc any more horses. LOL | |
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Joined:
October 2007
Posts: 2711
Location: Vernon CT | Oddball, Just out of curiosity, doesn't a horse cost a hell of a lot more then a guitar?? You should have a couple of ADAMAS'S in that deal!! | |
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February 2005
Posts: 11840
Location: closely held secret | Hardly a fair deal. A guitar that doesn't get played costs considerably less to maintain than a horse that doesn't get ridden. | |
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Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 12750
Location: Boise, Idaho | I've made a few bad deals, but not that bad. I figured SWMBO is going to buy what she wants no matter what I do, so there's no sense trying to negotiate.
Not too long ago, I figured that if I bought her a "new" car, maybe she'd quit spending so much money on the house and wouldn't complain if I bought a new guitar. Didn't work. She lets me drive her car, though.
More recently I thought I better quit complaining about her remodel projects and told her to do what she wanted and quit asking for my opinions, which she rejected anyway. That didn't get any reciprocity either. I felt really guilty about bringing the Hamer home the other night, but I'm sure liking the guitar. | |
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Joined:
March 2007
Posts: 840
Location: CA | Points well taken. Yes, the initial and ongoing investment in a horse is a lot more than a guitar. Even the psychic investment: if one decides he doesn't like you, he NEVER likes you. And horses can live into their 50s.
But as Mark says, there is no sense using logic in a 'deal' with SWMBO. To her, if it looks like a guitar and sounds like a guitar, it doesn't matter if it's a Costco special or a Gretsch White Falcon — it's a guitar. Strangely, I'm happy we have our little agreement, which started off as a semi-joke. I really don't NEED any more guitars, but would spend the time and money anyway if left to my own devices. So I've stuck to it. She has too, because she doesn't NEED any more horses. I'm just worried about the day when she finally does sell the two nice ones that aren't ridden. I hope her twisted female logic won't try to convince me to part with two guitars. | |
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Joined:
November 2006
Posts: 2241
Location: Simpsonville, SC | Long story..short!
1976 (I was 17)..Beautiful girl playing a Balladeer..I think.
I remember the git and haven't seen the girl since....well, since I was 19.
I always aaaaahhh... lusted after both, but settled on a new 1778LX two years or so ago. Came here for advise..got GAS..bought about ten...sold about five.
I have a U681T..1681..1685..1867..and a new beutiful old 1537
Wonder what ever happened to that girl?
Oh well, too old to give a s***. Not to old for another Ovation or Adamas though. | |
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Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 12750
Location: Boise, Idaho | This morning SWMBO asked why I didn't show her "my" Valentine's present. (After I brought the Hamer home, she said that was all I was getting for Valentine's, which was a fantastic deal, I thought). She said I should bring it up, but I told her I had to plug it into an amp. So we went downstairs and she said that it looked "different". I plugged it into both amps and showed her how it switched back and forth between acoustic and electric. As I was explaining something she probably didn't understand, she said "you mean it's not an Ovation?" I think she was worried I was expanding my horizons, but seemed reassured when I told her it was in the same Kaman family. | |
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Joined:
September 2006
Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Originally posted by Mark in Boise:
I think she was worried I was expanding my horizons, but seemed reassured when I told her it was in the same Kaman family. Did you mention that since Kaman and Fender are the same family now, the list has expanded to include... Guild, Tacoma, Gretsch, Jackson, Charvel, EVH, and Hello Kitty!? :eek: | |
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Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 12750
Location: Boise, Idaho | That would really get her going. | |
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What's your Ovation story?