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Posts: 8
| Hey all,
I have a custom legend 1119-4 made in 1975. (given to me :)
I've had it about a year and have kept in it's case. While browsing taylor's website I watched a video on affects of humidity and he did a test by laying a straight edge ruler on the top to show what a dried out guitar top looks like versus a normal one.
Now the normal one looked like a pitchers mound but the dried out one was well sunken on both sides from the middle. Now I checked my ovation and it's also sunken like a dried out guitar, but I've had no cracks at all and it's mostly in the case with the occasional dampit.
It sounds great, but could this geometry be the effect of the bridge and strings over 31 years old, or is it dried out?
John
I also own:
Taylor 310-CE
Gibson J-45 rosewood |
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February 2005
Posts: 253
Location: New Orleans | There's another link on the site where you can watch the accelerated effects of low humidity. The video is called "The Humidity Chamber" and shows you that you can have a dried out guitar that has lost it's "arch" but still hasn't cracked yet. Then you will see that after even more of the accelerated process, the guitar eventually does crack and is then ruined and it affects the sound.
I hope that you've caught yours in time since at least no cracking has occured yet.
Now I'm going to pay even more attention to my own guitars. We can prevent it before it happens but in your case, the guitar may not have been humidified properly in all those years prior to you acquiring it. |
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July 2005
Posts: 8
| It was stored in it's case for I bet 20 years in my in-law house in New Orleans! I have seen that video of the humidity chamber, crazy stuff.
I wonder if I can find a picture or something when a guitar got over humidified.
john |
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Posts: 253
Location: New Orleans | New Orleans. I live even closer to the gulf coast and EVERY Ovation dealer around here insists that I put silica gel packs in my guitars to ABSORB humidity because we have too much of it, usually close to 100% at all times!
Your post has me thinking otherwise now. In fact, it's got me worried! :confused: |
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Posts: 13303
Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | Just get a small hydrometer from Oregon Scientific or some other outfit and let it sit with your guitars for a few days. Should be between 45-50 but a little variance either way shouldn't hurt. |
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Posts: 1138
Location: CT | How much do the sides dip? Ovation 'arches' their tops - curves them a little, to prevent warping - uncontrolled curving due to climate and humidity changes. Some people who sell these on eBay say the top is 'warped' not knowing any better and thinking a guitar top should be flat. I've also noticed the older gutars have more of this than the newer ones. I have a Custom Legend (bought new in '83) and an '83 collectors that have more of this built in 'arch' than my new Legend LX. If there are no finish cracks, It could be that is the way it left the factory. In any case, an Ovation top shouldn't look like a pitchers mound from the sides into the center. |
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Posts: 138
Location: Birmingham, AL | I already live in a "humidity chamber" (SE USA).
I have a 76 Custom Legend and my top has some sinking. It has been that way for a LONG time. It still plays excellent with no buzzing. Usually a severely dried out guitars' action willl be so low that it is unplayable. I think Ovation's older bracing patterns together with the older flat top design cause the problem. My CL 12 is an 81 model, and it has the arched top. It is still perfect. |
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Posts: 138
Location: Birmingham, AL | Hey John, do you have any pictures you could post? I think the 75 looks different than the 76 and above (no carved bridge and simpler inlays?) I'd love to see it. |
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Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | Originally posted by brainslag:
How much do the sides dip? Ovation 'arches' their tops - curves them a little, to prevent warping - uncontrolled curving due to climate and humidity changes. Really? Apart from a couple of models which have been confusingly called "Archtops" Ovation do not, as far as I'm aware, do this. It is perfectly normal for a flattop guitar to develop a slight arch behind the bridge as a function of string tension and time. Those that do not are ususally built too heavily, and don't sound good as a result.
As the top pulls over time, the geometry of the guitar changes and eventually a neck reset may be needed. That's why it's important to check that there's plenty of break at the saddle whenever you buy any fixed neck guitar, new or used. A sunken top however is a whole other thing. Generally a sunken top is an indicator of major structural issues. |
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Posts: 138
Location: Birmingham, AL | Paul,
If you get in front of a mirror with one of the arched top Ovations, you can see the shape of the top reflected in the mirror. It's subtle. I think Ovation did that to counteract the string pull, which caused many of the early Ovation tops to sink in and/or crack. It's really there. Sort of looks like the top is a big bubble. I think they stopped the practice a few years later with bracing refinements. |
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Location: Scotland | Ovation definately did this on 1 celeb, and possibly 1 USA made model, I can't remember . "Archtop" is completely the wrong terminolgy in this context. A more appropriate term would be "pre-stressed" In this type of construction, where the arch is created with shaped braces, the guitar looks like it's been under tension for years the day it's built. As a concept it's nothing new, and the jury is still out on it's value. If the neck set is right in the first place a conventional FLAT flattop will have 30+ years in it before a reset is needed. |
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Location: Birmingham, AL | Agreed!!!
And my 76 Custom Legend has had the truss rod adjusted twice. The action is still factory spec. |
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Location: CT | I did NOT call it an "arch-top", I said Ovation puts an arch in the top. It is subtle, and unless you look at an angle, you're not gonna see it, unlike an archtop guitar. It's in the old literature. Just as an example, go to ovationtrubute.com , look in 'Archives' at the first catalog, 'Award Winning Guitars 1980'- at the Ovation Anniversary where it says "...The top is hand selected, matched North American sitka spruce, arched slightly to reduce changes in humidity, and tapered to produce maximum vibration..." I kid you not, that's the way they do it, and it aint hard to see. |
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Location: LewistownPA | where can I find the Humidity Chamber video link? |
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Posts: 8
| 
Here's the picture of my 1975 Ovation Custom Legend, the rubber grip is pulling away just a bit. The top is still somewhat sunken but it doesn't affect playability and no cracks!
John |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Real Purdy Guitar.
Put a damp sponge in your guitar case, and wait! |
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May 2006
Posts: 97
Location: Chicago | My 1778LX has a prominent arch behind the bridge, and a dip immediately before the bridge. It's pretty much the same as when I bought it new at GC. |
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Posts: 1138
Location: CT | That's really nice. I like the Patriot style TRC. I know the old ones didn't have the abalone sound hole ring, but does this also not have the abalone body binding?, or is it just not showing up in the photo?
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Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | That full on view looks very nice. |
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signs of a dried out top on a custom legend?