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 Me and my new Magnum II
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Ken C |
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| Hello all! Brand new here and just feeling my way around, so I hope I'm posting this in the right section. I'm a bass player based in the UK. Been playing since I was a teenager - now I'm 51! This is my Ovation story (ripple ripple ripple)... Back in the early 1980s, a friend of mine owned a Magnum 1 bass, and I fell in love with it. In 1986, I was lucky enough to buy one! Result: happy boy. :) In 1989, poverty forced me to sell it. Result: misery! :( Last week, I saw a Magnum II - serial # B2927 - on UK ebay, and having a bit of disposable income going begging, I decided it was time to heal that 20-year wound once and for all. I waited...I bid....I won! Result: well, I think you've guessed already, haven't you? :D However, before we all burst into tears and go for the group hug, I ought to say that this is a bass with one or two issues... The guy who sold it to me was a genial bloke, but to be honest he'd gigged this instrument HARD for several years, and paid very little attention to care. Consequently, its mojo/ding quotient is pretty high (mostly on the back of the neck). Also, it was FILTHY!!! When I got it home, the first thing I had to do was to wash the whole instrument with a mild detergent solution to get the years of encrusted sweat/nicotine/general crud off it - especially the fretboard, which was grey with caked-on godknowswhat. Yeeeuchh! :eek: Said fretboard, you'll be glad to hear, has now been cleaned, oiled and is looking silky black again. Amazingly, after 30-odd years of use, the onboard preamp is still working perfectly, and considering the fact that it contains eight op-amps, it has a surprisingly low noise floor.  The treble cut/boost slider has a slight mechanical fault (it won't slide all the way to full boost position), but I'm pretty sure I can fix that. Other good news: both pickups work fine, the mute pad is in pretty good condition for its age, the neck is as straight as a die (thank you, graphite strips!), the Schaller/Ovation tuners are in perfect shape and look brand new, and most of the front surface of the body is free of marks. I spent most of yesterday putting right one of the seller's bits of bodgery. Deciding that the original "burnished gunmetal" finish of the metalwork looked 'a bit worn', he had sprayed it all matt black - but not very well, so that much of the paint was flaking off. I found that with careful use of non-metallic scrapers/scourers, I was able to remove the rest of his paint layer quite easily, so it now looks a lot closer to the way it would have done originally:  My only big problem is the pickguard:  It's the usual story. As we all know, these were fairly brittle beasts - or perhaps became brittle with time - and as you can see from the above pic, mine has cracks around the jack socket. I could repair/reinforce the area by fixing a small piece of something thin and stiff to the back surface with epoxy resin glue, but ideally I'd like to obtain a replacement. However, all of my enquiries with the big custom pickguard companies have hit the sproblem: "We can do the shape, but we can't engrave any of the control knob labels". Damn! So, as I write, that's the state of play with my new baby. By the time I'm finished with her, she's going to look as good as she can and play as well as the one I was forced to sell. Dings and cracks notwithstanding, I am very, very happy to be once again a Magnum owner/player. Oh, and if anyone out there has a pickguard going spare.... ;) Cheers all, Ken | |||
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| BT717 |
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| AussieJames |
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Joined: June 2007 Posts: 3084 Location: Brisbane Australia | |||
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| Ken C |
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| GlennAllenHessSr |
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| Ken C |
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| Ken C |
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| bvince |
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Joined: September 2005 Posts: 3618 Location: GATLINBURG TENNESSEE :) | |||
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| 2ifbyC |
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| Old Man Arthur |
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Joined: September 2006 Posts: 10777 Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | |||
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| Ken C |
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| AlanM |
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| Ken C |
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| Thanks, Alan - glad you've been enjoying it. :) More good news: Mr. O himself is checking to see whether he can supply me with any proper Ovation witch-hat knobs (fingers crossed...) Meanwhile, for those who enjoy that sort of thing, here's some red-hot Copper Shielding porn:  In case anyone's wondering why I've shielded the battery compartment, don't fret: there won't be any batteries in there, but the (unscreened) wires from the neck pickup pass through that space on their way to the controls. ;) | |||
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| 2ifbyC |
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| fillhixx |
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Joined: November 2005 Posts: 4832 Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | |||
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| Ken C |
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| Ken C |
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| Latest instalment - 16th August The new pickguard arrived yesterday from AI Guitars. For the benefit of anyone else who may be thinking of ordering one, here are my impressions: Packaging Sandwiched between sheets of stiff cardboard, which were totally sealed with shrink-wrap and wide sellotape. The pickguard itself was stuck down with an adhesive-backed paper that peeled off easily. The whole package was very rigid and would be difficult to bend or break. It managed to get all the way from Arizona to London without any harm, anyway! :)  Appearance Although made of a plastic with some flexibility, the top surface is completely flat and mirror-glossy. In this respect, of course, it differs from the Ovation originals which, as owners will know, are more of a semi-gloss finish with a sort of grain.  Edge detail The overall thickness is the same as the original. It's made of standard 3-ply sandwich stuff. The inner white layer is possibly slightly thicker than the outer black ones, but of course you don't get the broad white edge effect of the original. This is not a detail that bothers me, but it won't satisfy anyone who hankers after authenticity.  Screwholes All screwholes line up perfectly. No need to force any screws or re-drill any holes in the guitar body. Countersinking is a little deep for the small-headed Ovation screws, though. Switch and jack holes Although I don't have an original Mk I pickguard with which to compare, all of these appear to be in the right places. Shape Comparing against my Mk II pickguard, the curves of the outer edge are almost perfect. The radius of the "bulge" near the output jacks is possibly a smidge pointier than on the original, but that's all. When fitted using the original screwholes, though, the straight edge sits just shy of the metal casting by about 1.5mm:  This is a shame, but frankly not one that's going to cause me any lost sleep. Like the countersinks, though, it's something that will put off the perfectionist. Lettering The engraving is far better than I had been led to expect from the eBay picture. It's nicely crisp and appears to be the right size of font. I've tried taking photos of it, but even with a tripod and macro setting, I'm afraid my little camera won't resolve the detail well enough. Today I've been installing the electronics. This is what things look like so far:  All I need now are some knobs (hoping that Miles might strike lucky there) and a set of strings, and she'll be ready to roll! :D My score: 8/10 As I'm a bass player, not a collector looking for museum-piece accuracy, I'll be quite happy to use this pickguard. Both of the main 'issues' (the countersink depth and the position of the straight edge) are things that I'm sure the company could remedy in future versions if they were told about it, so I shall be sending them a copy of these details for their information. I imagine they don't get a lot of call for Magnum Bass pickguards, so are probably working off a template that's not exact enough. So there y'go! I hope this has proved useful. :) | |||
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| 2ifbyC |
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