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When Was This Made? Early 1127-4

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Goober

Posted 2013-07-21 8:54 PM (#473504)
Subject: When Was This Made? Early 1127-4

Joined:
January 2004
Posts: 799

Location: Athens, GA & Gnashville

I bought this Glen Campbell Artist 1127-4 from George Gruhn in Nashville in the late 1970's, and the label and serial number have always confused me. When I was at Gruhn's killing time one day, I saw this one lone Ovation hanging in the used section. It looked familiar, as I had owned a couple of GC models from the early 70's with the silver stamped metal label seen from the sound hole. But this particular GC model was different. It sounded INCREDIBLE!!! I've always loved the way acoustic Ovations sounded, but this one guitar was The Ovation Sound to the 4th power! It sounded way better than the few D-18's I'd used from time-to-time. Knowing full well that George has never liked Ovations, I let my friend Dan that worked there do all the fussy work with George. I still own this guitar, and it and my '68 Deluxe Balladeer are still my two favorite recording guitars.

Here's the deal: It has a paper label very much like my '68 Deluxe, but instead of the ink being mostly blue, it is light brown. The MN 1127-4 is typed on the first line. The SN is 6674 with no zeros typed before the number. The label says in fine print at the bottom, "Made In The U.S.A"

I've done the usual estimation of the date made the the charts we all love and know so well. But I still come up scratching my head going, "Duh?"

What do you think?

Thanks,

Goob

Old Man Arthur

Posted 2013-07-21 11:22 PM (#473508 - in reply to #473504)
Subject: Re: When Was This Made? Early 1127-4

Joined:
September 2006
Posts: 10777

Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR

Look here.... Serial Numbers List

Goober

Posted 2013-07-22 2:19 AM (#473509 - in reply to #473508)
Subject: Re: When Was This Made? Early 1127-4

Joined:
January 2004
Posts: 799

Location: Athens, GA & Gnashville

arthurseery - 2013-07-21 11:22 PM

Look here.... Serial Numbers List

OMA, I am well aware of that list, but four digits puts it '67-'68. Correct me if I'm wrong, but there were not any shallow bowls made during that time frame, were there? This also has the overlaid rosette, not the inlaid type. I'm still corn-fused!!

Old Man Arthur

Posted 2013-07-22 3:19 AM (#473511 - in reply to #473504)
Subject: Re: When Was This Made? Early 1127-4

Joined:
September 2006
Posts: 10777

Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR

I have a paper-label 1121 Artist that was probably made in 1970.
It as a stick-on rosette and a hand-laid shallow bowl.
The Artist series all had "shallow" bowls, but not Super-Shallow.
And as far as I know, all Artists had stick-on rosettes.

http://web.archive.org/web/20070625135026/http://www.ovationguitars...

Does your label have a "K" on it?
Anyway... I have owned a coupla 1121 Artists and a 1627 GC Artist and they all had stick-on rosettes.
Maybe someone with more experience with old guitars can comment.

jay

Posted 2013-07-22 9:36 AM (#473514 - in reply to #473509)
Subject: Re: When Was This Made? Early 1127-4

Joined:
January 2009
Posts: 1249

Location: Texas

Hey Goober...

It appears you have one of those "tweeners" that was probably built around 1970/71...where Ovation transistioned between paper and foil. Different models appeared to have preference on foil labels during this time, while other models got the paper treatment. Although the 1127 is given the first year production date as 71...yours could have been made in 70 and certainly appears, by your description, to be one of the first ones made.

As you probably know, early on it appears that the good folks at Ovation were more concerned at getting guitars on the racks, instead of having an uniform serialization process...of course, Gibson, nor Fender excelled in this area either back then.

Here is an early 71 (I assume) Legend that I briefly owned. Not only did it have a paper tag, it had an alpha numeric serial beginning with M...btw...M isnt even listed on the Ovation serial chart.

Edited by jay 2013-07-22 9:40 AM

(Legend.jpg)

Attachments
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Legend.jpg (33KB - 0 downloads)

Goober

Posted 2013-07-22 4:03 PM (#473523 - in reply to #473504)
Subject: Re: When Was This Made? Early 1127-4

Joined:
January 2004
Posts: 799

Location: Athens, GA & Gnashville

Thanks jay! I believe you hit the nail on the head. The neck on my 1127 is actually very much like the one on my Deluxe Balladeer. The differences are subtle, but they are there. This 1127 has a brownish stain to the mahogany, not the more reddish mahogany of the 70's and 80's. The 1127 also has a bone nut, just like my '68 Deluxe. All of my other Ovations have synthetic nuts.

Thanks for your help. I wasn't aware of the overlap in changes regarding Ovations.

Buddy/Goob

bburg

Posted 2013-08-03 5:09 AM (#473809 - in reply to #473504)
Subject: Re: When Was This Made? Early 1127-4

Joined:
August 2009
Posts: 1137

Location: Germany, where delicious wine is growing (Rheinh)

Goober, what bracing does it have? I have an old one bought from Nick, it has VT-8 bracing instead of A-bracing which is usually on GC's. Mine is # F-157

Bernie

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