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Location: Snåsa, Norway | My 1619-4 is a flattop with deep bowl and traditional soundhole. The top however is not completely flat, the area around the bridge is a little lifted and it goes a little down along the top on both sides of the bridge. I believe it's been this way a long time. I had a guy who repairs guitars for a hobby to look at it, and he believed that the top was "collapsing" and that the guitar needs a new top. It plays fine, and the action is low. I keep a humidifier in the soundhole, but as I play it daily and like to see it, the guitar is hanging on the wall in my livingroom. It's cold in the winter here in Norway, so low humididty in the room can be a problem. Do you guys keep your most precious guitars in their cases, or do you as me prefer to have them decorating your rooms and ready to be played at any time? |
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Location: Phoenix AZ | I keep my guitars out in the room and keep the room at 40 percent humidity. Dave |
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Location: Chicago | Can you guys post side-angle photos of your guitars in the 40% humidity range so that we can have an idea of what it means to have a "normal" top bulge? My 1778LX bulges behind the bridge and is a little depressed right in front of it. Is this normal for ovations? |
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Posts: 709
Location: Germany | I try to keep the humidity in my music room at 45-50%. It's a cellar room and winter humidity falls down to 30 percent. Therefore I use a "Honeywell ultrastar" humidifier. In summer humidity rises up to 70 percent, so I use the "Honeywell duracraft" dehumidifier in this period. Without this precautions I assume the wood top guitars to suffer damages. Maybe the Adamas guitars would survíve it.
Taylor recommends to keep their guitars at 47 percent humidity. I don't know if there are any recommendations from Ovation??
Karl |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | A little bulge is normal. I hang mine and try to keep the humidity over 40% using a small humidifier. I wish I would have bought a larger one with a humidistat. |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | What about us poor folks, with laminated spruce tops? (Isn't that a fancy name for plywood?)
Living in the Great Northwest, in an electic-heat studio apt, I'm sure my humidity fluctuates wildly. Can I expect major humidity problems.
Both of my O's get played 3-4 times per week.
I play something daily. They take turns on the Stand Of Honor. Where I reach-over and grab which-ever. (Small Room) |
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Location: Seattle | Originally posted by Old Man Arthur:
Living in the Great Northwest, in an electic-heat studio apt, I'm sure my humidity fluctuates wildly. Can I expect major humidity problems.
I also live in the Northwest (Seattle) and you're fine unless it's a really dry, cold day. The classical guitar shop I frequent says the safe zone is 30 - 80%, ideal is 50 - 60%.
I keep the guitars out where I can easily play them and prefer to humidify the whole room rather than put a wet sponge humidifier inside the guitar. |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | "The classical guitar shop I frequent says the safe zone is 30 - 80%, ideal is 50 - 60%." -(Damon)
That's good to know. Alot of days, 90% is no problem. As for the electric-heat, I have a fan blowing over a fry-pan full-o-water. Hope that helps. This is for both the guitars and me. Cuz sometime that heat is really dry. |
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Location: ranson,wva | ive got oaisis humidifiers in all of mine that are in the case's. the ones that are hanging ive got in a small room with a small humidifier set to 40%..seems to work well..jason |
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Location: Hicksville, NY | Almost always, I keep my guitars in their respective cases when I'm not playing them. Once I'm finished playing, I wipe the strings, neck and body with a soft, clean cloth before returning it back in the case. I use either Dampits or Planet Waves humidifiers in all of my guitars during the winter season. |
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Posts: 2491
Location: Copenhagen Denmark | Hmm..the hygrometer and the necks of my guitars tell wether humidity is high or low,when high , necks stretch causing strings to go high in pitch,and viceversa..guitars are usually hangin`on the wall,some on stands, the solid tops bulge slightly,the laminated have not (so far).Having radiators ,with humidifiers (small watertanks attached to them) helps a good deal,otherwise,when U feel good,the instruments probably will do too.. ;)
:cool:
Vic |
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Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | ". . Humidity's too high . . . Humidity's too low . . . I keep my guitars in cases w/hydrometers . . ."
Christ! . . .you guys sound like a bunch of Taylor owners!!!
My SlotHead's been hanging on my wall since I moved here, and it hasn't even had the truss rod adj'd since it left the Factory 30 years ago!! . . . . |
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Location: south east Michigan | I'm with Cliff.
All of mine sit out on stands year 'round. |
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Location: closely held secret | Same here. Mine hang on the wall all year. My motorcycle gets better care through the winter. (Ok, granted, my life isn't in danger if my guitar breaks down...) |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | TOT (totally off-topic) What kinda bike? |
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Posts: 12755
Location: Boise, Idaho | I think it's a Honda Goldwing. Back OT sorta, I just send my wife to buy a bigger humidifier with a humidistat. It was down to 36% in the music room this morning. The little humidifier I got last year can't seem to keep up. |
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Location: closely held secret | GL1500 Goldwing, Arthur. |
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Location: CT | Back to the original topic, your 1619 top is probably just fine(without me actually looking at it). Mine was like this since new 23 years ago. Look at the page below, where it says ....Ovation tops are arched slightly to resist changes in humidity...It's not supposed to be truly flat. I dont know if the same applies to the newer guitars.
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November 2006
Posts: 217
Location: Snåsa, Norway | Thanks to brainslag for the info about the arched Ovation tops. My guitar gets better for every post I send to this forum! It started out being almost a wreck with collapsed top according to my guitar repair man (a hobbyist, not a pro and definately not an Ovation man). Now I've got a well playing vintage axe with good sound (it's improved a lot since I startet playing it again). I reckon it will be too good to be true after a few more posts! |
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Posts: 12755
Location: Boise, Idaho | Originally posted by HobbyPicker:
I reckon it will be too good to be true after a few more posts! Unless you spend all your time posting and not playing, like some people around here. |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | All (quality) acoustic guitars have very slightly "arched" tops. |
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Posts: 98
Location: SF Bay area, California | Originally posted by HobbyPicker:
My 1619-4 is a flattop with deep bowl and traditional soundhole. The top however is not completely flat, the area around the bridge is a little lifted and it goes a little down along the top on both sides of the bridge. I believe it's been this way a long time.... I believe my 1619 is an '82, I got it in '85 and it has always been like you describe. I've been curious to have it looked at, after this thread I'll make sure the luthier is truly Ovation fluent.
Mark
SF Bay Area |
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Posts: 4394
Location: East Tennessee | Originally posted by Slipkid:
I'm with Cliff.
All of mine sit out on stands year 'round. I keep three out, a Nylon, a 6 string and a 12 string. |
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Posts: 627
Location: Cherry Hill, NJ | Maybe I'm lucky, but I haven't had problems in many years and many guitars. I also leave them out hanging. During the cold winter days, I keep the guitar room real cool, to avoid the dry heat. Ovations are pretty tough, and hold up well with climate change. A lot of the older models had problems with finish cracks. I think that's due to the type of finish they used to use. You don't see those cracks on the newer models. |
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Location: Copenhagen Denmark | Ah ,Norwegian winters are extremely dry,but I suppose ,that like most norwegians, Your house is equipped with electric heating panels,if so,hang some flat tanks against the panels ,filled with some of that Gletcher water,and fill up every second/third day to give the water time to evaporate,I use the same kind of system,I feel better ( breath easier) and my instruments thrive too.Gør det gubben ,din gitar vil takke dig ;)
BTW All older guitars go belly up,string tension will twist the bridge forward,causing top between bridge and soundhole to Dip,and Behind Bridge to arch upwards,everybody I know are convinced that it`s one of the reasons old guitars sound better than new ones
Vic :cool: |
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Posts: 5881
Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | Originally posted by kid-school:
I try to keep the humidity in my music room at 45-50%. Me, too. When the humidity drops below 45%, I run a cheap tub-type vaporizer maybe an hour or so about every week to 10 days. It kicks the humidity up to about 50%. The humidity then gradually falls maybe one percent every two days. I have no heat or air circulation whatsoever in the room. If the humidity goes up past 50% (as it did last summer on occasion), then I simply open the door which then reverses the increase. My '81 1651 Legend Ltd, purchased new in 1981 or 1982, possesses the slightly arched top characteristic of the early year models. I don't recall it ever being any different, the sound has been consistently great over the years, and I only began to monitor and control the humidity last summer (thanks to this forum). |
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Posts: 1126
Location: Omaha, NE | Originally posted by cliff:
you guys sound like a bunch of Taylor owners! Indeed! Some of this humidity obsession is just too much. But you really have to read the Taylor Forum to get the full extent of the madness.
I've never believed that guitars are as delicate as some prople think. Using a soundhole humidifier during the winter months is probably a good idea. Same thing if you live in a low humidity environment year round.
But your guitar is the best hydrogometer you can have. It will tell you if its too dry: Action gets low, fret ends get sharp, etc. Why bother getting hung up on a number. That's the road to madness. |
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No flattop anymore ...