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Joined:
December 2008
Posts: 1456
Location: Texas | I momentarily considered attempting a bowl-bend on an old Legend I have. It seems to me that it would be pretty darn difficult to precisely reposition the neck even with some sort of elaborate brace system, so it would be near impossible on top of an ironing board… ;)
I never found much info on actually performing a bowl-bend, other than "don't try it." ;) I guess you'd use a heat gun to soften the bowl?
In most cases, if an old (US made) Ovation has any value to the owner, (whether $ or sentimental,) sending it back to mother would be the safest bet, by far…
…but in the case of your Applause, I suppose it might be worth a try, since it cost you nothing. If you do it, let us know and please take photos?
A simpler alternative might be to just leave the action high and learn to play slide on it.
Good Luck |
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Joined:
June 2007
Posts: 100
Location: Delaware | hey standing thanks for reply. im not even considering the bowl-bend at all, not even on this old, high action, broken and repaired, near end of useful life Applause. The high action is playable and tone is surprisingly good. I am planning to make a new saddle that will be lower and do some comparisons on video vs original saddle to see if tone is significantly affected by lower saddle and lower declination angle. Other than that I won't do anything more except at next string change will add more resin to cracked area on bowl with a piece of fiberglass cloth for additional reinforcement. That will pretty much finish my interest in the guitar. So far my repair holds! |
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Joined:
November 2002
Posts: 3665
Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | Figured it probably would. You might sand down the bridge itself so you could lower the saddle. Also rout out the saddle slot, down to the soundboard. There's bracing underneath it, so it is supported.
I found the older bowls were easier to bend than the newer ones; maybe, different materials. Old ones were probably chemically molded, and the newer ones thermally molded. |
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Joined:
June 2007
Posts: 100
Location: Delaware | thanks for the suggestions Chris. i dont have good tools to rout the saddle slot under any controlled condition so i'll just test a shorter saddle - either treatment will lower the declination angle and reduce tone or volume theoretically. ive done it on other guitars and honestly could not hear a difference so maybe it will be acceptable on this one too. what do you mean "chemically" molded? you mean they were able to basically cast the bowl shape vs injection molding today? |
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Joined:
November 2002
Posts: 3665
Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | Yep. "Hand-laid fiberglass" on the early ones. |
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Joined:
June 2007
Posts: 100
Location: Delaware | interesting. |
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Vintage Applause AA-31
