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| What a friendly board. Had my question answered about replacing the battery in my old 169 CustomLegend in about 2 seconds. Anyway, anybody else here have a Matrix (any model)? For so long that was my only axe. Mine's the 'economy' version of the 1737 according to askus@ovationguitars, with the peizo pickup, but no preamp. Got it used about 15 years ago (from someone who shouldn't have been allowed to own a guitar), already had finish cracks and a chip off the plastic headstock. The tone's really mellowed with age, a little heavy on the low end but can be compensated with the right strings. Any other Matrix owners, I'd love to hear opinions. |
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Location: ranson,wva | ive got 3 of 'em. pretty well useless unless you get on that wasnt played much. most had a aluminium fringerbaord that cant be refretted..mine are set up for slide..jason |
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| this one actually has a rosewood fretboard, but yeah slide would be good for the aluminum one. were those meant for student/school use maybe? |
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Location: ranson,wva | nope,it was ovations answer to a entry level guitar,the academy was the student guitar..jason |
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Location: South Jersey | I bought mine in early 1980 (it's a 1979). I sent it back to the factory for a replacement neck around 1983. One of the frets chipped and it was not replaceable. The factory even paid for the return shipping! The new neck is the rosewood/plastic so the one you have must have the same story? I always loved the guitar. I just bought (last week) a 1976 1612-1 on e-bay and I am in love all over again. My first love is going to my son. |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | I have a 76 that is in almost new condition. Bought in 77 just before our wedding, then it sat mostly for the next 25 years. It still looks great and sounds really good. I just strummed it last night and it is right up there with the others, but sounds a bit more artificial.
Jason is right. It was marketed as the entry level USA Ovation, but with high tech ideas. The neck and fretboard were easily replaced. I was told that the neck replacement would cost about the same as replacing worn frets and fretboard. Of course, when the idea didn't catch on, the necks were no longer available. No finish cracks or other dings in mine, except for a couple at the top of the headstock. I know the rosette is cracked, but I fixed that and can't find the repair. One of my many excuses for having several guitars is that I don't want to wear out the irreplaceable one my wife bought me as a wedding present. |
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| stzomah, I gotta say I always loved my Matrix. For an 'entry-level' guitar the tone & clarity always beat the heck out of any Gibson or Epiphone I played along with, and I've never had to set the action (fast) or tweak the truss rod. 'Course it can't begin to compare with my 1869 but I wouldn't expect it to. This model (along with the 1737) always had the rosewood fretboard according to the folks at O. Mark, you're brilliant! I wish I had an excuse like that. With 6 guitars altogether (4 O's, a Montana dreadnought for beach/campfire use [may as well stay with Kaman products, eh?], and a piece-of-crap 12-string I bought from a pawn shop more years ago than I care to remember) my wife would file for divorce if I got another guitar. But boy, it sure would be nice to replace the old 12 with another O! |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | I didn't say the excuses worked. She said she didn't care if I sold it. After 30 years, she has learned to live with my foibles.
And I like those Montanas. I tried to talk a guy into buying one today as a starter guitar for his wife. |
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Location: ranson,wva | i didnt think any of the matrix line had a truss rod? as far as im aware they all had a urelite neck with a hefty peice of aluminium for support,even the ones with the rosewood board,ive got one of the original matrix ad's somewhere in my collection of ad's where it states the neck spec's...jason ps..mark ive got the perfect starter guitar that i will willingly part with.. ;) |
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| jason - yer right (he says sheepishly)! guess that's why i never had to adjust the truss rod, huh? :) maybe they were onto something? nah, i'll stick with a multi-piece neck glued up with opposing grain directions. i'm an amateur woodworker (NOT a luthier unfortunately) and i can appreciate the art & physics involved in getting a proper, stable neck. |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | Jason, I'll talk to him about your Balladeer, but I couldn't convince him to go for Norseman's Balladeer in great shape for $275. He'd like an Ovation, but doesn't appreciate the differences between a cheap new guitar and a good used one. |
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Location: ranson,wva | ill take a kick in the nuts and let it go for what i have in it..$175.00 shipped with correct era ohsc....thats a hellofa deal. its not the best looking guitar,it spent the past 20yrs under a bar at a club somewhere up north till i rescued it and repaired the b roken neck and cracked body..its a 1971 with maybe 20hrs of playtime on it..just something to think about..if i dont sell it its gonna be my new boating guitar..ps i intsalled a pickup in it to...jason |
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Location: Flushing, MI | I love my Matrix 1137. It was an ebay find for about $100. It has a lot of weather checking, but is otherwise in great shape. The neck has a rosewood fingerboard, and the frets are still in great shape. I think it sounds fantastic for fingerpicking while my bass-heavy Legend is better for the strummer and bluegrass player. Both of those guitars will eat most Martins and Taylors for lunch. Did I just say that? Yes I did. |
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Location: ranson,wva | i pull mine out of the closet from time to time and do a bit of slidin' on it. but as far as fretting notes or chords its damn near impossiable unless you've got a left hand like a pair of vice grips..the action on mine is as high as a square neck national...jason |
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Location: Flushing, MI | Is there a tendency for the necks to warp on those things? With all of that plastic and aluminum, you'd think not.
My action is actually a bit on the low side on my Matrix, and a bit high on my Legend. So, when I get tired of one, I go to the other.
My Matrix is my guitar for the "It's raining, and I don't feel like putting it in a case" occasions. It's caseless until it's in the car. |
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Location: ranson,wva | iv'e adopted my academy as my beat arount the house guitar,it lives on the stand in the living room or in our bed room proped up in the against the wall or hanging on the back of the door...its got the same urelite neck as the martix except its a 1 3/4 - 1 7/8 nutwidth...fun little guitar..jason |
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| Looks like Matrix owners are pretty polarized - you either love 'em or you hate 'em. I guess the action that came with your particular guitar is what it'll always be, barring minor adjustments with under-saddle shims (is this possible? never had to try). The action on mine has stayed exactly the same for the 15 years I've had it. I've never taken extra-special pains to keep it humidified (I live in FL after all) and it's never given me a lick of trouble. My 1637 is actually more bass-heavy than my 1869 (which is near perfectly balanced tone-wise), and my CP2002 tends toward a high bias, so I just let the feel of a particular song dictate what guitar I use to play it. |
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Location: Flushing, MI | I must add that my Matrix came to me with nylon strings on it, and it was totally unplayable. It buzzed HORRIBLY on every fret. Whomever the ebay seller was didn't seem to know the difference between a classical, and a steel string guitar, so they probably thought that they had a defective guitar and just tried to "off" it on ebay.
Unfortunately for them - but fortunately for me, after I put on a set of bronzewounds, the guitar came ALIVE, with only a very minor bit of buzzing on the high E string at about the second fret.
I never use that fret anyhoo... |
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Location: ranson,wva | one thing i like about my academy is the fact that i can adjust the action via the adjustable saddle..jason |
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any Matrix owners?
