I realize I have some very nice and unusual Ovations to play with, but my sentimental favorite will always be my trusty 12-string Custom Balladeer that I bought new in 1987. It has been through my entire adult life with me, and has enough memory played into it that I consider it irreplaceable.

So imagine my disappointement when its pre-amp started to give out. Finding a replacement Fet-3 turned out to be prettty much impossible, and I eventually contacted John Budny for an Op-Pro. But as many of you know, the "kidney can" does not sit in the same place as the old rectagnle-style boxes from the 80's and 90's, so I had a bit of a challenge ahead.

So here is the process for your perusal. Some of my ideas worked perfectly, some not so much. But in the end, it all worked out.

There are quite a few pictures, so I'll spread them over several posts.

First, I needed a model to make a template. So here are the two guinea pigs; my 1755 and my 1718-X Koa Elite (which has the Op-pro already).

Taking a look at the factory installation of the Op-Pro in the Elite gives me some direction on which way to go later with the Custom Balladeer.

So I removed the Op-Pro from the Elite and used painters tape to make a template for cutting the hole on the Balladeer. The tape will use the edge of the top and the heel of the neck as reference points.

And finally, I take out the old Fet-3.

Now comes what I thought would be the scariest part. (I was mistaken.) Still, I had a definite case of nerves as I took out the Dremmel to cut a large hole in my baby!

I used my tape template to place a rubber guide and trace the hole to cut. As it turns out, the rubber piece was superfluous for my intentions, so I jsut traced the inside of the tape template instead. (I also forgot to take a picture of it when it was in place. Sorry.

Here is the rough cut and the first edge cleaning of the new hole.

With this test fit, you can now see what would turn out to be the bane of my existence...er...what turned out to be the hardest challenge of the project; how to fill the hole. I actually thought filling and levelling the hole would be easier than matching the finish. The finish was tough, but the fill had other ideas.

Packrat that I am, I scrounged around and found and old wall/clip mount for a cordless phone. I used this as a pan for the open space in the hole and used screws to fit it after cutting it to size. I also forgot to mention that I yanked the mounting screw for the battery box as well.

So here's where things went pear-shaped. I've never had any issues filling and sanding wood before, so I naively assumed this would not be much different. Since it was a small hole, I actually just used spackle instead of epoxy. I would then use flat black paint in layers until the seam dissapeared. Then I would work on matching the textured finish.

I never made it to steps 2 and 3 because, for the life of me, I could not get the seam to disappear.

FWIW, after these steps, I could have hooked everything up and the instrument would have sounded fine. But...well...you know....

If nothing else, I was proud of the perfect fit when I dropped the new kidney-can in.

This was the best I could do......

Me not likey....

I spent some time doing research online trying to figure out the best way to go. I went to a variety of shops thinking grandiose thoughts like epoxy and fiberglass fillers. But the truth is, I no longer entirely trusted myself to do it right. I asked John Budny if he could help, and he said of course, but they were WAY backed up and it could be quite a while.

Then I remembered something else John said, but many years ago. I was at the factory and we were talking about repairs and he mentioned that "working on Ovations was half luthiery and half auto-body," depending on which part of the guitar you were messing with. Now I have a good relationship with the owner of Vince's Auto Body, who happens to be a pretty good bass player and loves to talk gear whenever I or my wife have needed work done over the years.

I also drive by his shop whenever I have to get my kids at school, so it was easy to stop in and see what he thought.

He took a quick look at it and said, "No problem, just leave it here. Take out that stuff you put in, and we'll fabricate a metal can and fill it with epoxy. I can finish it for you too. I have to work it in between jobs here though. Can you leave it with me 'til next week?

(It helps to read all of the above in a NY accent BTW.)

Sure I say. What'll I owe you?

"I dunno." he says, "Maybe 20 bucks?"

"See you in a week." I say.

He calls me the next week and tells me it's ready. So I go by with my kids after school that day. Here's what I found.

I showed it to several people all through the holidays, and they have all said that if I hadn't told them to look, they would have never known that the Op-Pro was not original. And now I have a built-in tuner, which is never a bad thing to have on a 12-string guitar.

And oh yes, it sounds incredible coming through an amplifier!

So here you have the before and after pictures. I even saved the "attitude" sticker my father gave me back in the 80's. ("Sometimes you need to adjust yours." he snarked at the time.) It makes me think of him and of home.

BEFORE

AFTER

And before I finish this, I'd like you all to meet someone:

Thanks for the help Joe!

Ah man, I wasn't fast enough. You two got in before I fisnhed the last post!

One final thing, when I reached for my wallet, Joe shook his hand at me and said, "Don't worry about it. It was fun to do something different."

He's a good guy.

I was thinking along those lines Dan. But when Joe offered to do it, I figured I would leave it to the experts.

A man's got to know his limitations eh? (Which I probably shold have thought of before cutting into my guitar. )

If an instrument can be a friend, then this is the best one I've ever had! It's been through too much with me, and every instrument I own would go before this one did.

Well, Patch has one, I guess 

You can have mine, but I have no idea what shipping to Denmark would run.

Thanks for all the replies guys! I have to admit, as much as I like the result, there's a tiny part of me that looks down and is still surprised that the FET-3 is gone.

Musicians are weird...

Ok, I'm resurrecting this thread to pass on something that happened to me two weeks ago with this very guitar. I took it to church with me to lead music, along with a 6-string. I'm mostly set up and pick it up to tune it.

So far, the story is pretty innocuous right?

Then my middle-aged brain played one of it's increasingly frequent and mildly embarrassing tricks on me. I look in the case pocket, and the Snark tuner isn't there!

"What did you do with it?", a wistful voice whispers in my head. (The same voice that I'm beginning to suspect has a distinctly impish sense of humor.....)

I was just about to borrow a tuner from a buddy, when the board guy asks me to check my volume level before turning the system on.

I look down expecting to see the familiar FET-3 knob and of course notice the new Op-Pro....."WITH ITS BUILT-IN TUNER, STUPID!" (Says the same wistful, impish, and now supremely smug voice.)

I hate it when the voice in my head actually has a point.....

Not exactly, the FET-3 has an external battery box hard-wired into the preamp. The Op-pro has an internal battery. That's why the screw hole for the battery box had to be filled as well. Otherwise, the Op-Pro and the Fet-3 use the same saddle input.