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Joined:
June 2016
Posts: 34
Location: British Columbia | Hi there,
A friend of mine has generously leant me her 12-string 1115-4 that she has had since new -- gift from her Mom  -- and now I"m hooked on playing an Ovation! Wow....I"m not half bad for a beginner on this geetar! I love it. But I don't feel like I can travel with hers, etc ... (currently I own an old Mann 6-string that mostly hurts my fingers so I can't play too long) I started searching for my own.
Your opinions/thoughts about a purchase I'm considering --it's an Ovation 12-string, 1618 that was originally posted for sale at $250.xx as a project guitar. Lots of checks in the pics (with a couple more curved rather than straight with the grain). Their posting had no mention of the electronics aspect of it ... or even that it was A/E.
So, called the seller & they "don't think" it appears that the checks are through the wood & it comes with the hardcase and a decent-looking strap. They replaced the battery in the pickup and claim they didn't hear any feedback; apologized that broke a string while replacing the battery. They sent more pics and offered to sell it to me for $450.xx Nice Price change! (they are a thift/pawn shop sort of place).
Wrote back expressing my disappointment with the price crank (from 250 to 450?!) and said I'd planned on negotiating with them & their "project" tag. (I'm in Canada so it's more like was $320 now $580). I closed with, "I'm just moving on and good luck to you".
Now they've contacted me with "what do you want to pay?". I haven't heard it play and it's obvious they know as much, more like less than I about guitars. Outside of shipping what price would you think is fair (keeping in mind the 250 that they had listed it for).
Sorry, this is so long ...
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Joined:
December 2006
Posts: 6994
Location: Jet City | Hello Marlo Thomas,
I would be more concerned with the action. I've seen a few of the Glen Campbell and Pacemakers that need a neck reset. If that's the case, it won't be an easy playing guitar.
Finish checks are nothing if that's the only issue with it. I usually shy away from guitars listed as a 'project' as that usually means they're unplayable. Then if you try to return they come back with "Hey, we SAID it was a project guitar, you got what was advertised"
All that said, if it is indeed playable, I'd offer up what they originally listed it at. The Glen Campbell can sometime be worth a bit more than a Pacemaker, but really they're the same guitar with different inlays and color of hardware. You can find Pacemakers in good working order for pretty cheap. They made thousands of them. |
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Joined:
June 2016
Posts: 34
Location: British Columbia | Thanks for replying so quickly Damon67!
So, if I were to just bite the bullet, hope for the best (re neck) then you think 250 is a fair price? What I suspect happened is that they saw those checkmarks and the pickup didn't work and thought "project!", then listed as such...but then did some research and discovered that this is common on the older Ovations.
I"m really drawn to the gold hardware, i have to admit (and it detracts from the checks)!
How does one determine neck issues when shopping used online? I have quite a few pics of the one in question but outside of a video how do buyers make a decision?
(sellers would do well for themselves if they shot video of at least strumming and good shots of the neck/frets/strings/action height)! |
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Joined:
December 2006
Posts: 6994
Location: Jet City | It's hard to tell from even a picture or a video even. I usually ask the seller to measure the string distance from the 12th fret. At least then you have it in writing just in case it does show up out of whack.
The gold does look nice. Does the truss rod cover have the Glen Campbell signature on it? I used to have a very old one... before they made them with pickups. It was stunning. I sold it somewhere between $700-900, can't remember for sure, so yes... $250 is an AWESOME deal.
I've updated you to a full member. You can go talk to the rest of the folks here if you like. There are only a few that have permissions to respond in this Welcome Section.
Here's the one I had. I think it was a '68 or '69
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Joined:
June 2016
Posts: 34
Location: British Columbia | Well, they've listed it on eBay now rather than sell it to me! So lousy! Even though we're in communication/negotationing they chose not to tell me they decided they were going the eBay route ... nothing like being duped about a price and then still being strung along. So, if anyone sees the Ovation 1618 just know that they originally listed it at $250 and then changed their tune to $450. when it came to a customer wanting to buy it.
I'm feeling deflated. |
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Joined:
June 2016
Posts: 34
Location: British Columbia | Here's the original listing (am I allowed to post links?)
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:iG_PAI2d6tUJ:w... |
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Joined:
June 2016
Posts: 34
Location: British Columbia | Well....a forum member pointed out to me that it isn't actually a Glen Campbell as there's no signature on it anywhere. The original Amazon posting had it listed as such in their title and I blindly went along with it....turns out not buying it really was a good turn of events I guess. :D
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Advice re Glen Campbell 12-string.