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Joined:
March 2012
Posts: 5
Location: The historic city of Bath, England | Hello all, I'm a new member. I have but one Ovation - but what an Ovation!
A couple of years ago I was idly browsing for unusual guitars in eBay UK when I happened upon a PF-22 being sold by a well-known Ovation collector here in the UK. Without knowing a great deal about these instruments I fell in love with its absolutely gorgeous looks and obtained said axe for a very reasonable price. I subsequently found out that only around 20 or 25 PF-22 examples (guitars and basses) were built, as pre-production prototypes for a run that never took place, and that mine is totally unique in that it has (a) split pickups similar to those on a Fender Electric XII and (b) a metallic copper (or tobacco) finish. Looking at Miles's excellent list of his collection I note that all his PF-22s are natural finish and that all the six-strings have different types of pickup, different control knobs and varying switch placements. My split-pickup example has switching that allows the two halves of either pickup or both pickups to be put into either series or parallel wiring, giving the most astonishing variety of tones I've ever heard from a solid-body instrument, ranging from a full P-90 to Burns "Wild Dog". It also has an out-of-phase setting which doesn't do a lot for me though Brian May gets a good result with similar. When used in parallel mode with both pickups on it produces the most natural amplified acoustic sound I've ever heard, especially through the acoustic simulation channel of my Roland Cube 60.
When my axe arrived I found that it had several small faults which the buyer had highlighted. The fretboard appears to be from an earlier stock instrument and is microscopically narrower than the neck, the difference easier to feel than to see and of no consequence. The action on the bass side was impossible to lower sufficiently due to the bass side bridge/tailpiece stud being too long, about 2cm longer than the treble side one; remedied by sawing a length off it (easy, being chromed soft brass). The neck pickup kept dropping out, which I eventually traced to the ground return wire being merely sticky-taped to the chassis and the tape having dried out over the years - easily remedied. The wiring inside the cavity is clearly a one-off experimental job and looks like a rat's nest of coloured unscreened wires, but it all works fine - I just hope it never needs fixing as it will be an electrician's nightmare to trace the circuits! The copper finish is of a heavy nitrocellulose or similar and has cracked from several stress points (switch and screw holes) - this was probably also a trial finish. The guitar obviously uses a number of Viper or Preacher hardware items and came in a Viper/Preacher case crudely cut out inside to accommodate the longer bass side horn.
All in all a totally unique instrument and one I'm not ashamed to gig with from time to time. If you want to see a picture of the actual guitar, go to
http://www.ovationtribute.com/Electric%20Series/PF-22/PF_22_Tobacco...
Best wishes, Len Liechti, Bath, UK. | |
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Joined:
March 2012
Posts: 5
Location: The historic city of Bath, England | Whoops, that should be "that the seller had highlighted". It was a very easy and honest transaction and the sort of sale that does credit to eBay. I love rare, unusual, prototype and one-off guitars and have just scored a Hofner HE 179 from the same marketplace. | |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 7222
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | Welcome, and you can now post in other parts of the forums.
I seem to recall seeing a picture of that PF-22 at some point in time, but it sounds like you have the facts and you indeed have a one-off as far as I know. They were trying different pickups and most ended up with standard humbuckers. The split rails are very cool and as you can see in my photos I have a set of splits but they are pole pickups. Most of the prototypes were natural finish but as you already know it's a great guitar so there were several that were finished in different colors, mostly reds.
Again... welcome. | |
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Joined:
August 2005
Posts: 3736
Location: Sunshine State, Australia | Wow. Great score. Heard lots of good things about the Peavey F@€£ers.
The photos don't look like a 'burst' though. Looks like a solid colour.
Great first post. Welcome.
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Joined:
March 2012
Posts: 5
Location: The historic city of Bath, England | Yup, it's a solid metallic copper finish, not a burst. Those interested in the details of the PF-22 should look at one of the pix on the website link above which shows the back of the neck joint, which is the smoothest and least chunky I've ever handled on a set-neck solid. This joint is not morticed but, uniquely, is dowelled, presumably requiring considerably less wood in the region. What I can't decide is how the slimline neck and body were lined up and clamped for the holes for the dowels to be drilled - must have involved a pretty clever pair of jigs. Also of interest and clearly shown in one of the close-ups is that the pickups and their surrounds were quite obviously hand-made, despite which they sound really good. What with these features and the use of stock Viper/Preacher bridge/tailpiece and tuners, the guitar is something of a Frankenstein but the whole package looks, sounds and feels pretty good. I don't think I'll be parting with this beauty for a long time. | |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 7222
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | lenliechti - 2012-03-26 2:04 PM
What I can't decide is how the slimline neck and body were lined up and clamped for the holes for the dowels to be drilled - must have involved a pretty clever pair of jigs.
It's my understanding that it's the same method they used for the bolt-on necks, they just didn't use the bolts or the parts that the bolts screwed into. | |
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PF-22 metallic copper split pickups - unique