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Joined:
October 2012
Posts: 349
Location: Denver, CO | Hi. I just bought the series-number-3 anniversary Balladeer from DaveKell, and he directed me to your fine community. It's nice to meet you, I have always wanted an Ovation, but the only ones I've ever played were the cheap ones Guitar Center sells, and one older Ultra acou/elec in a pawn shop. I still have some unanswered questions about this guitar though, so thought the FanClub might be able to help me out...
Question 1: How many of these guitars were actualy made? I have heard conflicting numbers, all of them 2 digits, but the KMC guy I talked to on the phone was like, "Well, I'm sure it was less than a thousand..." Really?
2. I heard that this particular guitar may have initially been gifted by the company to an exec. If so, is there any way to go about researching who that may have been? If not, is there any way one could find out where the guitar was initially purchased new?
3. I play live in moderate volume situations...not loud but loud enough that Mic'ing the guitar is not the optimal option. Is there an internal pickup option that Ovation guys think works best for these guitars? I specifically want a passive pickup, because I will be recording this guitar and my last (rare earth) pickup had a bit of hum in certain situations. Related: will installing a pickup effect the value of the guitar?
I will post pics as soon as I get them. Thanks!
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Joined:
September 2006
Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | I was gonna say that less than 40 were made...
But it seems that an OFC member (PEZ) has #43, so less than 60.
Would adding a pickup affect the value. Sure! Which way depends on the buyer.
You could get a temporary, removable soundboard suction-cup pickup, or a sound-hole pickup.
You could also get a permanent passive internal soundboard transducers or an under-saddle pickup, both to be used with an external preamp.
Looking forward to the pics.
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Joined:
October 2012
Posts: 349
Location: Denver, CO | Tried to upload photos but each time got the "your photo was too big" message... A longtime pro whose opinion I respect mucho grande told me to stay away from an under-saddle pickup. Not interested in the temporary soundhole mounted ones. I have one, a Lace, but the problem I always had with it was, where the hell do I run the wire? On stage, I usually run through a Tube MP, or an Alesis unit. Both have pretty good preamps.
Just put a nice clear pick guard on the guitar, so my cave-man strumming doesn't mar the finish. This is the first really nice-looking acoustic I've ever had; my electrics are all real nice but now that I have this one I'm going to have to be more considerate with it than I needed with the others. |
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Joined:
October 2012
Posts: 349
Location: Denver, CO | I just installed a set of D'Addario EXP strings, extra-lights, so the gauges are .010-.047. The 80/20 bronze really brightens up the tone on this guitar a lot! One of the questions I had was, considering the very throaty, dark resonance of this body (incidentally in my opinion this guitar is significantly darker in tone than the other Ovations I have handled), how easy would it be to liven it up some? Well, there's your answer! Dave had some phosphor bronze strings on it, lights, I think, so the gauges would be .012-.053? The phosphor bronze really muddied up the tone on this guitar, in my opinion. With the lighter strings, I do have a little bit of fret buzz now, down around the 2-3-4 area, so the next thing is to adjust the neck just a smidge. |
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40th Anniversary Balladeer
