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Joined:
December 2013
Posts: 15
| Maybe someone here knows better than I.....
I got a Viper from the pawn shop... with the help of others from the board, I got it working again. It plays ok, and sounds good. Minor setup tweaks and a little fret work wouldn't hurt... but it isn't bad now.
My questions are this....
Many Vipers I see in photos have Viper engraved on the pickguard cover... mine does not. I know that some got their pickguards destroyed by someone stomping the cable... and although mine has stress marks to indicate that, it's still ok.
Second, the headstock and neck are painted in the same finish as the guitar... but the headstock just has a script Ovation wording... no "bowl" graphic or anything.
Third, the dots on the side of the fretboard look to be hand done, as they are painted on....
What are the thoughts here? Prototype? Last one's rush job? Refinished by previous owner?
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 7222
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | Need to see pictures for most of the above, however the pick guard question is simple. There are a few versions (three I think) of the pickguard, only the first version has Viper engraved on it. There are also a couple of versions of the Logo. As far as the neck and body being he same color, well that depends on the color. Pictures tell the story..
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Joined:
December 2013
Posts: 15
| Ok, here's the glorious details. The guitar is all original stuff... (almost).... the ferrules in the peg head aren't.... 2 of the tuners are period correct replacements....
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Joined:
September 2006
Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | I have never seen a headstock logo like that one...
Kinda nifty 
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Joined:
December 2006
Posts: 6994
Location: Jet City | Looks like a refinish to me. Definitely not a prototype. That's a later style bridge and the early ones had the pickup switch in a different spot.
Have you lifted it's pick guard to see if the carpet matches the drapes?
Cool guitar, have fun with it. |
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Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 12755
Location: Boise, Idaho | Although the closeup is a bit blurry, the tone and volume knobs appear to be correct and the dots on the pickguard are in the right places, so I'd guess the knobs and pickguard are original, from a later model Viper. I'd have to look at mine at home, but the fret markers on the neck and the logo on the headstock aren't original, so I suspect a repaint of the neck and headstock at least. I suspect the same on mine, though, so it shouldn't be used as a benchmark. Mine has a brass nut, too, which wasn't original. That makes me think there was a broken headstock on mine, but I can't see evidence of that under the truss rod cover. Red ones are cool and the original pickups are great. Keep it and enjoy it. |
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Joined:
August 2002
Posts: 8307
Location: Tennessee | Like Damon said, most likely a refinish. The S/N indicates it is VERY late in the run ... right near the end of production. I'm not sure they were still doing the red ones by then ...
The one I have is only a few hundred s/n's later ... it required a refinish that I had done about 10 years ago. Mine is all mahogany (body and neck) and the finish they used at the time became very cloudy over the years. There were issues with the formulation caused by new environmental standards at the time and it happened to a fair amount of the guitars like mine. This may be what happened with your particular guitar, and someone decided to go red paint because it looks cool (which is does). That would explain the homemade logo, and all of the correct electronics and parts.
As Damon also suggested, you ought to take off the pickguard and look underneath to see what you've got.
Regardless, these are great guitars. Have fun with it.
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 7222
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | Is it just the picture or are there no screws in the pickguard? |
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Joined:
December 2013
Posts: 15
| I have had the pickguard off of it... it was one of the first things I did... I polish the whole critter. There's a bit of red overspray on the foil of the pickup cavities... I didn't really see any other colors... charcoal grey primer, and the very red paint. |
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Viper Questions....
