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Joined:
March 2013
Posts: 10
| Hello all! After collecting and playing the vintage Ovation solidbodies for a few years, I finally took the dive into the acoustic side with a 1981 Pacemaker - I was always leary about the plastic bowl back. I got it setup and restrung at the music shop - taking out a couple of the bridge shims and replaced the battery - really nice action now and plays/sounds nice.
The strings they put on were the only set of 12-string sets they available. They must be a real light guage, as I can get any bass-y percussive sound out of it acoustically. I strum and finger pick with just my bare fingersand nails, but just don't seem to get any thump like I do on my friends acoustic guitars. When I plug it in, it sounds great too, but just to high end-y sounding, and hard to dial in the lows. Maybe it is the bronze-ish looking style strings that are producing a sound that is brighter than I am used to.
I'm thinking that a medium gauge set might help with the thump and not affect the action too much, and I wouldn't mind a mellower sound - so was thinking of trying the silk and steel 12 string sets at a medium gauage. Has anyone tried these on their 12 string ovations?
Thanks! |
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Joined:
December 2006
Posts: 6994
Location: Jet City | I've done silk and steels on my Pacemaker with good results. The other thing is a good preamp to run through with those. They only have a volume knob.
It's hard to give advise on your live sound without knowing your rig, but if I don't have my Roland AC60 in the loop, I usually use an old Fishman Pro-EQ before going into a soundboard.
Welcome to the club. I've updated your status so feel free to post about the site. You might get more answers posting in the main 'general' section. |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 7218
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | Just to add what Damon said, you mentioned you plug it in. If you are using the same setting that you would with a wood box guitar plugged in or mic'd you need to revisit those settings for Ovation. In general I end up pushing the upper mids on wood boxes to get high end into them. Ovations tend to need to be flat in the board, or have a dip in the upper mids if anything. |
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Joined:
April 2008
Posts: 2985
Location: Sydney, Australia | I usually wait until they rust and fall off before I change the strings on my12 string. |
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Joined:
March 2013
Posts: 10
| Hi everyone! I found these GHS Silk and Steel for a good price w/shipping. I'm not familiar with the GHS brand, but the price seems right.
http://www.stringsbymail.com/store/ghs-silk-and-steel-610-medium-12...
Is there a peg winder tool out there that is made to fit the pegs on a slothead? They're really close together, and it'll be a lot on turning to get all 12 of these strings on and tuned up. I see why TAFKAR waits until they rust and fall off before changing
Thanks again everyone!
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Joined:
April 2008
Posts: 2985
Location: Sydney, Australia | Most peg winders suit both large and small tuner buttons. It just attaches at 90 degrees to the way you'd use it for larger buttons. For slotheads, there's a nifty way of locking the strings on that doesn't require 3 wraps of string on the post to hold it in place - I only use the winder for loosening the strings, as they lock tight very quickly. See this post:
http://ovationfanclub.com/megabbs/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=1851&s... |
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newbie here - question on best strings for pacemaker
