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Location: Phoenix AZ | I keep trying to thin the herd to make room for more ukuleles, but every so often something pops up that just seems to have my name written all over it. From the front she's a beautiful Custom Legend LX with all the fine trimmings. Turn her over (so to speak) and low and behold she's got a Contour Bowl. Model number C2079LX-5 Contour Bowl Custom Legend LX. Sicne these were just announced at Summer NAMM, this is probably one of the first off the line.
Excuse the crappy photograohy. Taking pictures of a gloss black guitar is just about impossible.
So, what's it GOT? First let me tell you what it's NOT got. It's not got a single spec of dust to complain about. The guitar is absolutely flawless, perfect in every way. Arrived safe and sound protected by a few of Al's extra Pepsi cartons. As far as looks, that's easy to describe. It's just beautiful. I love black guitars even though they are a bitch to keep clean. The abalone and gold hardware with pearloid buttons is amazing and especially the inlaid rosette is just something to die for. The setup from the factory is perfect, as usual. Electronics are OP-Pro with XLR.
So, how's it play and sound. Well, you know already that it's got all the right ingredients and believe me you would not be disappointed to hear it. The most obvious thing is to compare it to the 2005 Collector. Actually this is a pretty unique opportunity, since I bet you never read a comparison before of the 05 to ANOTHER contour bowl. Essentially the guitars are identical except for the cosmetics. But low and behold there are some differences. The guitars are the same dimensions, but darn it for some reason the '05 feels like it has a longer neck. It's got to be an illusion or something. But the CBCLLX definately feels shorter and more similar to other non-LX Ovations. The sound is similar but not identical. The beauty of the '05 is that it really brings out the bottom and top ends. Ovations have always been midrange monsters, but the '05 really brought out the juice at the extremes. The CBCLLX is a bit more balanced accross the whole spectrum. Of course that could just be the strings. But my first impression was less boomy and more even than the '05. But not by much. The '05 is also slightly louder, but that's hard to judge and again could very well be the strings. It's a 50/50 which most would prefer. They do sound similar and they both do sound great.
So, there you go. If you're one of those like me that loves great sounding AND great looking guitars, this is one you definately have to check out. It'll be getting plenty of play time around my house.
Dave |
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Location: Upper Left USA | "Papa's got a brand new band!" |
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Location: SoCal | Ok, so if the guitar is perfect right out of the box, then we know that when Witko strums it and it sounds lousy, it's him, not the guitar.
Inquiring minds wanted to know....
Beautiful guitar! |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | Should Johnny Cash spotaneously reanimate, he should play this guitar. Very nice Dave. Did you buy matching boots??? |
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Location: Parrish, FL | Hat?? |
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Location: Fayetteville, NC | Word has it he got matching Hat, Boots and Leather pants. dave wants to put all theteenagers to shame!! Nice guitar Dave..Congrats! |
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Location: south east Michigan | Not just nice.....awesome baby!!! |
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Location: East Tennessee | Beautiful Guitar. :cool: |
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Location: SoCal | hmmm, no slothead??
very nice...now you need a matching 12-str for it.
watch out, Moody will want to try mediums on it. |
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Location: SE Michigan | Now that you've sampled a couple of contour bowls; tell us, do you think the contour bowls does anything for the sound? Or sound wise is it the same as a standard bowl?
And congratulations on a beautiful guitar, I too have a soft spot for Black and other dark-toned guitars, but it's true, you must wipe off their messy faces fairly often. |
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Location: Phoenix AZ | Originally posted by BrianT:
do you think the contour bowls does anything for the sound? I am 100% sold on the contour bowl. It sounds incredible and is super comfortable to play. I was a little skeptical at first, but two guitars in a row, 05C and CBCLLX have convinced me it's for real. And not only is it more comfortable to hold, but it puts the guitar in a more proper position to also improve my technique (no more slouching the guitar like a lap steel).
The real comparison would be to play a CBCLLX and a standard CLLX side by side. My money would be on the contour bowl.
Dave |
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Location: Central Florida | Absolutely gorgeous, Dave... Congratulations! :)
Alas, I and all the other leftys here will just continue to watch from the sidelines as Ovation rolls these beautiful new babies out. :(
Jeff |
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Location: Phoenix AZ | I the time you're waiting (years?) you could probably learn to play righty! Dave |
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Location: NJ | i should have another one of those in the next few days.
enjoy dave! |
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Location: Canton (Detroit), MI | WOW! I'm surprised it's available already. I'm NOT surprised Al got one of the first ones. Only bad thing about this is that it's gonna kill sales of the 2005-ES....many are still "in play" at guitar stores (my GC still has one). The extra bling (I consider the 2005-ES a little plain) will be hard to resist. Probably depends on how much more the C2079LX is over the 2005-ES.
As far as the mid-bowl/contour-deep comparison, I think it depends on what you want. There are evenings I prefer playing my panelmaster 2002 Collectors to the 2005.
Beautiful guitar, Dave. Enjoy!
Roger |
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Location: Phoenix, AZ | [/qb]... super comfortable to play. ... And not only is it more comfortable to hold, but it puts the guitar in a more proper position to also improve my technique (no more slouching the guitar like a lap steel). [/QB]
How about standing? Some have complained it's harder to reach around the top, like a big wooden dreadnought, with your stummin'/pickin' hand than a roundback. Your thoughts? |
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Location: Phoenix AZ | I think one of the issues with the old bowl was that the guitar took on a very different position sitting vs. standing. When sitting you could use your leg and kind of hold the guitar in an upright position. But standing, the bowl tended to make the guitar rest at an almost 45 degree angle. The face of the guitar pointing up at the sky. The new bowl puts the face of the guitar much more perpendicular to the ground. Standing up it feels very much like a wooden box guitar. Dave |
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Location: Indiana | Darn, Just when I thought I was gettin over my G.A.S.
Bill |
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Location: Central Florida | Originally posted by Standingovation:
[In] the time you're waiting (years?) you could probably learn to play righty! Dave Yeah, you're right... Or, I could just buy more Martins! :D
Dave, you're not the only one here that got a new guitar this week. ;) But since this is the OFC and not the UMGF I won't go into details here. But that is one beautiful Custom Legend you got there... Enjoy! :)
Jeff |
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Location: Phoenix AZ | Hey Jeff, this is a capitalist society, right?. If Ovation can't satisfy you as a customer because they don't make left handed guitars, then screw 'em. Buy from a company that does. Martin does make some really nice stuff. And even left handed! Dave |
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Location: SoCal | At the January NAMM show, Ovation had 3 05's for people to try, and all had straps on them to show how they felt when standing. It was a selling point. |
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Location: Canton (Detroit), MI | That was one of the things that struck me when I first saw a real 2005-ES, was that the lower back and side profile was extremely similar to a box guitar. Not a bad thing at all, and one of the things that convinced me to buy it.
Roger |
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Location: Denmark | Congratulations. A very appealing guitar. So the new contour lets the guitar rest in a more playable position. Interesting. Gotta try one somewhere. |
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Location: 6 String Ranch | you can have any color you want, as long as it's black, a good -Z Ovation configuration. |
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Location: NJ | Congrats, Dave!
NICE Guitar!!!
(I Hate You) |
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What's Black, has Lots of Abalone and a Contour Bowl ?
