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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | Look what followed me home!! :
Found this in a dinky little local shop.
'78 1115.
Top (3-piece?) is in fairly good shape.
Got a bit of a ding near the tail, and a has "bellyed-in" a bit between the bridge and soundhole, but no cracks whatsoever. In effort to lower the action, somebody decided to cut a seies of V-shaped "grooves" into the saddle (???). The result is a series of V-shaped "peaks" between the strings. If you look at the saddle, it looks like an upper denture for a GreatWhiteShark . . .
Plays okay. Got a bit of a "buzz" issue when fretting around the 11th-12th frets, but who the hell does THAT much on a 12-string (not me). Action is pretty good, and sounds okay with the rancid strings that're on it. A good lil' "strummer". For a deep(glass)-bowl, 12-fret, slot-headed old Ovation, what's not t'like? |
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December 2003
Posts: 13997
Location: Upper Left USA | Nice get! |
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August 2004
Posts: 709
Location: Germany | I have the same (from '69) and it's one of my favourites! An old Ovation catalog says, it sounds like a harpsichord and I think that charakterizes it quite good. |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | How long were they made with 3-pc. tops? |
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Joined:
August 2004
Posts: 709
Location: Germany | My '69 has a 2-pc top. I think Kaman used the 3-pc. top only during the first month (maybe the 1st and 2nd year) of production, because they had the six-inch-wide boards in stock - for helicopter rotor blades. |
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Joined:
December 2004
Posts: 2150
Location: Orlando, FL | Sweet! |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 1380
Location: Central Oregon | My 1115 had a buzz on the 12th fret that was caused by the 13th fret popping up a tad out of it's slot on the bass side. I think it was caused by the rough handling it got from UPS. I could push the fret back down but it would come up again after a while so I glued it down with a small dab of epoxy. (I scraped a little epoxy under the edge of the fret with a bit of plastic, pushed it down & wiped off the excess with alcohol on a rag.) That cured the problem. Mine has some suface cracks but I don't even see them anymore. It really sounds great. I put a capo on the 5th fret & play Musicbox Dancer on it & it really makes a harpsichord sound. Wonderful neck. |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | ". . Kaman used the 3-pc. top only during the first month . . . . . . . "
That's what I had thought, but mine looks (lemme re-phrase that . . . LOOKED) like a 3-pc.
Upon further intense scrutiny, I've come to realize that it IS in fact a 2-pc. There's a slight variation in the spruce color that follows an almost PERFECTLY straight line in the grain. When it's bookmatched and fit together, it gives the uncanny appearance of a "third" slightly different-coloured piece of wood going down the center of the guitar top . . .
I'll have to post a pic of the top (along with one of the "Jaws" saddle :rolleyes: )
. . . for what it cost me, I basically paid for an extra HSC and got the guitar fer nuthin'. |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 15682
Location: SoCal | The 3 piece tops lasted until sometime in 1968. |
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Joined:
November 2002
Posts: 3665
Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | As long as it doesn't freak the llama, eh?
Great find, and great guitar. I just feel so unworthy when I haul out ol' SixOhSix (my 1115). Basically, a double-course of bad technique, and cacophony. I mean, how many times can you play "San Francisco Bay Blues", before your wife & critters abandon ship? |
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Joined:
November 2002
Posts: 3665
Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | ....its probably the kazoo......... |
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Joined:
December 2004
Posts: 4394
Location: East Tennessee | I have one I purchased in 1972. It is really is a nice sounding guitar. You will enjoy it. |
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Joined:
April 2003
Posts: 2503
Location: Fayetteville, NC | Congrats Cliff! Great find!! Enjoy. |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | Anybody know of a source where I can get a new saddle for this thing? The hacked-up carcass the the previous owner left of the one in here is WAY beyond any possibility of saving . . .
Are they pretty much "universal", where I can order one through StewMac, or should I just contact CT? |
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Joined:
June 2004
Posts: 271
Location: Ft. Lauderdale, Florida | There pretty unique, with the 10" radius... and would be easier to tweak one from the factory...
than make one from scratch...
Havinfg said that I have made 2 or 3 from bone blanks which give a deeper tone than plastic...
Ab |
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Pacemaker 1115
