Joined:
October 2007
Posts: 283
Location: Portland, OR | I took some heat about this subject a few months ago, and that's OK. I'm posting this strictly for the information of those interested in those unique Ovations known as Craftsmen. Someone just picked one up on Ebay from a member here for very little and maybe that person is also a member.
So, for the uninitiated, a Craftsman is either a Custom Legend (N769) or Custom Elite (N768) made when? I'm not sure. Mine (2 9's and an 8) were all made in 1992. But I've seen references to late '80's and some ser. nos. are higher than mine, so that remains to be determined. I believe there are shallow body Nakao's as well. Are they Craftsmen? I don't know. The only official reference I've seen, besides the Ovation website, is the following:
http://www.ovationtribute.com/Catalogues/1994_Jp_Ovation_Catalog/19... There is also reference to a Craftsman Limited in the 1994 catalog for Japan. I believe they are N868 and 9.
In 1998 after lucking onto my first one, I wrote the company and was told that there were "a total of 225 pieces of this model built (N769). Of that 225, only 15 were sold in the United States."
Late last year I got another N769 from a member here and then joined this group. Than in early January, I bought an N768 in absolutely new condition. After getting the first of these, I made an inquiry to the factory on that one similar to my previous inquiry of 1998. This was done by email and the response was:
"If they were sold in the USA, then it would be a breach of our contract with the Japanese distributor. It is possible that some seconds may have been sold off to employees and a couple of dealers" (email of 11-2-07).
My guitars are not seconds. The first was purchased by my seller new from a known dealer. I suppose the other two might have come back from Japan but I don't think so for a number of reasons. The owner of the 768 was a collector who had close relationships with dealers according to his son. It was like brand new and still had a tag on it placed by the buyer to catalog his collection. The other 769 belonged to Fugot who stated on Ebay that he had known the original owner.
So, last week after a few more letters I got a letter from Ovation that reads as follows:
"Dear John,
The Japanese spec Elite you have was built in 1992 and is basically a Custom Elite with extra abalone around the fret board. We could not find an accurate count of the production numbers but approximately 200 of this model were built of these less than 20 remained in the US.....John Budny, Customer Service Manager"
So, anyway that's what I've come up with and I'm grateful to the factory for that. They're great pieces, great sound. If anyone else has information, I would certainly ask you to share it with the rest of us. John |
Nakao's