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Location: south east Michigan | I've given the two koas some thought.
We can debate the sound qualitys of koa but I agree with Cliff. It looks great. And to me, it played and sounded good.
Slothead....yeah..gotta be a slothead.
It's the soundhole that seems to be in question. I have thought for a while that the old style, glue on epaulets needed a change. We got that about 18 months ago with the new inlaid epauletts which I am not tired of at all. So, I like the inlaid epaulet model. If they want to go with a darker wood thats fine.
When I look at the example single hole I think..."Tacoma". It looks like the idea is lifted from a Tacoma. And I'm not used to looking at an Ovation and thinking of another guitar. I know Ovation did it first a long time ago but to me it screams "copy". Now if it has to be a single hole, maybe a rosette or a different shape might be just fine. |
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Location: Upper Left USA | Raindrop Elite: It looks like any other blue guitar without a case in the Seattle area!
Koa is a happening wood!
May I also add that if the MOB were not a laminate and had a natural or modified burst finish the soundholes would look pretty interesting! |
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Location: Converse, Texas | Hey Slipkid: For those of us who couldn't make it, hHow about putting some captions on your photos so we know what is being played and who is playing them. |
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Location: south east Michigan | Your right Hiz....I'll edit my posts soon. |
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Location: Maryland, USA | I wish I could have gone....maybe next year ;) |
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Location: New Orleans | I'll try to make the tour next year too. I want to meet everybody, play all the new guitars, be overwhelmed, awe-struck and have my chance at the guitar give-away too! Oh, hell yes! :eek: :D |
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Location: Upper Left USA | Every time I go over this string I am absolutely rendered weak kneed and flattened out!
You need to put a warning on the label of this one. It causes extreme GAS. |
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Location: SoCal | Nobody in this thread mentioned the new LX Country Artist -- 12 fret to the body, cutaway, cedar top, new slothead design (as Cliff would say, the Tits!), LX bowl, 1 7/8" nut, and OP Pro. Was I the only person who fell in love with this guitar (and failed to get a pic of it)? |
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Location: Phoenix AZ | Nobody had a chance to get a picture because this guitar was quickly put in a box and shipped to Phoenix ... ooops ... pinch ... wake up from daydream.
This brings up two related thoughts - headstocks and soundboards.
Headstocks - I must admit at first I was not a big fan of the highly flueted slothead headstock (ala U681). Skinny on top and wide on the bottom. Reminded me of too many bad girlfriends. But I must admit it's startoing to grow on me. The U681 in gloss is beautiful and I'm also liking the new classics and other slot. probably too fragile for a 12-string, but I have a feeling we'll soon find out.
Soundboards - OK, spruce is the goose. I get that. But seems like some really outstanding cedar and koa tops are being seen. The FD14 is the most amazing cedar guitar I've ever heard and teh reports of the koa slot seem positive. So what's the real story? Are there down sides to koa and cedar?
Dave |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | I am not a luthier, but I do know a thing or two about wood. Because of it's strength to wieght, Koa makes a less desirable soundboard. It's dense. Precisely why it makes good side and back tone wood. Only VERY infrequently can one find a piece of koa that would make a suitable top...meaning that it produces a suitable range of tones at volume. As a top it tends to be very mellow and very quite. Fingerpickers are more apt to find Koa a suitable top than flatpickers or rhythm players.
cedar is more dense than spruce and tends to have a warmer sound and though it's strength to wieght is not as good as spruce it is still very good.
Koa is beautiful however, and as we all know that'll sale a guitar or two...
The benefits of koa would better be utilized plugged in. |
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Location: RI. That small State out East | The Koa top, 12 fret, multi sound hole is the one for me next year.
I thought a Koa "inlay"... Koa on Koa would look good. The contrast isn't as bad as the grain fighting of the demo.
A question for the "Mother Ship"... If you built a 12 fret '06 out of cedar and did a side by side with the 12 fret '06 Koa... Would the cedar kick the Koa's ass?
Maybe that's a custom build for me in the future.
Woz |
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Location: Upper Left USA | Yes, Fingerpicking style prefered.
I would have to rethink the Koa for a 12 string (strummer).
If they can take the Adamas top sandwich and lay a Koa veneer over it that would be mega-cool.
Koa is limited and finding soundboard sized pieces would be a chore. |
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Location: East Tennessee | So many choices. :) So little money. :( |
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Location: SoCal | "...So many choices. [Smile] So little money. [Frown]"
And in my case, even less talent! |
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Location: south east Michigan | Waskel
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quote:
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Originally posted by cliff:
- ESPECIALLY when it's just cut out of one piece of contrasting-coloured wood!
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I agree - it should be complimentary colored wood used, something that goes with the body, not fights against it. Although no epaulette at all (like the elite-t's) might be striking as well with the Koa body.
I guess the thing with me about the single hole is, well, it just doesn't look Ovation. If it was something new, that might be different. But it's not, it's on fenders, tacomas, mcphersons... It makes O look like the stereotype, not the innovator. Such flawless logic and clarity of thought from Waskel just had to be copied onto this thread. |
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Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | Paul, I can't play worth a crap either but I love to buy things! :D especially guitars....... |
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| In the classical world cedar is becoming more and more common on very high-end models (you think Adamas Is expensive?). I don't know if this is because the physics of vibration is better understood now meaning that bracing can be made more specific to the top wood (think about slipkid's report on Ovation's laser machine for measuring vibration) or that it's now possible to cut wood thinner with CNC machines. Whatever it is, cedar can deliver a most wonderful complexity of sounds in the hands of a good player - it particularly suits any kind of fingerstyle - and this totally compensates for the attack/brightness that spruce produces. It really is a case of you pays your money and you takes your choice.
And I can't believe nobody took a pic of the 12 fret Country Artist. You should all be ashamed. :( |
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Location: NJ | I'm PARTICULARLY ashamed as Moody, Temp, cwk2 and I spent a good couple hours up there jawin' & pawin' in R&D, and I don't even think I even NOTICED that guitar there . . . let alone play it . . . you Moody??
(btw: I seem to remember them saying that it'll lose the "Country" prefix and just be called "Artist" . . . . or . . . "The Artist Formerly Known as Country Artist". . . . .) |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | or just, { o}---::: |
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Location: SoCal | I played it and loved it! Never took a pic of it, but I've got Al asking about it. If I end up buying it, an almost mint 1983 1674 Country Artist will go on the market with Clifford having the first rights of refusal.
And it seems to me that they were going to call it just the "Artist". |
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| Can we have a bidding war? On albay? |
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Location: SoCal | Fine with me. After Clifford's made a decision..... |
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Location: NJ | In the inimitable words of Winston Churchill:
". . nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah-nyaaaaaaah-nyah . ." |
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| There is no greater honour than being quoted by one's heroes.... |
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Location: NJ | c'mon! . . . the guy smoked cigars and drank like a fish! . . . . wot's not to LIKE??? |
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2005 OFC Tour----The New Guitars We Played
