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Joined:
July 2008
Posts: 40
Location: Madison, Wis | I opened it up and wow....what a great looking piece of art. The Bear Claw spruce is gorgeous. The neck is smooth as silk, and the black mechanics, such a different look, just fantastic. It plays beautifully, and the set up was good. The action was set a little high for me, but I have never adjusted action before (I know, you are talking to a novice here).So I am going to leave it right now until I can get it to a pro to adjust for me. I really like the different sounds the VIP pre-amp gives out. I know that some people think it is a little overboard, and I kind of thought the same. Now after playing with it, I have hit at least 3 different sounds I really like, and still have not touched all the different tones and sounds yet. The 9158 black guitar case is also a nice added feature, it really looks nice. I will post pictures when I get them. Just thought I would pass on my thoughts and how happy I am with the purchase. |
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Joined:
April 2008
Posts: 2985
Location: Sydney, Australia | Bill,
I love the look of those 07Collectors. How do you find the contour bowl?
Lowering the action is easy. I did it with assistance from the kind folk here. When you change the strings next take them all off at once and lift the saddle out with your fingernails. Under the saddle you'll find one or two shims (little thin pieces of plastic or some substance). You can get them out with a toothpick or (as I did) just hold the guitar upside down and shake. Store the shims somewhere safe (like in the guitar case) in case you need to put them back in.
Then put the strings back on. Start from the outside and work in - or vice versa. Don't do the standard way that I tried (EADGBE) because the nut will start moving up towards you. If the action is now too, find one of those shims you safely stored and put it back in.
There are some smartypants here who can do this without taking the strings off, but I think you'll want to walk before you run. |
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Joined:
October 2005
Posts: 4081
Location: Utah | Bill, you're making it hard to wait for mine to be delivered!
Adjusting the action is really very simple. As mentioned, removing or adding shims is very simple. You can get half-thickness shims from the factory for free with a simple email to customer support. The truss rod can be carefully tweaked to fine tune the neck curvature. There are numerous websites that show how to do it. I'd recommend waiting a few weeks for your guitar to aclimatise to your weather before doing anything to the setup. But then there is no reason not to make minor adjustments yourself. |
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Joined:
November 2006
Posts: 3969
| Big congrats, Bill!
Lowering the action's easy. Just follow Richard's instructions. The only thing I might add is that if the saddle is really tight in the bridge you might want to push it out from the inside by gently grabbing the pickup wire & push up. |
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Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 5567
Location: Blue Ridge Mountains | Lowering the action's easy. Just follow Richard's instructions. The only thing I might add is that if the saddle is really tight in the bridge you might want to push it out from the inside by gently grabbing the pickup wire & push up.
Ditto! Congrats!! |
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Joined:
August 2002
Posts: 8307
Location: Tennessee | Great news! Mine showed up today ... but I'm in The Biggest Little City in The World and won't be home until Friday! However, Max is going to open it up and give me a report in a little while. When I told him it was coming, he of course let me know that he really likes the contour bowl and can see himself playing one. I think he want to be Matt Smith when he grows up. Almost there, huh?
Al, you still have some these 07's left? |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 10583
Location: NJ | bobbo
yes. I assume max needs one ? |
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Joined:
July 2008
Posts: 40
Location: Madison, Wis | I love the contour bowl. I have had the Ovation 1112 since 1974, so I have always had the deep bowl. Wow what a difference. It forms right to me, and it does not slide off at all. This is a great guitar setup. |
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Joined:
August 2002
Posts: 8307
Location: Tennessee | Max's text message to me: "Guitar is amazing. I'm in love".
Not sure yet how the whole deal will play out, Al. When I told Max it was coming, he let me know that he really likes the contour bowl and was secretly hoping I would buy him one of the balladeers or elites with the CB when we did the Matt clinic. I'm glad I didn't because this is a great deal on a pro level guitar. So much more guitar for only a little more money. |
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Joined:
September 2004
Posts: 1180
Location: Vermont USA | Wis WGC Do have any pictures yet. I played one at the last tour, great guitar and very cool looking.
Pauly |
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Joined:
September 2003
Posts: 9301
Location: south east Michigan | Nice guitar, great value.
If I had not just added a KoaT to the wall this might have been my once every three years impulse buy. |
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Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 12761
Location: Boise, Idaho | I was playing around with my new toy last night and forgot about the contour bowl. When I first tried one, it didn't fit me, but I seem to have grown to fit it. They're loud like the deep bowls. I told my wife it is a sign of our growing America, but it really was a good idea. Maybe all that "slides off my leg" crap will stop. |
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Joined:
July 2008
Posts: 40
Location: Madison, Wis | Hey guy's, I was trying to upload my pictures of the new 2007 BCS collector series. I am unable to do it. Can anyone give me good directions on how this is done? |
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Joined:
October 2005
Posts: 4081
Location: Utah | Mine arrived today. The box was beat to hell and back, but no apparent damage to the guitar or case.
The guitar has one 1/4" nearly invisible finish flaw, which I would guess is the reason for the FRG designation.
Acoustically it sounds great! It needs a shim or two removed, but the neck is adjusted properly and the nut is cut lower than usual factory setups. The neck is rounder than the (still for sale) 6778LX, which is slightly V.
Being tired tonight, I haven't given it a full workout, but I think I'm really going to love this guitar. The only issue is that the VIP on images 1, 2, and 3 has a bit of a high pitched ringing. Some kind of digital artifact maybe. When playing an open B string there is this high pitched tone, almost like a bit of feedback. I'll try plugging into another amp Friday before we leave for NJ. |
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Joined:
May 2008
Posts: 22
Location: New England, USA | I played with action on mine excessively. It was perfectly fine out of the box...but ya know...I can't leave well enough alone. So put .013's on it, removed a thin shim, then removed the thicker shim, then went back to .012's with 1 thin shim removed....after playing around with all these configurations for 2 weeks, I ended up going back to the original set up....all the shims in place and .012's. I can't imagine anyone thinking that the original set up is "too high"...any lower and you just lose too much volume and tone. But I love this guitar and can't keep my hands off it. I didn't like the pick up sound at first (thru my Roland stereo chorus amp), but you just have to spend some time tweaking and playing with the settings. I set the high EQ on the pickup to almost 0...its just to dang bright otherwise; and set the mid range to just under half. And the imaging thing...I'm still playing with that. It definately adds something, but it requires much tweaking to get your own preffered sound. Ultimately we just want the sound we get acoustically, only louder..at least thats what I'm after. The guitar is a real beauty and one you want to stare at for hours. Anybody have ideas on humidifying an epulet guitar? I've always used the Kyser soundhole, but for obvious reasons it won't work here. Any thoughts are greatly appreciated. |
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My 2007 BCS Collectors series Ovation guitar brought home today!!!!
