Joined:
March 2006
Posts: 1634
Location: Chehalis, Washington | Got the guitar today...it's not mine.
Well, let me correct that - it's mine now because I paid for it, but it's not the one I used to have.
I'm not sure how many of these were made in 94, but maybe you guys could help me out with a couple of things. First, this looks ALMOST identical to mine, with a couple of exceptions. The finish, which shows as a bright cherry red on mine, looks muted and dark, almost streaky around the edges of the burst on this one.
Also, the case, which for my guitar was deeper than the standard O case, and also was completely smooth on the outside, slightly beveled at the edges, and had no logo or markings at all, is ALMOST identical to mine. It appears that this case was intended for a mid-body guitar w/o cutaway, though it does match mine in outward appearance.
Any idea how long Ovation sold their guitars with cases that had no logos?
The other thing, is that the neck is not only lifting at about fret 15, it looks to me like it has been impacted by something. There are cracks running up the side of the fretboard on BOTH sides, right under one of the fret bars. There's also about a 2" finish crack on the left side of the body parralel to the neck. The action is set at good level on the lower frets, but the bridge looks like it's shimmed up really high. I think that somebody tried to compensate for the "pucker" in the neck by raising the bridge shims and adjusting the neck back, so that it's more or less level (see the pics).
My other thought, instead of an impact, is that this might have been caused by moisture damage. The top is clean, with a nice little belly bulge and the bassiest projection I've ever heard out of a SSB. The fretboard, on the other hand, looks like a chalkboard - it's incredibly dry, and so is the neck and headstock. Could a high-moisture environment sap enough of the oils out of the wood to cause this kind of a split?
I don't think that I'll keep this one in the long run, as I still am hoping against hope to recover my original at some point, but I do need to figure out whether I should/can do something about the neck before I try to sell it, and if in fact there's an easy (i.e. CHEAP) fix for it. Any suggestions? |
It's not the one...
