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Location: London, England | Just joined, great site and delighted to find so many fans of the Ovation.
Can someone please enlighten me?
I`ve just graduated from my Applause to my first Ovation. It is a 2004 Legend 1867 4HFX. My question regards the "solid spruce top". There is a line that appears to indicate that two seperate pieces of wood were used in the construction of the body surface. Is this correct? How can a solid top be made of two halves? I am probably just very naive and you all know the answer I`m sure but I would really appreciate some help. Also any comments on the model of guitar I`ve just purchased would be welcome.
Thanks
Danny (aka Bert) |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | it is called bookmatching and done for asthetics as well was tone. It gives the top vibrational symmetry. If you were to cut an apple in half and lay the halves cut side up next to each other you would have book matched faces that look almost identical. The same kind of cut is made in the wood that makes your soundboard...
Scratchasack?...Baseball player?? |
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Location: NJ | It's two pieces of "bookmatched" solid spruce.
The Applause would be laminated thin "layers" of wood (like plywood).
Welcome, Mate! |
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| Yeh, right. An American speaking the Queen's English. |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | I doubt you could find pieces of spruce wide enough to make the full top out of one piece if you wanted to. The original Ovations were 3 pieces because Kaman had spruce 6 inches wide for helicopter blades.
Welcome to the club. Read a bunch of old posts. You'll enjoy your more. But most of all, play it as much as you can. |
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| "I doubt you could find pieces of spruce wide enough to make the full top out of one piece if you wanted to"
They'd better. They sold me mine as AAA spruce. |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | ...I'm not gonna tell him |
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Location: NJ | Don't wanna bust yer bubble, but it'll be two pieces . . . . |
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Location: London, England | Wow lads. I only registered an hour ago!! You really are awfully decent chaps (come on boys - that was worse than Dick Van Dyke in "Meeery Poppins"!!!)
Thank you to everyone who replied (Mark, schroeder, Jeff and Cliff), I am grateful and enlightened. I`m now off to sweep some chimneys!!!
PS - Jeff, not baseball me ol` china but music. |
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| Tell me what? :confused: |
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Location: Evansville,IN | Originally posted by schroeder:
Tell me what? :confused: I don't think he is going to tell you. :D |
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| Bookmatched 2 piece I'm happy.
6" offcuts I'm not amused. |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | Quote by Bert:,
PS - Jeff, not baseball me ol` china but music.
Fortunately, I'm well versed in Cockney Rhyming Slang, thanks to Ambassador Schroeder. |
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| Go ahead, blame me.... |
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Location: Evansville,IN | Originally posted by Jeff W.:
Fortunately, I'm well versed in Cockney Rhyming Slang, thanks to Ambassador Schroeder. As a good friend of mine would say, "Bloody Southerners". :D |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | Originally posted by schroeder:
Go ahead, blame me.... I was really looking forward to telling you that your new guitar was going to have a two piece top...
so disappointed. |
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| I'm not a southerner by birth and tell your good friend to get stuffed. |
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Location: London, England | very good grilledcheese though a little disapointed you mix with our "northern" friends"!
As for Jeff, brilliant mate. Ambassador schroeder eh? Thats either the old german chancellor or a character from the new star wars film!!! |
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| "Thats either the old german chancellor or a character from the new star wars film!!!"
He's the current German Chancellor.
You'd better be an Arsenal fan........ |
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Location: 6 String Ranch | This raises an interesting question, Anybody seen a one piece top? On a flat top I mean? |
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Location: London, England | Barnet FC. Conference champions and friends of football.
Ps - as a "new-comer" I can`t help but notice that it is ages since anyone mentioned a guitar (just an observation). |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | Soccer Hooligans!!!! I see much entertainment in the near future... |
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| Barnet are dependent on us for their very existence.
Yes I have seen and played a one - piece top. It was pathetic.... |
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Location: London, England | Jeff - soccer hooliganism is a problem that only affects our northern clubs (ie, West Ham, Millwall, Portsmouth etc).
I would have thought that one solid piece of wood would give a far better sound than two halves/pieces stuck together. No? |
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| No. |
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| And why are you asking him? |
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Location: London, England | it was a general question |
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Location: Waurika OK | The North/South thing must be world wide. We have it here. When I was in Italy, we were told the Northern Italians thought those from the South were, as we would say, rednecks. Then there is Vietnam, Korea, Ireland, now we find it is in England also.
I am sure I have offended someone here, but it was unintentional.
Danny, the longer you stay here, the more you will learn that guitars may start a post, but who knows what will finish it. (Sometimes, quite literally, often with "extreme prejudice" remember that term from the movies?)
Welcome to the fan club. The more from the world, the better and broader the perspective for all. Maybe we could replace the U.N., probably wouldn't be too hard. |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | For the reasons stated before, the two piece bookmatched top is superior. More uniform density and such |
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| The voice of reason. Goodnight all... |
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Location: Evansville,IN | Originally posted by schroeder:
I'm not a southerner by birth and tell your good friend to get stuffed. Didn't mean to upset you. He just says they are a bit hard to understand sometimes, because of the accents. :D I didn't mean any offense at all. If I did offend you I apologise. :) |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | Yo Cheese,
You will need skin a bit thicker than that celophane you're wrapped in, if you intend to tussle with the likes of our beloved, but deranged, Schroeder. He's just plain mean and you should never apologize, it will only egg him on. |
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Location: East Tennessee | A true southener likes his tea ICED & SWEET.
Those northeners just throw it in the harbor.
Lets see what was this post about?? :confused: |
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Location: Zion, Illinois | Originally posted by Jeff W.:
Quote by Bert:,
PS - Jeff, not baseball me ol` china but music.
Fortunately, I'm well versed in Cockney Rhyming Slang, thanks to Ambassador Schroeder. Well I'm not. I know "plates of meat" and "apples and pears" and "raspberry tart" and that's about it.
Could someone who understands English translated into something American? |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | OK it goes like this;
"China" is shortened from "China Plate" which rhymes with "Mate" which means "friend".
Much like "plates of meat" is shortened to just "plates" meaning feet. |
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Location: Evansville,IN | Originally posted by Jeff W.:
Yo Cheese,
You will need skin a bit thicker than that celophane you're wrapped in, if you intend to tussle with the likes of our beloved, but deranged, Schroeder. He's just plain mean and you should never apologize, it will only egg him on. I'm normally pretty thick skinned, but being kinda new here I needed to test the waters. :D I can be just as mean and nasty as him. :D
Then again I'm not into the war of words thing. Plenty of flame groups around for that. :) |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | atta boy.
Most of the flaming that goes on round here is done with tongue FIRMLY planted in cheek. This instance was no different.
Enjoy now that your big toe is in the water. |
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Location: Midland, MI | Someone called?
;) |
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| Go back to sleep - false alarm. |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | oh yeh Grilled Cheese, I forgot to warn you about Cruster. He's an evangelical Ukelele player (the therapy didn't stick and he refuses to take his meds), so be careful around him. Ukes are a gateway to ventriloquism and trust me, you don't want to end up on the lap. |
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| Especially when you find out where he puts his right hand. |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | Hint: It ain't strumming the Uke. |
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Location: Evansville,IN | Sounds a bit kinky to me. :) Always heard uke players were a bit different. :rolleyes: I don't want to know where his right hand has been either. :eek: Eeww! :D |
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Location: Midland, MI | Ventriloquism? Why, when I was just a lad, my folks got me a Charlie McCarthy dummy one year. I had a blast with that thing. Until one night, while suffering from a raging fever, I woke up to find him staring at me. Since then, I've been mortally afeared of ventriloquism dummies. Strange but true.
Now, as you well know, the uke has gone on to an easy retirement in the care of Mr. Calman (at least until I can't stand the guilt and remorse any more and then I shall pester the living bejeebuz out of him to sell it back to me).
Now, about that banjo... |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | True, I forgot about the Calman intervention. One day at a time, my friend.
I don't suppose you saw the film "Magic". ((( :eek: ))). That will put you off Edgar Bergen. |
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| Cruster doesn't have a uke? :eek: :eek: :eek: |
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Location: NJ | To answer your (2 pages ago) question, Bill . . .
The only one-piece top that I've ever seen (read about, actually) was in an article in AG where some PeaceCorps kid was having a custom-made 12-string flat-top made by local outdoor luthier in Thailand. Used a BIG ol' slice of indigenous wood (the name of which escapes me . . .). |
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Location: Orange County, California | Originally posted by cwk2:
This raises an interesting question, Anybody seen a one piece top? On a flat top I mean? Yeah, on My Adamas :D :D :D |
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Location: NJ | Yeah, but that's a laminate top. |
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Location: Orange County, California | So is a solid top if you look at it from the "edge". Especially if it's book-matched |
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Location: NJ | . . . it's all according to "how you slice it'. |
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| The one I played, about 20 yeras ago, was made of pine. It was at a folk festival in Lincolnshire. The guy who made it was convinced that the world was going to beat a path to his door - he got quite upset when I offered my opinion. People often do. |
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Location: Fayetteville, NC | Upset???? he got Upset??? With You???!! Unbelieveable! :eek: |
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Location: London, England | Thank you to everyone who replied to my question. I think I caused quite a debate! Not bad for my first input.
cheers |
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Location: Scotland | Originally posted by mtnbikerfred:
Originally posted by cwk2:
This raises an interesting question, Anybody seen a one piece top? On a flat top I mean? Yeah, on My Adamas :D :D :D
As for the early 3 piece spruce top guitars made from rotor blade stock, the consensus among those of us who own them is that we can't perceive a significant difference between them & a 2-piece top. The single most important factor in a guitar soundboard is it's strength to weight ratio, not how many pieces it's made from. That's why the Adamas top works so well, because it's very thin & light but also very stiff. Spruce that behaves like that is difficult to find & costs a fortune if you do. |
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Location: NJ | btw:
The website's lookin' GOOD, Master Templeman!! . . .
;) |
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two halves and to hold!!!