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2774LX Folklore Review (long)

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BigJ
Posted 2010-07-24 4:23 AM (#367493)
Subject: 2774LX Folklore Review (long)


Joined:
December 2004
Posts: 49

Location: Illinois
Ok....So I've been asked to give a review of my Folklore and now that I've had it for a couple weeks and pretty much played it every day I've got a good grasp of how it plays and feels.

That being said, this is my very first official "review" of a guitar so I hope I can translate to you all what exactly it is and make as much sense as possible.

Fit and Finish:

The guitar is flawless, there are no issues what so ever with the construction of the guitar. The binding is perfect the tortoise shell rosette is also perfect. As some of you know I custom ordered this guitar in a burst finish and so far it's the only one like it in the world. The folks at the mother ship informed me that it's the only one they have done to date in burst. They did a great job on the burst…I couldn’t be happier with how it looks.

I had the mother ship lower the action slightly make sure all the frets were level and install a bone nut. I also asked for ebony tuner buttons. I could tell in the stock photos that the buttons were black but I wasn't sure if they were plastic (faux whatever) or wood so I took no chances and asked for wood.

The neck finish looks satin not glossy but it is very, very smooth and fast. It feels far better that either my Guild GAD50PCE or Seagull Artist Studio Burst (my two main gigging guitars) the nut with is 1 3/4 inches which is slightly wider than the guild at 1 11/16 inches and slightly narrower than the Seagull at 1 13/16 inches.

It’s built well and I have no doubt it will give me years of reliable service.

Sound:

The sound is fantastic! Unplugged it’s sort of a mellow smoky sound where the treble isn’t too high and the bass not too low, it’s very harmonic when strummed with very good sustain. the sustain is more than the Seagull and slightly less that the Guild.

Plugged in however, it’s a completely different animal, true to Ovation it has that “Ovation sound” to it but it’s much brighter plugged in. I’m strictly a rhythm chord player in the band and it fills this job quite well. The sound is very clean through my Marshall AS50D amp and the OP-Pro/Studio pre-amp works great. I think the "Drive" and "Expressor" controls on the pre-amp have a lot to do with the clarity of the sound. You can really tell the difference when they are turned up.

My Guild tends to be very low with a lot of bass and it has to be taken out at the sound board (or amp) in order for it to sound good plugged in, where the Ovation settles in to a good sound with little to no adjustments at the board.

Playability:

I think this is what I like the most about this guitar. It just feels and plays great! The contour back is amazing! This is the first contour bowl I’ve ever played and I can’t believe I waited this long to own one. It’s without a doubt the best design change the folks at Ovation have come up with, I can’t say enough about it.

It fits great when I stand and play and the cut out for your lap is so comfortable you don’t even feel the guitar when sitting and playing. I could have ordered it with the mid depth round bowl (6774LX) but opted for the deep contour mainly because I never played the contour bowl and because I already have a mid depth CC24S and Balladeer 1771LX as well as a deep bowl Legend 1617 so I figured I’d try something different…glad I did!

As stated above, I had the mother ship lower the action slightly (I believe they removed one of the shims but I haven’t checked yet) so it’s very easy to play but without any buzzing. I probably could have done this myself but since they were installing the bone nut I figured they could set it up better than I so that the action height and new nut work well together. It’s by far the easiest guitar to play that I own followed by the Seagull.

Well I hope this review made sense and I hope I relayed just how nice this guitar is. It’s without a doubt the prettiest guitar I own and I couldn’t be happier!

If you have any specific questions, I'll try my best to answer them.

BTW...I've installed clear pick guards on all three of these guitars, they are pretty much invisible!

Thanks!

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Trader Jim
Posted 2010-07-24 6:21 AM (#367494 - in reply to #367493)
Subject: Re: 2774LX Folklore Review (long)


Joined:
June 2006
Posts: 7307

Location: South of most, North of few
That's a pretty trio there!
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Avatar4550
Posted 2010-07-24 10:42 AM (#367495 - in reply to #367493)
Subject: Re: 2774LX Folklore Review (long)


Joined:
March 2010
Posts: 370

Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba CANADA
Thanks so much for taking the time... an excellent review!!

:)
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Darkbar
Posted 2010-07-24 12:09 PM (#367496 - in reply to #367493)
Subject: Re: 2774LX Folklore Review (long)



Joined:
January 2009
Posts: 4535

Location: Flahdaw
3 very nice gits
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stonebobbo
Posted 2010-07-24 2:04 PM (#367497 - in reply to #367493)
Subject: Re: 2774LX Folklore Review (long)



Joined:
August 2002
Posts: 8307

Location: Tennessee
Well done! The burst on the O is really well done ... I like it a lot.
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schroeder
Posted 2010-07-24 2:57 PM (#367498 - in reply to #367493)
Subject: Re: 2774LX Folklore Review (long)


Joined:
November 2004
Posts: 4413

Folklores are fantastic guitars.
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bburg
Posted 2010-07-24 3:54 PM (#367499 - in reply to #367493)
Subject: Re: 2774LX Folklore Review (long)



Joined:
August 2009
Posts: 1137

Location: Germany, where delicious wine is growing (Rheinh)
John, thank's a lot for your great review!
With a little luck, I can grab one new for the old price here in Germany, €350,00 cheaper than the todays price. Now I'll go on the hunt for it.

Bernie
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Damon67
Posted 2010-07-24 4:10 PM (#367500 - in reply to #367493)
Subject: Re: 2774LX Folklore Review (long)



Joined:
December 2006
Posts: 6992

Location: Jet City
Thanks John. I have been asking about this guitar on here forever now. It seems you're the first OFCer to take the leap.

How does the neck feel? I've owned the older 6778 (not the LX), but the neck was wider on the old ones. The 1 3/4 nutted Takamine Bluegrass I had just killed my wrists, but it has a baseball bat for a neck.

Is the neck on this one slimmer like a regular O's neck would be?
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moody, p.i.
Posted 2010-07-24 4:14 PM (#367501 - in reply to #367493)
Subject: Re: 2774LX Folklore Review (long)


Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 15654

Location: SoCal
I've got a buddy who special ordered a Folklore about 5-6 years ago and had it built as a lefty. After that he sold all his other Ovations (which was most of what he played) and said that's it, "got the one I wanted".

They are really good guitars.....
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BigJ
Posted 2010-07-26 3:49 PM (#367502 - in reply to #367493)
Subject: Re: 2774LX Folklore Review (long)


Joined:
December 2004
Posts: 49

Location: Illinois
Damon67

I think the neck feels slightly flatter like more of a "C" shape than a "V" shape. It's flatter than my Balladeer LX and legend. It feels very much like the Seagull Artist Studio just 1/16 thinner. If you ever played a wide neck Seagull then that's pretty much what it feels like only way...way smoother neck.

My Guild has the same shaped neck as well and they all "feel" pretty much the same except for the thickness obviously. Again though, the Ovation is silky smooth. It kinda makes me wish I could fly up and down the fret board like some can, this thing would be a joy to play like that!

Thanks everyone for your comments. I really like this guitar, by far my favorite.
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BigJ
Posted 2010-07-26 4:01 PM (#367503 - in reply to #367493)
Subject: Re: 2774LX Folklore Review (long)


Joined:
December 2004
Posts: 49

Location: Illinois
Damon, I hope that came across right?? What I was trying to say was it feels thinner than my other Ovations, to me it's very easy to play. I have big hands though so it's a little difficult to say how others might feel. I think it's easier to bar chords on this neck than my other Ovations. I don't know if that's due to the action height, neck shape or both.


I'm sure most of you folks know what I'm talking about, it's difficult to explain, it just "feels" better when I play it...very good playability and hand comfort for me.
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WillaMuse
Posted 2010-07-26 4:42 PM (#367504 - in reply to #367493)
Subject: Re: 2774LX Folklore Review (long)



Joined:
May 2009
Posts: 1433

Location: Right now?
Well, congrats on your newest git and a great review. I am curious about those clear pick guards ... you really can't see them in the photos. I don't want to hijack this thread, but I AM curious as to what you other girls and guys think about them? I'm intrigued, although I don't know if I'd use them ... maybe. Sigh. I just LOVE the way the slotheads look.

In any case, enjoy!

;)
Willa
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BigJ
Posted 2010-07-26 6:09 PM (#367505 - in reply to #367493)
Subject: Re: 2774LX Folklore Review (long)


Joined:
December 2004
Posts: 49

Location: Illinois
Willa,

I make the pick guards out of self seal laminating sheets from my local Office Max store. They are 3mil thick (very thin) and made of Mylar (super tough). They disappear into the guitar but protect against pick scuffs very very well. The mylar will eventually scuff but it's still hard to see and more importantly the wood below is unmarked. The Seagull and Guild have been played very often and are my gig guitars. The Mylar is scuffed on both if you look close enough in person but you can't tell the difference from the new guard I just put on the Ovation in the photos.

The guards are very big too they cover the entire lower half of the guitar from the cut out to about three inches past the bridge. You can remove it very easy (much easier than the original pick guards) and re-apply another but I have yet to need to replace mine due to wear. I replaced the Seagull pick guard a couple years ago because I had originally made it too small and put a bigger one on. It came off easy, I had a luthier buff out the scratches that I made past the mylar pick guard. I put on the bigger guard...no issues since.

I've been using them for about 4-5 years now and they look and work great! In my opinion an acoustic guitar looks better without a pick guard.
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