BTW this isn't my first Ovation but the first one I've messed with in about 15 years, I've had 2-3 other roundbacks over the years..

This early 1982 Black 1617 was aquired by my son @ a local pawn shop for two bills & is great shape & sounds fantastic unplugged & when plugged in it has some noise in the pot which I will try DeOxit on when I change the strings later tonight..

I plan on changing the 9V battery when I change the strings & have some new Lithium ones that I use in my Ibanez Bass..I will be very carefull with the battery cover & the mounting screw + hardware as I've read where they can/will cause trouble & might be kinda hard to come bye nowdays..

I bought a set of D'Addario .012"-.053"s Phosphor Bronze for it as that's the gauge it has on it now & the setup it pretty good & sounds nice & warm..

The concentric knob/s are both missing & for now I put two small peices of rubber tubbing on as to allow them to be turned for function, I wonder if these knobs can be aquired from Ovation any longer or if maybe one from a Fender Jazz bass might possibly work? There are also a few others that are used on basses & teles available if I can't get an original factory part..

The ebony fretboard needs to be cleaned really well & I will use 0000 steel wool then lemon oil & polish the frets with mothers polish, I'll tape each fret off with blue tape first.. The bridge has o lot of black grunge on it & it'll get the same treatment as well.. The body will get cleaned well & a fresh coat of guitar polish.. Tuner nuts are slightly loose & just needs a little love to bring it back to perfection..

Well i read that the Ovation factory is now closed? So I figure calling & emailing will get me nowhere? I'd really like to get the factory concentric knobs set for this guitar but suppose as long as it's usable it'll do. There's a Fender supplier across the river that may have the Jazz Bass Concentric Knob set.. Maybe? If not I'll just order one up for around $10.. Guess I should have picked up that Viper III last month Huh?? You'll notice I keep my Ibanez SR300 out but my sons PRS CE-22 is kept under the bed

Never got around to cleaning up & restringing the 1617 tonight but with all the fireworks & stuff going on I'll get to it sometime tomorrow I guess?

Clean & oil board + bridge, polish frets, clean + polish body, tuneup tuners, change battery, spray out pot/s, clean up reassemble.. Restring..

Well I sure hope that someone has this odd shaped concentric knob set.. Got several things to tackle today so the 1617 will have to wait till I have time to do it right, don't like being rushed as I'm gonna get all that dead skin & grunge off the fret board & polish each fret to a mirror shine plus all the other little things you do when you get a new guitar.. I don't plan on changing the action but could someone tell me what it takes to adjust the truss rod on one of the Ovations that's adjusted via the sound hole? Is it a small nut or an allen? What size??? can't really tell till I get the strings off.. I was a maintenance tech & have just about every socket available, if it needs to be thin I can modify one to work as well..I have every allen made in metric & sae.. I never realized that the bowl was actually brown & must be coated or painted on the outside to be black, I have seen a few older Ovations with brown bowls..