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October 2006
Posts: 5575
Location: big island | Aloha Ovation Fan Club members! This is my first posting and so I wanted to take a moment for introducing myself. My name is Randy. I live on the Big Island in Hawaii. I acquired my first Ovation product, an Adamas W597 Cobalt, a month ago and I have been perusing this website since. I am a professional guitarist/ukulele"ist"/vocalist performing gigs here at the resorts several evenings per month. My day job is staying at home taking care of my two daughters, aged 2 and 10 months. What a blessing!! I have been playing guitar for about 38 years now. After having to do countless neck resets on several all wood guitars over the years, due to high humidity and salty air, I took the plunge on the Adamas. In all my years of playing, I had never strummed an Adamas, nor heard one in a live setting. I actually bought this one online hoping that all the positive reviews I had read would be my reality. I am very partial to Gibson J-200s, however I sold my last one on eBay to a guy in Sweden. I was not willing to spend another $600.00 for yet another neck reset. Acoustically, this Adamas is no match for the J-200, however, when plugged in I find myself in guitar heaven. This will be my gig guitar and will also do a fine job as I lead praise and worship at church. One of these days I will need to find a suitable instrument for strictly acoustic playing. I also perform on deck of dinner cruises from time to time and that is when I most miss the cannon J-200. I purchased a RainSong a few years ago but sold it after a month of acoustic disappointment. This Adamas seems much more balanced and articulate acoustically than the RainSong and certainly has a better low end, in my opinion. Any suggestions? I suppose I will need to try one of the deep bowl older models...
Recently, two professional musicians on O'ahu (Mike Kaawa and Brother Noland) had their Adamas 12 string guitars stolen just after Mike had placed them in his van and went back inside for a few minutes. I am keeping my eye on eBay! I am not sure what models, however, similar to the blue one that recently sold for $3600.00. Mike had borrowed Brother Noland's as a backup for a venue he was performing at. Brother Noland had received his from his wife as a gift several years ago, so Mike is, of course, feeling real bad about this situation.
Okay, I have taken more than a moment of your time. Nevertheless...ALOOOOOOOHAAAA!! |
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Posts: 55
Location: Malvern, Pa. | Welcome. |
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December 2005
Posts: 1234
Location: Tidal Mudflats of Virginia | Welcome Randy,
Have to try to hook up with ya next time I'm over that way!
If your looking for a truly fantastic acoustic only guitar, I recommend you try out the Adamas 1187-247 reissue. If your over in Oahu, drop me a line and you can come try out mine but don't wait too long, there aren't too many left.
Aloha_Tim |
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December 2004
Posts: 4394
Location: East Tennessee | Welcome Randy,
Hey Tupperware another "ukulele"ist" to keep you company.
To the rest of the OFC membership, someone else to pick besides Dave. :D
Randy you WILL understand what I'm talking about soon. |
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August 2006
Posts: 2804
Location: ranson,wva | welcome randy,congrats on the adamas..they truely are a work of art..
sorry to hear about your friends guitars being stolen..
if you can get your hands on a 1114 folklore that would make you a great acoustic only ovation..i know there are sever members that will agree with me on the folklore..jason |
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April 2006
Posts: 1138
Location: CT | W597 is not a deep bowl? A deep bowl would definitely help. |
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January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | Welcome.
"after a month of acoustic disappointment".... What took you so long on the rainsong?
Yes, if you want straight acousticness try o deep bowl non cutaway, the #47 reissue would be starting at the top. Always a good place to be. |
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Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | The #47 Re-Issues look REALLY nice with Hawaiian Shirts too, btw! . . . |
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February 2002
Posts: 1817
Location: Minden, Nebraska | Welcome to the club. Great testimony! |
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October 2006
Posts: 5575
Location: big island | Mahalo to all who have taken time to reply to my intro and for your suggestions on a suitable acoustic Ovation model. I certainly have had my eye on the #47 reissue, but my eye is all I can put on it! As I mentioned, my full-time "job" is being a stay-at-home dad with only part-time gigs. Being a "professional musician" does not necessarily equate to earning professional-size dollars! Yes, Cliff, I would definitely agree that the #47 would compliment many shades of aloha shirts. Aloha_Tim, where on O'ahu are you? I am a Class of '74 Kailua High Surfrider. (Yeah, I know if any of you are doing the math, you have figured I am about 50 and have two new daughters and that I must be a glutton for punishment!)
Hey, no ranking on us ukulele players. As much as I enjoy playing guitar, I have more fun strumming and picking the uke! A little lesson in Hawaiian ( if I may...): the instrument is not pronounced, "you-ku-lay-lay" . The first syllable "you" should actually be pronounced as a long letter u sound like the double oo's in the word boo. An "uku" in Hawaiian is a small parasite like a flea or lice.
"lele" (lay-lay) means jumping or to jump. When the Hawaiians first heard the very small guitars the Portuguese brought to these islands, the sound reminded them of fleas jumping.
Brainslag, the W597 is a mid-depth bowl. Acoustically it is adequate for most venues, it just does not have the projection I am so accustomed to with the J-200. Also, when I played the J-200 at gigs acoustically, I almost always received compliments from the audience afterwards on how nice the guitar sounded. (Hmmmm...come to think of it, the guitar received more compliments than my voice did. Uh-oh...) I'll have to do my homework on the 1114 Folklore that Jason mentioned. If and when funds become available I will also want to add a 12 string roundback to my arsenal. Hawaiian and slack key music are both very enhanced with a 12 string in the mix.
I will probably shy away from Ovation ukulele models. I am blessed to own a gorgeous tenor model made by the late Les Reitfors, which I installed a Fishman Prefix ProBlend on.
cwk2, I only kept the RainSong for a month because it took that long to resell it on eBay. I see that RainSongs are selling more quickly there these days. One of the guys I gig with plays his lower end RainSong AWS1000. Plugged in, it is impressive sounding and the neck plays like butter, however, the band members agree the W597 is much more impressive as it also carries the mid and low responses as well as the bell-like qualities. My friend will not play his RainSong acoustically as it has no volume. He prefers to play an old beater classical.
Okay, time to hang out with my girls. Aloha folks! |
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October 2006
Posts: 5575
Location: big island | There is a big purple dinosaur in my parlor minding my daughters for a few minutes so I discovered that interestingly and unfortunately, there are no 1114 Folklore reviews on Harmony Central. I went to the Ovation website and saw the current Josh White model. Being in Hawaii and having past problems with wood topped guitars, I should probably stay with Adamas models or carbon/graphite/composite/what-have-you type guitars. |
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November 2003
Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | "An "uku" in Hawaiian is a small parasite like a flea or lice"
that about sez it... |
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November 2003
Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | And on the acoustic front... Also try a U681T, "Ute" (UniDirectional CarbonFibre top). Sounds terrific purely acoustic (and plugged in) You can find them used and new....
"Aloha Tim" has one I believe... |
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March 2005
Posts: 12759
Location: Boise, Idaho | The U681t has a 12 fret neck and no cutaway, which might be a problem for you if you play those high notes. It's not a problem for some of us. It's kind of the Adamas version of the 1614, but there's a world of difference between them. It does boom out the bass, so if you like those lower notes, it's your guitar. |
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April 2006
Posts: 1138
Location: CT | Lanaki, ukes are fine, but get yourself a banjo. The guys around here LOVE banjos. In English, it it pronounced BAN' (as in the sound this abomination makes should be BANNED), and jo - (as in hey Joe, I heard you shot your woman down - because she was playing a banjo). |
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November 2004
Posts: 382
Location: USA | Welcome Randy :) |
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October 2006
Posts: 5575
Location: big island | hey brainslag,
LOL!
as a matter of fact, i have to confess i already own a banjo. i have an uncle who lives up in the mountains of western north carolina where my ancestors on my dad's side are from. my uncle ray started handcrafting banjos, or (is it banjoes?) several years ago. he sent me one made from black walnut. the very special and unique thing about this one is that the wood he used on the back is from the headboard of the bed by grandfather made for his new bride in 1913. they had 13 kids so obviously this piece of wood is used to vibrating nicely and making beautiful music! it's an old mountain style instrument with a deer hide head.
my mom and dad divorced when i was just a few months old. i never met my dad until i was 22 and after nearly six years of searching for him, off and on. i got on a greyhound bus in california in 1978, travelled across country with my guitar and some fine hawaiian pakalolo (marijuana), and serenaded bus stop beauties all the way to asheville, nc. once there, i met my dad and his wife and eventually my grandparents and hundreds of aunts uncles and cousins i never knew existed. i ended up relocating to the asheville area for 18 years before moving to colorado for a year and then back to hawaii in '97. |
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Aloha and Introduction
