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Location: Lake Forest, CA | All done. I'll let the photos speak for themselves. 
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| That's a beauty! How does it sound? |
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Location: Lake Forest, CA | Yes, it is. Even though there are a few flaws here and there, all in all I'm very happy with how it turned out. I'd be proud to have this one in my stable, but even prouder to have it in your stable.
It sounds good. As a SS bowl, it doesn't have the same resonant sound as a deep bowl, but it keeps sounding better the more I play it.
Interestingly, torrefied Adi spruce has a tighter sound than torrefied Sitka spruce. As Paul has noted on his 1117 thread, his Adi-topped guitar continues to loosen up the more he plays it. Even though I've only been playing this for a few hours, I've noticed the same thing with your guitar.
It almost makes me want to put it on the primeVibe for a few days to loosen up the top. |
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Location: Yokohama, Japan | WOW! That has got to be the most exotic Ultra the world has ever known. Even with an SSB, my '94 1861 resonates quite a bit and has a sweet sweet voice. With torrefied implements like these, this Ultra is bound to open up. Are you planning on putting her through the PrimeVibe? |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | That will be the best ULTRA ever! 
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Location: Lake Forest, CA | arumako - 2017-04-29 6:22 PM
WOW! That has got to be the most exotic Ultra the world has ever known. Even with an SSB, my '94 1861 resonates quite a bit and has a sweet sweet voice. With torrefied implements like these, this Ultra is bound to open up. Are you planning on putting her through the PrimeVibe?
I've been playing this all afternoon and I'm really digging the sound of this guitar.
I had been playing it in the garage with a fan running, etc. But, when I took it into the quiet living room, I discovered it likes to be played softly, almost like a parlor guitar. It's got a super-nice tone.
I was thinking of putting it on the primeVibe, but now I'm thinking I need to box this up and ship it off to its rightful owner and let him enjoy it. |
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Location: Lake Forest, CA | Old Man Arthur - 2017-04-29 6:27 PM
That will be the best ULTRA ever!
Yeah. I'm calling it a 'Custom' Ultra. It deserves a new model number, perhaps 1529.  |
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Location: Indiana | What a beauty. |
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| DanSavage - 2017-04-29 8:10 PM
It almost makes me want to put it on the primeVibe for a few days to loosen up the top.
That would be okay with me. As much as I'd like to get my hands on this O, I'm going to be pretty busy the next week and wouldn't be able to give it the attention it deserves. |
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Location: Denmark | Wow. It is admirable how perfect it looks. Nice gloss and no dust, no runners, no stuck mosquitos and no orange peel. Just ... perfect. I know opinions towards SSBs vary. I have a SSB wood topped center hole Ovation and a mid depth Adamas. I must admit that I often prefer the - to my ears - warmer sound of the Ovation. |
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Location: moline,illinois | My Oh My that is one pretty guitar,your brothers a lucky man!!!!
When you say Adi has a tighter sound do you mean more focused notes fewer harmonics??just curious.
That definitely deserves a custom label whatever the flaws are they're not obvious.
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Location: Lake Forest, CA | Thanks, JM & tpa.
Kevin,
When I write tighter, I mean it sounds more like a brand-new guitar. Adi spruce is stiffer than Sitka and this difference is apparent, to my ear, at least.
It's still got the great volume and terrific sustain I've come to expect from torrefied wood along with clear separation of the notes. The more I play it, the better it sounds.
Whereas a torrefied Sitka guitar might take a few days to reach its peak, I suspect a torrefied Adi guitar might take a couple of weeks of regular playing.
So, to accelerate this, I'm going to use my primeVibe to compress this into a few days.
Both are still a lot louder and clearer than their non-torrefied top counterparts. But, at the end of the day, the Adi will be louder and clearer than the Sitka. This is just the inherent characteristics of these two species of wood. |
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Location: SoCal | It's interesting how fast a torrefied top with start opening up. I've been playing my Legend a lot since Dan finished it and it sounds better each day. Thanks Dan..... |
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Location: Lake Forest, CA | YVW, Paul.
I noticed the same thing with this guitar. Every time I sat down and played, it keeps sounding better. I've got it on the gizmo right now and will be pulling it off tomorrow night. It'll be interesting to see (hear?) how it sounds when it's done.
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| I receive my Custom Ultra today. I was going to take some photos, but Dan had a better idea; tune it up and play it.
What a sweet sounding guitar! It's beauty is only surpassed by the way it plays and sounds. Even my beloved AD-35 doesn't sound this good. I can really hear the resonance of the torrified wood. Dan set up the action to be similar to an electric guitar. At one point, I found myself playing a bit harder than what the CU liked. Once I softened my touch, that sweet sound came back.
Thanks for a Ovation that I'm proud to have in my small, but growing collection.
Edited by DarenSavage 2017-05-05 3:53 PM
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Location: Lake Forest, CA | You're very welcome, Daren.
It was my pleasure to build this one for you.
Welcome to the small, but growing club of torrefied Ovation guitar owners.
Edited by DanSavage 2017-05-05 4:43 PM
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Location: Indiana | You've done so much to make this guitar special... it'd be easy to overlook how beautiful your custom rosette turned out.
Awesome job on everything Dan. |
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Location: Lake Forest, CA | Thanks, Jonmark. This isn't the custom rosette we originally talked about using on this guitar. I'm going to be using that rosette on my wood bowl CL. |
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Location: Indiana | Ooops... well, you did a great job gluing that one on. 
Still, a beautiful guitar. |
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| After living with the CU for a couple of days, here are my initial impressions.
1. The photos just don't do the abalone justice. The photos pick up the colors, but they don't pick up the luminescence of the abalone.
2. I'm totally digging on the SSB. I've been playing with the neck strap and a pick (carefully!). Even though the SSB loses some of the bass, the torrified top gives it back some umpf.
3. I love the tuners. Very precise; makes it easy to tune. |
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| Jonmark Stone - 2017-05-07 7:44 PM
Ooops... well, you did a great job gluing that one on.
Still, a beautiful guitar.
Actually, Dan took the narrow rosette and cut a single piece of abalone to fit. If you look closely at his beauty shots, there are no seams in the rosette's abalone.
I personally prefer a narrow rosette on a cut-away O. The full size rosette makes the body look small and out of proportion to the neck. The narrow rosette restores the balance. YMMV. |
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Location: Lake Forest, CA | Thanks for the kind words, Daren.
I'd love to take credit for the rosette, but that's one that came from the MS. Not sure what guitar these are used on, but I believe the Celebrity wore these narrow rosettes.
But, you're right. On this guitar. the narrow rosette looks terrific. |
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| For grins and giggles, I plugged my CU into my amp...and nothing but a humm. Luckily, my luthier was only a phone call away. Dan identified what he thought might be the problem.
I removed the amp system for testing and found a small problem.
Uh, that's not good. Unfortunately, while fixing one problem, it created two more problems.
But, as Dan says, this isn't rocket science, and I was able to solder the red into the + and the black wire into the - on the pre-amp board and I have a amplified guitar again. Yay!
It seems between the age of the guitar, and the cross country journey jarred the one power cable loose. Then when I ham-handed the repair of the one power cable, it broke loose the other two cables from the circuit board.
Happily, all is good and I learned a little more about Ovation luthiery. :D |
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Location: Yokohama, Japan | DarenSavage - 2017-05-07 9:58 AM
I personally prefer a narrow rosette on a cut-away O. The full size rosette makes the body look small and out of proportion to the neck. The narrow rosette restores the balance. YMMV.
+1
Glad you got the electronics worked out. Perhaps a video? |
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Location: Lake Forest, CA | Wow! Were both power wires severed or just the positive? |
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198? 1528-9 Ultra...
