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Posts: 2246
Location: Yucaipa, California | Once again, the "bowl" on the Ovations is perceived to be a problem by non-Ovationites. I was praising the virtues of the new Ovations whilst at the "Banjo Hangout" :rolleyes: and here was the response:
Ovations are nice sounding though unless you have strap they're a pain to play. ...can't seem to escape that conception.... :( |
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June 2004
Posts: 365
Location: NC | I will have to say depends on how your use to sitting the guitar in your lap as to whether it slides or not. I always use a strap and buy my straps from Dangerous Threads out of Nashville, TN. That make them for such little known bands like Aerosmith.....lol! |
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June 2004
Posts: 365
Location: NC | If you cant the guitar face from your body it will not slide.......which I think is a flamenco style of holding the guitar.......someone correct me on this if I am wrong. I tend to cant the face toward me since I am a beginner to see the frets for playing since I am not good enough yet to do it blindly..........therefore it slips away from me without a strap.
Just my 2 cents and really my observation as a 1 yr. 3 month beginner/player or chord killer as I tend to do! |
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December 2001
Posts: 10582
Location: NJ | most of the time when players say that to me I watch how they play. they rest their arm on the top of the guitar and push on it. that makes the guitar push out of the bottom of your lap.
if you use good technique you don't have that problem. that is you arch your arm over the body. |
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February 2005
Posts: 253
Location: New Orleans | I haven't had any problems keeping my O on my lap for a long time but eons ago when my Dad bought me my first Ovation I had to get accustomed to it because it tried to escape me a lot. That guitar was a Glen Cambell nylon string beauty and it was burnt to a crisp in a devastating fire. It was a very major loss to me AND my Dad. My Dad loved Glen Cambell as he was extremely popular back then. But playing the guitar the 2 years that I had it, I learned that you just have to sit it straight and not tilted at an angle. A little determination is all it takes! |
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January 2004
Posts: 338
Location: SE Michigan | This actually touches on something that I dislike about the new bowl shape; Sometimes when I am doing a solo (standing with a strap), I like to press my fore-arm against the lower bout which makes the guitar rotate up towards me so that I can see the fret board better. I know this is not good technique, but it has helped me for years. I actually liked this aspect of the Ovation shape.
Now with the 2005 Collectors, I can no longer do this. Not a huge issue and I still love my 2005c, but something I miss about the old shape.
The only time I ever had trouble holding on to an Ovation was once when I was sitting on a high stool, with my foot braced on a rung. I had forgot my strap that night, and because my thigh was angled down towards the floor, several times that slippery shape got away from me. When standing with a strap or sitting on a normal chair with my thigh parallel to the ground, I have never had a problem with the Ovation shape, and I have been playing Ovations for about 30 years. |
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April 2004
Posts: 13303
Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | What Al said...
although the other comments were excellent also! |
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June 2002
Posts: 6197
Location: Phoenix AZ | If you can hold onto a banjer, you can hold onto an ovation. It all depends on what you are used to. When I got my first wooden box guitar last year after playing exclusively ovations for 30 years, I found that my righ tarm was going numb from the sharp edge of the box digging into bicept. Now I learned to love that feel and in fact one of the reasons I like the bowl on the 05 is because it causes the guitar edge to dig into me a little. To me that's just the way a guitar is supposed to feel. Like I said, all depends on what you are used to. Visitors to Phoenix in the summer ask how I put up with the heat. Well, I never really thought about it. What heat? Dave |
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March 2005
Posts: 12755
Location: Boise, Idaho | I haven't played much else for the last 28 years, although I went long stretches without playing. I've never had a problem and I play sitting on a recliner, sometimes with the guitar and my face pointing at the roof. A flat back guitar digs into my armpit. The only time I remember a problem was like Brian, when I was on a stool without a rung high enough to get my leg out straight. |
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May 2002
Posts: 651
Location: Australia | It's the old old story.
I'm with you Mark. I've never found the bowl shape a problem at all. In fact I've often wondered what all the fuss was about. Perhaps the original shiny bowls were a little too slippery but I find the rounded corners don't dig in and when on stage the smooth round back kind of caresses your body a little. |
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November 2004
Posts: 67
Location: Los Angeles, CA | I'm actually prejudiced against people who can't handle the bowl. |
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August 2003
Posts: 2246
Location: Yucaipa, California | ...remember now, the original comment was from a (gasp) banjo player!.. so, that should explain things a bit... |
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Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | Good Comment, where does a banjoest get the right to talk about how guitars feel? |
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May 2002
Posts: 651
Location: Australia | Well at least he wasn't tryin' to talk about the guitars tone. |
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December 2004
Posts: 4394
Location: East Tennessee | I've played Ovations since 1972. Deep bowl and mid-depth. Never had a problem that I could remember, but then my wife says I never could remember things any way. Except her birthday and our Anniversary. That's why I'm still alive today. :D |
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July 2003
Posts: 1922
Location: Canton (Detroit), MI | I agree with Brian, the only time I've ever had a problem is trying to play on a stool with my foot braced on a crosspiece.
Roger |
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November 2003
Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | I think you should just call 'em "pricks" and be done with 'em....
(Hey, fellers...still got some of that Joisey in me, fahgettabout it) |
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February 2005
Posts: 253
Location: New Orleans | "I think you should just call 'em "pricks" and be done with 'em...."
heh heh heh heh heh..... |
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March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | Jeff;
If you're genuinely gonna "Go Jersey" on 'em,
y'gotta call 'em "Lil' Pricks" . . . .
;) |
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January 2004
Posts: 123
Location: Massachusetts | I do think Ovation drops the ball on this.
I personally don't have a problem sittin on a couch with it on my leg but on a stool or something I do.
They just need to add more roughness to the surface of the cutout and they'd be fine.
I tried the new deep bowl with the tummy indentation and the cutout for the leg seemed to be more pronounced or something...it seemed to stay on the leg fine. |
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Joined:
November 2002
Posts: 1196
Location: Lafayette, Louisiana | I have always found Ovation guitars very comfortable either sitting or standing. Problems holding the guitar because of the bowl have never crossed my mind. I have problems holding a wood back acoustic particularly standing up. I am so use to being able to tilt an Ovation, that holding a wood back really bothers me. |
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February 2004
Posts: 1634
Location: Warren,Pa. | I am holding in my hands a package of 3M Safety Walk outdoor strips (used mostly for stairtreads). They come in different widths and are easily shaped with a scissors (NOT your wife's sewing scissors), and they're black so they blend right in with the bowl. This is always the 2nd thing I do to a new acquisition (after replacing the strings). John <>{ |
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Bowl Prejudice
