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Joined:
November 2002
Posts: 1196
Location: Lafayette, Louisiana | Dave my brother has a BMW 325i that is very well cared for. It has had weird problem after weird problem. It is German made, and drives great. But, he does not enjoy it due to all the strange problems with it. I guess there bad ones no matter where they are made. Ok back to guitars. I had a friends Ovation CU-147 Pinnacle here for awhile. It was a beautiful guitar. Solid spruce top, very nice neck, and it sounded great. It is Korean made, but very nice. |
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Joined:
February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | Hey Ralph, I was teaching microphone techniques to a bunch of students and was using my 78' Adamas as the sound source. One of the student's reports opened with something like "We placed the first pair of microphones in front of our lecturer's Applause guitar" Needless to say the little shit didn't get his degree. |
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Joined:
May 2002
Posts: 651
Location: Australia | An Adamas refered to as an Applause !!!
Arghhhhh............
Paul I feel your pain.
PS, I would also say that the Applause headstock must rate as the ugliest ever in guitar history. |
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Joined:
November 2002
Posts: 1196
Location: Lafayette, Louisiana | Paul T, he called your Adamas an applause? Man that would tick me off. Well just last week I used my new 2002 collectors at church, and the choir director asked me if I remember the guitar he had like mine. I though, wait that was a Celebrity CS-257. I told him no this is an American made Ovation, and it is not a Celebrity. He said, well you could have fooled me. I wanted to respond, but I had to remember I was in church! (LOL) |
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Joined:
October 2002
Posts: 153
Location: Huntington Beach, CA | First, I have to say that I am a believer in Ovation as a quality manufacturer. I'm on my second Ovation A/E and enjoy them more than my Martin and Guild.
The inventory at local shops is typically well used and not suitable for purchase in my opinion. I've yet to go to a shop that had more than one in any given model, and their inventory is what you see hanging on the wall.
I did order a Custom Legend through Guitar Center and it was delivered damaged. The binding was chipped along several of the frets, the label was crooked (not a big deal, but?) and it was very dirty. There was a lot of dirt and grit in the battery compartment. I wasn't in as good of shape as the floor model. I didn't buy either.
I recently checked out a S771 at Guitar Center. This unit sounded great and played beautifully but it had a dark swirl in the grain, about an inch in diameter, like the beginning of a knot, on the lower bout, 2 inches below the bridge and about an inch toward the outside. Even from a distance, this looked like a blemish. I realize this is not a high-end model but I wonder why this top cleared QC.
I figure that slow sales and retailer feedback will eventually influence factory QC. Meanwhile, I am very careful to inspect before I buy, even if I feel that I can't live without the sound.
I notice that many of the experts on this site play Adamas or the older US Ovations. I think these are much different animals than the modern Balladeer (mid-line model). Maybe it is the stores that carry the lower end of the line that report QC problems. Eh? |
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Joined:
November 2002
Posts: 266
Location: Tampa, Florida | Originally posted by Ralph:
[QB]A college kid looked at my Custom Elite & said "You got a Celebrity." I was pissed.
QB]
That's why I bought an "Adamas"! One of the guys who I looked up to as a player when I first started playing, who was an Ovation only kind of guy asked me if my Elite Special was a Celebrity. Its no Custom Elite, but hey! he should know better. My first Ovation was a celebrity and proudly said "Celebrity" on the headstock.
I think Ovation's sister company, Takamine, has put themselves in a similar confusing situation. People rip Takamines as crap and they are talking about G series guitars. Real (Japanese) Taks are some of the nicest guitars I have ever seen. |
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Joined:
January 2003
Posts: 146
Location: Ct./ USA | I work at Ovation. I demand Quality from my self and co-workers. I check every neck I work on for high frets and defects that will some were down the line give someone heart burn. When I played I played Gibson acoustics.One night an Ovation showed up and I played it till my fingers bled. I now own an Adamas and the range of sound is OUT OF THIS WORLD.
I do not get to play all of the gutiars, as I carve and hone necks. I can not speak for all who work at Ovation. Quality is what will sell Ovation Gutiars, ie.. sound and craftsmanship. I also can not write of future instruments, but watch out ya all Ovation has some OUTSTANDING
Gutiars coming out!!! |
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Joined:
August 2002
Posts: 8307
Location: Tennessee | I was in my local guitar store last week, poking around the acoustic section while my son had his bass lesson. I played a few Taylors, and a Takamine with a list price of (gasp) $2995. There was nary an Ovation to be found, although they did have an Applause classical. None sounded even close to my Ovations (although some were real purdy).
I got into a discussion with the sales rep, and told him they ought to sell some Ovations. He first said "you either love them or you hate them" -- meaning he hates them. He then said, "we always have Ovation in here, but we can't keep them in stock". Apparently, when people play them against the Taylors, Gibsons, Takamines, and Guilds, they end up buying the Ovation. Here's the rub ... they don't stock any USA models, only Celebrities. And they get $800 bucks a pop for them. Imagine the stunned silence that would result if they actually had an Elite or a Custom Legend on the wall! |
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Joined:
November 2002
Posts: 266
Location: Tampa, Florida | Sounds like they had that Tak priced about the same as those $800 (selling them for list) celebs. The only Tak in that range is a Nashville and they go on the street fr about $2K |
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Joined:
January 2003
Posts: 105
Location: San Francisco, CA | Quality is better than ever, I suppose. Materials used are better than ever too. You get ebony fingerboard & bridge on regular Legend & Elite (used to be rosewood).
On the contrary, Taylor is having serious quality problems now, e.g. cracks on brand new $3-5k Taylor, ES preamp not work, cheap tuners, etc. I suspect they are trying to cut corners. |
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Joined:
May 2002
Posts: 651
Location: Australia | Yep, I agree about Taylor with that horrible jagged joined on headstock, are they serious !
Factory setups on USA Ovations are the best in the industry. Apart from touching the odd nut slot with a file, I've never had to have any new O I've bought setup at all and I'm pretty fussy.
The new O's play better and sound better but I do prefer the look of the old ones best. |
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Joined:
May 2002
Posts: 3005
Location: Las Cruces, NM | I just posted a Guitar player brief review of a new acoustic Slot Head Adamas, they did not state it in so many words as it was a brief review, but they seemed to think the manufacturing quality was worth the $2000+ price tag. They also praised the sound strongly, the con in the review was "a bit boomy on the low end", as a bluegrass player, that to me is a big pro.
Bailey |
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Joined:
February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | Typical that the most common complaint about supershallow guitars is lack of low-end, but when Ovation produce a guitar designed to have a big sound some asshole complains that there's too much bass. |
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Joined:
August 2003
Posts: 396
| Paul, I just love my shallow bowl Balladeer, so in looking for something new I'm thinking a mid-depth bowl model would make a nice tonal difference. The stores I go into seem to carry the celebrities and the few American made models are all shallow bowls. I'm having trouble finding a mid-depth bowl on an American-made model just to test out. |
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Joined:
April 2003
Posts: 2503
Location: Fayetteville, NC | When My Ovation 1858 Elite 1 String arrived at my place of business a few Months back- The Setup was Extraordinary. I've since had the chance to play plugged in several times and practice unplugged at home. The Sound is Breathtaking!
The quality and workmanship on the Ovations i've owned(Always USA Models Mind You) Have always Supassed My Expectations.
The Only Korean Model I've played recently That I thought sounded pretty good was The Pinnacle Model.
The Confusion in The Celibrity and The USA Models Comes back to Marketing.
The Labels in the Korean Models Say Celebrity by Ovation amd Made in Korea.
But The Marketing between The Korean Versus The USA Models is a marketing Nightmare. |
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Quality Issues at Ovation?
