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Location: Taxed To Death State | My uncle called me today and said he was at a customers place and he had an Ovation protoype for sale. I got his number and called the guy. Anyway long story short, I checked it out tonight and couldn't pass it up. Looks legit but according to the serial it's 1977-1978 era. Guy claims Glen Campbell played it, but no proof. Anyone here have any info on identifying & dating prototypes? Here are some pics.
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Location: Boise, Idaho | I didn't check the serial number against the date chart, but I think the first Elites came out in 1983, when the 1537, initially the "wood topped Adamas" was a sort of prototype that became the Elite. So if there was an Elite II Prototype, it wouldn't have been mid-70s. There are better experts on the labels around here, or check Jerome's Ovation Tribute site. He goes through a history of the labels. |
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Location: Upper Left USA | Nice color!
Herringbone binding and Two Knobber!
Take a side shot of the headstock and see if the peghead face runs into the neck like the 1537s do. |
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| Most of the prototypes have the Kaman Music Group label to distinguish them from a factory run.
The serial number of a prototype is actually the date of manufacture, so in this case the guitar is dated 12/08/83.
At one time I owned one of the three known 1537 Elite protoypes, and it had a serial number of sometime in 1982, so this model is dated approximately one year after the original Elite prototypes.
What is interesting is that the neck is not glossed as are the 1537's. Ovation began to introduce the non-gloss necks around the time this guitar was produced. Perhaps that feature was part of its prototype status . |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | It also has kind of a herringbone binding, where the 1537 is plain walnut. Maybe a second prototype to transition from a 1537 to a production Elite? |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Killer guitar! 
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Location: Jet City | nice one |
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Location: Taxed To Death State | The color is really nice the pictures don't do it justice. The volume and tone knobs look almost hand made. I'll post some better shots with a better camera. |
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Location: Taxed To Death State | Side shot of headstock, knobs, and back
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bowlback.jpg (38KB - 1 downloads)
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Location: Upper Left USA | Those knobs are rare, from the early Adamas days.
Very nice transitional piece! |
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Location: Steeler Nation, Hudson Valley Contingent | Just when you think you've seen'em all!
Cool guitar! |
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Location: Tuscany, Italy | Congrats on your new guitar. very cool !!!
Maybe could be of your interest to know that the very same guitar surfaced back in 2011.
http://ovationfanclub.com/megabbs/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=27095&...
and
http://ovationfanclub.com/megabbs/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=19293&... |
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Location: Taxed To Death State | Spent some time with the fine gents down at Ovation today with this guitar, they liked it. Most likely the only Elite II Proto made. It was made at the Moosup plant. It's quite unique with it's color and single piece leaflet sound holes. |
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Location: south east Michigan | Sometimes I wonder about proto-types.
Are they desired for how rare they are or a perceived higher quality build and sound?
It could be that there is a lot of hand crafting and attention to detail put into one or, it may be that they are just first attempts to work out the problems before it goes into production. . Either way... that is a fine looking guitar. |
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Location: Taxed To Death State | Agreed Slipkid. It all depends on what they were testing or what it was made for. In my case, I bought it because it played super nice, sounded great and the color is just stunning. Is it perfect? Heck no. Prototypes in many cases are put together with what parts happen to be kicking around. That is what makes them unique. I don't think for one second that this guitar plays or sounds any better than it's production version. It's certainly not disappointing that it could be a 1 of 1 that's for sure. |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | I like the history. I like the fact that someone spent some time thinking about it and making it primarily by hand. I like the fact that it looks fantastic, plays well and is unique. All those things make it more interesting to me than any one of those things separately. |
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Location: Taxed To Death State | I think this pic shows the color better.
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Location: Tennessee | That color and herringbone were lifted from the Anniversary guitar. Looks great. From the looks of everything, I would guess they were prototyping how to make a more "standard" (affordable) version of the 1537 ... which at the time was the most expensive guitar in the Ovation line.
Nice guitar. Good get. |
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Location: south east Michigan | Looks Good / Plays Good / Sounds Good
That's a hat trick right there! |
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Location: Suisun City, Ca | <p>I love the look of the single wood-type epis, the herringbone, everything! Sweet! I notice no layered headstock and, I assume, heel-plate like the '37.</p><p>Does the fret board "float" over the top?</p>
Edited by AstroDan 2014-02-11 5:23 PM
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Location: Taxed To Death State | Fretboard is glued to the top. |
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Location: Nashville TN. | Very nice find! |
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Location: Taxed To Death State | Now if I could just find me a slot head Adamas...... |
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Location: California | Nice guitar, the number 120883 will be for m/d/year. congratulations!
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Location: Nova Scotia, Canada | Super find!
Wayne |
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Elite II ?? Interesting Find
