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| After a week or so of playing - it's wonderful.
Arrived with quite wussy strings which were easy to play but produced very little volume and made it hard to judge the tone.
Fit and finish are almost flawless - the top body binding doesn't quite get to the neck. A gap of maybe 1 or 2 mm and the cut on the binding isn't straight either. It took me 3 days to notice it and it is no big deal.
There was also a great glob of fret glue up the side of the 13th fret, but I scraped that off without scratching the fret.
I put Savarez wound e to e strings on (as recommended by fred) and the whole guitar came alive - it rang like a bell with a real thunder on the bass strings. Unfortunately the strings are pure classical - they require real accuracy in fretting and they don't do pull-offs/hammer-ons very well, which is my entire technique. And nobody's ever accused me of being accurate. It's now got D'Addario polished composites which suit my way of playing much more but don't sound anywhere near as good (to my ears) as the Savarez did. Strings are still a work in progress.
The radius on the fingerboard that I custom ordered is just perfect. Nothing to add to that - except it's the nicest piece of ebony I ever played. That is obviously just the luck of the draw.
I had dot markers put on the side of the fingerboard - beutifully done and I haven't missed inlays at all and this is the first guitar I've owned with a plain fretboard in 30 years.
I specified the oiled neck (don't know whether it is actually standard or not) and it's a joy.
The biggest thing for me tho is the extra width of the board. It's like hitting the freeway after a country road. My Custom Legend feels so cramped that it's actually difficult to play it the way I did before. That's not something I ever expected to say. The wider neck does make my hand ache on extended barre work tho - nothing comes close to a v-neck for pure comfort.
I do wish I'd upgraded the amp to have the XLR - but it didn't occur to me at the time.
And I think it would look unbelievably cool in NEB with that "fall-coloured" rosette.
Bongo Boy is putting the pics up on his site because the OFC gallery doesn't want to know me (it's applied for membership of the club).
I'm now thinking Folklore before Longneck.....
Fantastic guitar Ovation guys. Worth the wait.
:D
And thanks al :D |
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Posts: 4413
| Yeh, I know - it should say 6773. So there's suddenly a minimum typing requirement here? |
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Posts: 327
Location: Evansville,IN | Congrats Schroeder! Sounds like you are happy with your new "O". :D |
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Posts: 15664
Location: SoCal | Sounds wonderful. What preamp did you have put in? |
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November 2003
Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | Having played the Uterus for while, I find it a little harder to negotiate the more narrow neck of the 1537.
I think I agree with you about the NEB with that rosette. That'd be sharp....
Can you say, " Custom Folklore" |
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November 2004
Posts: 4413
| Paul - it's just the standard OP40. To be honest I never give any thought to on-board preamps. I know this makes me an ungrateful SOB considering how much effort goes into them by Ovation, but I would just as soon have a direct out. I set the thing flat and do everything outboard anyway. But the XLR out would have been nice.
Age and varifocal lenses don't help with those fiddly little buttons. If they made them big enough for this old fart to see they'd have to work out a way to build a Marshall stack in there.
I still haven't got an acoustic amp - I can't make up my mind/wallet. It does sound not too bad at all through a Roland modelling amp set to a JC120 with a touch of delay and a bucketful of reverb - almost flamenco like. It is one cool guitar.
Bongo Boy - yes I can say Custom Folklore. With increasing frequency. Anybody know the ballpark figure for a finish upgrade? |
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Posts: 11840
Location: closely held secret | Originally posted by schroeder:
Anybody know the ballpark figure for a finish upgrade? I'm guessing...
...probably more than ordering it that way in the first place... ;) |
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Posts: 15664
Location: SoCal | $400? |
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Posts: 167
Location: Waxahachie, Tx | Boy, Schroeder you sure are one Lucky, Lucky, Lucky, Dude.
And I hope no one gives you any grief ( I's node I spelt dat sucer wrongd) about liking indian blankets. Is the Neck at the nut 1 7/8? I see different spec's |
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Posts: 13987
Location: Upper Left USA | Makes good Wampum!
If they give you grief...
...just wamp-em one! |
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Posts: 4413
| Yes it's 1 7/8th. I had the board radiussed like a Folklore. It's absolutely great. :D :D |
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Location: East Tennessee | This guitar sounds like a keeper. Enjoy. :) |
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Location: Waxahachie, Tx | Thanks Schroeder, Someday I will have a 6774-4. |
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Posts: 4413
| I may never go back to a standard neck again. |
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Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | Its hard not to enjoy the extra width on the Uterus, and not wish the nut wasn't just a smidgeon wider on the 1537... |
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Posts: 4413
| When you consider when "standard neck widths" were decided on, and the average height/weight of the population these days, you would figure it was time for a rethink. I've been playing John McLaughlin stuff all day that I've never been able to play before and it's not because I'm suddenly any better... there's just room to move. I'm a convert. |
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January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | Once you've started playing a wider neck you get spoilt in a hurry. The second part is if you fingerpick and get a guitar with wider spacing at the bridge you are dubbley spoilt. The guitars that have a regular neck are in their cases and haven't seen the light for a few years. Even the lectrics. |
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Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | Too true...too true! |
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November 2003
Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | Originally posted by schroeder:
When you consider when "standard neck widths" were decided on, and the average height/weight of the population these days, you would figure it was time for a rethink. We should all just play keyboards. |
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Posts: 4413
| So you won't be needing that FD14 then? |
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Country Artist 6337 - report
