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Posts: 299
Location: Netherlands | Hi, I just bought a second hand Ultra Series 1528-B, Serial no. 185098, made in Korea, in mint condition.
It is not the Glen Cambell 12 string, which it should be, according to the Ovation coding system. On this bulletin board however, i found out it is a normal shallow body model.
Question I have is this: Using the date tracking system I would say my guitar was built in 1979.Is this correct? (does the dating system apply to korean models?)
If so, I think it has never been played before! No fretwear, no scratches etc. etc. whatsoever!Only yellowish bindings from being in a smokey environment for too long.
Second question: I payed about 500 Euro for it. Is the guitar worth it?
CU and TIA,
Martin |
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Posts: 15686
Location: SoCal | The code doesn't apply to non USA built models. Nor does the seriel number code to date the guitar. Sorry. |
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Location: Scotland | The Ultra wasn't introduced until the early '80's and was made in the USA for a couple or three years. If it's Korean it's much later than '79.
500Euro is near enough $500US, so it's overpriced by current USA used values, but you'd have paid about the same if you'd bought on ebay and paid tax, import duty & shipping to Europe. |
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Location: Netherlands | Thnx for your reply. Is there a way of knowing how old it is? is 'much newer '80's or '90's?
BTW: Based on your reply I think it's worth the price. Here in Europe we've always paid too much for instruments :-( My japanese tele I bought for about $ 800,- new!)
TIA,
Martin |
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Location: SoCal | Martin:
I went thru old catalogs and the Ultra series were introduced in the early 1980's What set them apart was that they had the foam neck, not wood. Do a search on the topics on this board and you'll learn more.
The earliest reference I could find to the 1528D was in the very early 1990's. The D stood for (I think), deluxe.
Now comes the part I don't understand. You said that this was a 12 string. In the 2 catalogs that I have (1991 and 1994), the 1528 is listed as a 6 string. I didn't even see any Ultra 12 strings.
Anybody else want to take a shot at this? |
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February 2003
Posts: 299
Location: Netherlands | No it's a six string, so you are right there. Mistype from me or misreading from you, i dunno.
The D could stand for Deluxe, but it matches the colorscheme mentioned on the ovation site as well, and it says nowhere that it is a deluxe.
I searched around here on the forum, but there are only 4 or 5 threads concerning the 1528 series.
As for the foam; is it more or less durable then wood? (I get the PolyUrethane creeps...). It feels like wood anyway.
Anyway, i've owned this ultra for two days now, and i've played more on this guitar than i did on my acoustic Ibanez in the last 5 years, so that's a good sign.
Thanx for your reply. |
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February 2003
Posts: 299
Location: Netherlands | So following my last reply i did a search on 'foam' and now i know this:
-I own a Korean made Ultra series, black/grey top, cutaway.
-It has a truss rod adjuster and the foam machine was dismissed in '83, so it has a wooden neck.
-The guitar is not older than, say, 12 years.
-According to US standards I payed way too much for it, though in Europe (where I live), the price may be right(I had better ask my brother to bring me one haha, he's in Canada right now!)
-According to it's state, it has not been played a lot of times. (No fretwear,but a little oxidation on the frets).
So overall, i'm pretty satisfied.
BTW: I play it through a Boss GT-3 eff. processor using a bit of reverb and a acoustic pre-amp simulator plugged into a Bedrock BC-50 Tube Combo.
Thanx for all your replies. Very informative indeed.
Martin |
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Ultra 1528 from 1979?
