Joined:
March 2007
Posts: 843
Location: CA | If you think the Applause sounds good, do your ears a favor and try any American-made Ovation. As I understand it, they all have solid-wood tops (usually spruce), as opposed to Appys and most — but not all — Celebs. Those guitars, assembled overseas, feature some spectacularly beautiful tops, but it's part of a laminate, like plywood. The advantages are that you CAN have that pretty top, and the top is very strong and resists the dreaded 'bulge' below the bridge. The disadvantage is that plywood does not resonate like a single sheet of spruce. So unplugged, most don't sound as good. (Plugged in, with equal pickups, there's not much difference). In my search for the ultimate mid-price Ovation — what can I say, I'm $$$-challenged — I've experienced this many times. Although, to be perfectly fair, I have a friend who has an older shallow-bowl 'Ultra Deluxe' (or something like that), assembled overseas that sounds every bit as good as my shallow-bowl Legend. |
Slightly OT - Applause AE128
