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Joined:
July 2003
Posts: 1922
Location: Canton (Detroit), MI | Hi,
I just joined your club after being a "lurker" for several weeks. I do not have an Ovation, but do have an old Applause AA14-4 that I purchased in January 1977. From what little I have been able to glean from various sources, it appears that Applause guitars originated in 1976, so I may have one of the oldest ones in existence if this is true. Just curious if any of you can fill in my void on Applause history from that time.
My AA14-4 is in wonderful shape, only has the standard paint chipping on the lower fingerboard. And it sounds wonderful, like it always has. |
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Joined:
May 2002
Posts: 3005
Location: Las Cruces, NM | Welcome
Yor Applause is definately an Ovation.
Bailey |
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Joined:
July 2003
Posts: 1922
Location: Canton (Detroit), MI | Bailey, thanks for the reply. I know that it was made by Kaman Music....but it doesn't have the OVATION name on it. I well understand the difference between Applause and the "high-priced spread" Ovations. I really wish my AA14-4 had a wood fingerboard and a nice wood neck and headstock like the higher-priced Ovations. But it plays and sounds just fine. And it was made in the U.S.A. |
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Joined:
February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | The early Applause guitars were identical to the Ovation Medallion/Matrix in every respect apart from the soundhole rosette & the shape of the headstock. |
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Joined:
May 2002
Posts: 3005
Location: Las Cruces, NM | Play it and enjoy it, it's the playing that makes a guitar stand out, not the pedigree. If you like it, it is a fine guitar, there is a little too much brand obsequesness on this board and too little recognition that the sound is as much a part of the player as the guitar. |
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Joined:
January 2003
Posts: 146
Location: Germantown, MD | Amen, Bailey. That's so good I wish I had said it.
Peace,
John |
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Joined:
July 2003
Posts: 1922
Location: Canton (Detroit), MI | Thanks for all your comments, I appreciate it. The player, unfortunately, is not as good as the guitar at this point....I am relearning to play after being out of it for many, many years. I bought the Applause in 1977 to get myself to play more and it worked for awhile, but ultimately, I went on to other interests.
I originally bought the Applause because of seeing artists using Ovations(specifically Jim Peterik of The Ides Of March); when I bought it, I did not understand the connection between Applause and Ovation, I just knew it was an "Ovation-looking" guitar that I could afford. I have an appreciation of the particular "sound" that Ovations seem to have....I would call it a trebly, twangy sound. That sounds negative, but I LIKE it.
I have considered selling my Applause on eBay and looking for a nice old Ovation, but have decided to stay with the Applause. Per my wife's wishes, one acoustic guitar is enough in this house, and I haven't seen an Ovation I want badly enough to replace it with. My Applause is in virtually PERFECT shape. And it has 26 years of memories for me. |
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Joined:
February 2003
Posts: 299
Location: Netherlands | For me, as the owner of a Telecaster, twangy doesn't sound negative at all!
Martin |
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Joined:
July 2003
Posts: 181
Location: North Carolina | In my humble opinion, the "trebly,twangy" sound people associate with Ovations is due to their experience with imports/lesser models and/or those horrendous super shallow models. One listen to my CE778 or any high-end Ovation/Adamas will convince you that Ovation can sound as warm as rich as any guitar made. I am a homebrewer and general beer lover and this reminds me of the association many people (including me a while back!) make with the taste of an "imported" beer. As it turns out, this taste was actually due to a by-product of a photo-oxidation reaction when beer was lightstruck, either by the sun or, more commonly, the fluorescent lighting in stores which produced a "skunky" flavor to the beer. Beer in green bottles (most notably Heinekin) are especially prone to this. When you taste a fresh, properly stored import, there is no skunkiness only malt and hop goodness. The moral of the story? - Listen to the beautiful bass response of a high-end Ovation while enjoying a fresh, all-malt imported beer. Works wonders for me!
Franklin |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 15677
Location: SoCal | When people talk of the trebly, high sound, with no bass in reference to Ovations, I always tend to think that tis goes back to the 1970's, when Ovation began trying different bracing patterns in their guitars, and also went to a shallow bowl. I honestly believe that guitars built with the VT-whatever patterns didn't have much bass, and Ovation gained their reputation as having mid range and treble, but no bass.
The advent of the "A" bracing pattern brought this back around, but the damage (for lack of a better term) was done.
Today, almost any USA built deep to mid depth bowl Ovation has a good warm sound with plenty of bass. As I've noted before here, I've played my 1537 Elite next to Martians, Snailors, whatever, and it holds it's own. But in the 1970's this wasn't the case. |
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Joined:
July 2003
Posts: 1922
Location: Canton (Detroit), MI | OK, let me throw some gasoline on this fire(LOL!)....
A couple of weeks ago, I was seriously thinking about replacing my Applause with an new Ovation. We have a store of the Guitar Center super-store chain a couple of miles away from us, and it is an Ovation dealer. I went in and played several models that I thought I could afford and a couple I knew I could NOT for reference. I played a couple of Celebrities, a MOB, a new and a used Balladeer (1861, I believe), a Legend, an Ibanez model which escapes me (around $500) and a Martin D-28.
Believe it or not, I didn't care for ANY of them that much except the Celebrity! I disliked the action on almost all of them and I thought none of them sounded good to me except the $299 natural top Celebrity(which had nice action as well)! This probably just shows my lack of taste, however. :)
Note, I played all of them as staight acoustics, not plugged in(if it had a pickup)...that is how I would play any acoustic I have.
I ended up deciding that I liked the action on my Applause better than any of them, and it sounded as good as the Celebrity, so I am staying with it. |
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Joined:
January 2003
Posts: 1498
Location: San Bernardino, California | You know, when relearning to play guitar it's surprising how many good habits you forget and how many bad habits you remember. |
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Joined:
May 2002
Posts: 3005
Location: Las Cruces, NM | Old Applause
Play that thing and enjoy, there is no replacement for a guitar that you have learned to love. |
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Joined:
January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | the applause concept started in 72-73 when we decided to copy ourselves before someone else did. Ovation didn't really want to do it so the project was given to Kaman Aerospace. "Production" began in late 74 and we were ready to launch the guitar at the 75 NAMM show. (At this time Kaman owned Ovation and Coast wholesale and C Bruno and sons, distribution companies and the Applesause was to be sold through them.) Then the guys from Ovation came in and said "This will hurt our sales, we need it to be an Ovation" So it was reconfigured as the Medalloin, soon changed to Matrix. The Headstock was redesigned and the ring attachment(top to the bowl) method was simplified. It was launched a year later. This was 76. The same year the Adamas was launched. Many similarities between the two but that's another story and I'm off to see Matt Snith at the guitar summer werkshoppe. |
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Joined:
July 2003
Posts: 1922
Location: Canton (Detroit), MI | cwk2, thanks for the history, that is what I was looking for....very interesting.
...and as far as GOOD guitar habits, I don't think I ever had any!!!!! :) Trying to develop them this time around..... |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 7237
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | I too have an old Medallion I got in '75. It literally has been around the world a couple of times, but it still plays just fine. It's kind of like those old Realistic C-120 casettes. I have no idea how they mede them, but where others have come and gone... they still play just fine. |
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Applause History
