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| does anyone have info on model #1639. Is this a Baladeer or a Matrix. Does it have the 2 Matrix pickups or the 6 Baladeer? How is the sound quality to the Baladeer if it is a Matrix? any other info? |
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Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | If this is the one I remember it's right between a Balladeer and a Matrix. It was called the Balladeer special. It will tend more toward a Balladeer than a Mtx. |
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Posts: 12759
Location: Boise, Idaho | The price list has it as a Balladeer Special, as Bill says, made in 1981 and 82. I don't know what you mean by the 2 vs. 6 pickups. I would assume it had a solid top, like most Balladeers vs. the laminated top of the Matrix. |
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| got some info that the matrix had 2 pickup one for lows and one for highs where the balladeer has 6 one for each string. |
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| how is the sound of the matrix vs. balladeer? |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | You could pick one type of Matrix and play it against another and not tell the difference. You could pick two Balladeers or two Matrixes and tell the difference, even though they have the same name. My Matrix sounds different from my Custom Balladeer, but there's a different bowl on them. The best I could say is that they might be different, with the probability that the Balladeer would sound better because of the solid top. |
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| the best i can figure then is the 1639 is the matrix neck and the balladeer body, which should give it all the balladeer body hardware as well as top and bowl. they must not of made many of these because its been hard to get any real solid information on it and havnt seen it in any brochure. |
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| how do you like the matrix aluminum neck? |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | The Matrix has an aluminum fretboard with a urelite neck. The neck feels the same to me as any glossed Ovation neck. The fretboard also feels the same, but when the frets wear out, it's cost prohibitive to fix. I think I notice a metallic sound that I attribute to the fretboard. I thought that by 81 or 82 they quite putting the aluminum fretboards/urelite necks on the Matrix. If so, I couldn't see them putting it on the Balladeer. It's easy to tell. Just look at the side of the fretboard. If it looks like aluminum, it is.
The Ovation Decoder on Jerome's Ovation Tribute site shows the 1639 with a rosewood fretboard and foam neck. That's probably accurate. |
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October 2008
Posts: 9
| ovation.com said its essentially and balladeer body and aluminum reinforced neck that was unique to this product made in 81 or 82 and if I needed more info to check here. is this "aluminum reinforced" the same as the matrix? i dont have the guitar yet, its coming from ebay. |
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Location: 6 String Ranch | I think you have it figured out correctly |
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Posts: 9
| ovationtribute.com shows the rosette for the 1639 as a Matrix. |
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March 2005
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Location: Boise, Idaho | I keep looking up stuff that you already know, so I can't add any more. Sounds like you've done your research better than I could. The later Matrix guitars probably still had an aluminum reinforced neck, even though they had rosewood fretboards. |
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Posts: 9
| didnt know all that. seems to me they shouldnt be calling it a matrix in the rosettes then. you helped alot. thanks. |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | Send Jerome a note. I'm not sure the picture he has is of a Matrix rosette anyway. I'll try to remember to send him a picture of my Matrix, which has a narrow rosette. I've been meaning to send him another picture, but I'm slow at getting around to it. |
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Posts: 9
| the rosette looks right for the 1639, which its numbered, but i think its missnamed. ill send him a note. thanks. |
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ovation 1639
