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Joined:
March 2004
Posts: 3
Location: Massachusetts | I have a few old Applause AA14 models (Made in USA Applause models) with the metal neck. When the frets wear down they can not be replace so I need to replace the neck. I have replaced one with an another metal neck (from a body damaged AA14) but sooner or later that neck will wear out. Has anyone every replace these necks with another model neck? I heard that the guitar can be retrofitted with a Ballader neck. Any insights, tips or opions would be appreciated.
Joe K-M |
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Joined:
January 2004
Posts: 648
Location: Florida | Ya know the right guy... could mill off the aluminum fretboard, bond some rosewood on there, and put the frets in.
StewMac sells pre-slotted rosewood blanks for many scale lengths. Might not be "too" hard. |
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Joined:
March 2004
Posts: 3
Location: Massachusetts | I was thinking of do that but if I could find a cheap replacement neck it would be a lot easier.
Joe |
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July 2003
Posts: 1922
Location: Canton (Detroit), MI | Joe, there has been a person from Florida trying to sell a wood Applause neck with wood fingerboard on eBay for the last 3 weeks or so, but he isn't willing to sell cheaply(reserve looks like $75....for a guitar that is worth $150 at best!). According to cwk2, that is a Korean neck, so it is an unknown if it will fit perfectly. I was interested in it for my AA14 if I could have gotten it for $30 or $40.
The same person is selling a Balladeer body that he says will fit the neck, so I would suppose it is possible that the reverse is true also. There are certainly enough Balladeers on Bay that you might be able to find one with a trashed body cheaply enough to have a try at this.
Roger
1976 Applause AA14-4 6-String
1981 Ovation 1118-1 Glen Campbell 12-string
2001 Adamas 1598-MERB Melissa Etheridge 12-String
2003 Ovation 1777-NAT Legend 6-string |
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August 2002
Posts: 8307
Location: Tennessee | Hey Joe,
I replaced the neck on an older USA Ultra I have. The old one was a aluminum/foam neck (Urelite), and I replaced it with a 2-piece mahogany neck I got on eBay. It was a fairly easy thing to do, but I went slooowwwww and didn't have to make any modifications at all (save for shaving a mm or two from the rosette to fit the neck). The neck I got was from the same basic guitar. I'm not sure I would have attempted putting on a neck from a Balladeer or Legend, but who knows? Maybe someone with factory experience here on the board ...
The guitar now plays as well as it ever has, and the only issue is the intonation is slightly off, but only noticable via an electronic tuner. |
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November 2002
Posts: 3604
Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | Stonebobo, a question: Did you remove the neck, or have someone else do it? I have found them to be well attached, and that the fretboard extension is pretty easy to distort in the process. Ovation makes excellent necks, to be sure! |
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August 2002
Posts: 8307
Location: Tennessee | I removed the neck myself. It was held on by two bolts (accessed through the soundhole). I used a hairdryer on low temp to slowly soften up the adhesive that held the fretboard extension to the soundboard and very, very gently used a putty knife to slowly pry it loose. I probably spent 30-45 minutes on this operation. Came off without issues. |
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August 2002
Posts: 8307
Location: Tennessee | Oh, by the way, if my guitar had actually been worth anything ... I would have sent it to the factory to get the work done. In this case, I was able to revive my near-and-dear first Ovation from a mere wall hanging to a pretty decent and playable guitar. But she's still only worth about a hundred bucks on the open market. |
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Joined:
November 2002
Posts: 3604
Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | Stonebobbo, Ol' Buddy-
Obviously, not the point. I just bought a very well-used "O" on Ebay (complete with bullet holes, I hear), with the goal of building a resonator. The seller informed me he had contact with some youngsters wanting to reprise the Jimi Hendrix flaming-guitar episode, with the instrument. My thoughts- Emasculation and evisceration would be too humane, as a consequence of that type of atrocious behavior. |
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Replacing neck on old applause model
