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Joined:
July 2004
Posts: 338
Location: Omaha | ...has really grown on my over the past 9 months.
(Okay, I apologize for calling it 'plastic' [sorry, Bill!], but you all know what I mean by that derogatory description - it's what O players have come to expect from non-O or anti-O types [hey, is this like a blood type? Certain types reject O-bodies, while others assimilate the O-bodies...?].
For years I would occasionally pick up an Ovation when I'd see them in guitar stores, strum a few chords, wince, and hang them back on the wall. I didn't get it. Didn't like the tone. I was an all-wood man...
...then a couple years ago a local store had a lefty O hanging on the wall. I played it...and kept playing it much longer than I planned...I stayed at the store much longer than I planned, doing fingerstyle stuff on it: Hey! This "thing" [no offense, Ben Grimm] plays great, and it sounds pretty good, too.
I might have been tempted to buy it, but I was too confused, probably suffering from shock [the anti-O-bodies were fighting within me...], and the clincher was that, while this was a new guitar hanging on the wall, I noticed that somehow the top had gotten cracked (although this didn't affect the tone). I managed to get out while the getting was good. But I went back several times to play it...until finally, one day, it wasn't there; I was SET FREE...or so I thought.
It kept bugging me. Not only that, but a good friend of mine (who happens to be an OFC'er with a very low member #) played O's for many years, and I respected his opinion (and most definitely his playing!).
So I finally broke down last year and ordered my own lefty Legend; an L777-5 with Op40 preamp.
Guess what? I find myself reaching for it as much as my two Larrivees (which I love), and often favoring the tone of the Ovation! It jumps out of the guitar much more (I tested it with my kids - definitely the O pumps out more volume), and I'm enjoying the strong balance across the strings; great for fingerstyle and strumming. Does it sound like a Martin or Larrivee - no, but it's almost as if the O has 'retrained' my ear to hear other important things than just 'does it sound like wood?'
It has been such a conversion that now I'm gassing for a Balladeer S-773 nylon string (with a custom spruce top, if possible); I'm at the point where I'm trying very hard to talk myself out of this... (but I know I'll lose!)
Anyway - that's my confession, and I'm sticking to it. Now if brother Paul B. will just pronounce forgiveness and absolution, I'll get out of the confessional and let the next person get in...
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Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 12754
Location: Boise, Idaho | Mike,
Try to find a Concert Classic or Classic nylon string and play it. You could also go with a Folklore, which doesn't have quite as wide a neck. I always thought that nylon strings were for beginning guitars that sounded like toys until I played my Classic. Actually, it sounded better when someone else played Classical Gas on it and I bought it as soon as he put it down. It doesn't sound as good when I play, but the deep bowl and cedar top project a warm mellow tone with a good deal of volume. Love it. | |
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Joined:
July 2004
Posts: 338
Location: Omaha | Mark,
I actually just sold a 1975 Country Artist 1124 (no cutaway, no electronics). I loved the width of the neck, but I didn't care for the scale length - I felt like I couldn't find strings with enough tension to get a good tone from it.
So, I guess I'm willing to sacrifice the 1 3/4" nut for the extra inch in scale length (plus get a cutaway, spruce top, and pickup). Otherwise, it was a nice guitar in excellent condition (for being 30 years old!), and I hated to part with it. | |
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This Plastic Guitar...