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Joined:
September 2010
Posts: 8
Location: West Midlands UK | Hi,
I'm new (its great saying that when you're 50 !
I first saw an Ovation when I was about 15 Paul McCartney and Wings in concert in 1975, it took me until I was 21 or 22 to learn to play and buy one it was a Custom Balladeer - I could'nt afford the Legend 12 string in the shop window but thought .... one day!
Recently for my 50th birthday My wife and family gave me a 28 year old deep bowl legend 12 string model 1656 in brown sunburst - stunning!
The case won't close properly and has to be secured with an old belt - (may be I can find someone selling one on your site),
The top is very much well 'settled' you can make out the 'A' bracing pattern in a certain light but its still incredibly stable with the bridge still sitting nice and flat (not dive bombing towards the sound hole or anything nasty), it has no splits or repairs and sounds like a piano - magnificent!
However...... and here's my question,
Fender UK don't seem so up on these old Ovations and I can not get answers from the states so would you have any idea why when I'm plugged into the mono socket (I have'nt tried the stereo yet) and turn the tone control to treble all the strings sound amplified but when I turn it to the bass side it only seems to amplify every other string (sort of goes into half stereo mode)?
The model is a 1656 serial number 271066 with the volume control stacked on top of the tone control. I think its slightly rare and was only made between 1982 & 1984.
Fender have suggested I order a new preamp part number 5550029743 but at £139 its a bit steep for my budget and I thought it was part number 701900 as written on the preamp anyway.
I even thought someone on the site could sell me a preamp and pickup if required and replace all the electrics?
I have noticed the preamp looks like its made with proper componenets not like an unrepairable modern board.
The only other question I have its can you say once and for all is the truss rod adjusted with a 3/16" allen key or does it realy need to be the proper Ovation key if so what size is it!
Many thanks for your help guys and even if I can't "PLUG IT IN" yet its that loud I don't know if I need to!!!
Many thanks for help and time - hope you don't find me too presumptuous asking for some help. |
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Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 12750
Location: Boise, Idaho | First, try plugging into the stereo jack and see if it works. The labels might be switched. Let us know which is closer to the center of the bowl and we can check ours to see if it is correct. If so, it might be the pickup. Sometimes having a shim out of place will prevent the pickup from working on all the strings. If not, there might be something wrong with the way the wires were connected. Beyond that, it's someone else's turn. |
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Joined:
January 2003
Posts: 1498
Location: San Bernardino, California | 
The stereo version uses two of these.
From the sounds of it, one of the tone control capacitors is shorted. |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 15654
Location: SoCal | I knew if Bruce read this he'd have an answer!
I thought about answering when the post first went up but beyond saying "welcome, nice guitar, and I have no idea about the electronics", I figured it wouldn't be too helpful..... |
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Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 12750
Location: Boise, Idaho | Sometimes we just have to wait for the guys with real jobs to get home to their computers. I have plugged into the wrong jack and wondered why I couldn't hear some of the strings and I've had the mono and stereo label-washers switched. Never had a shorted capacitor. I learn from my mistakes. |
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Joined:
September 2010
Posts: 8
Location: West Midlands UK | My new friends
- Thanks guys for all your feed back give me a week or so and I'll let you know how things work out.
I'll try and do it myself even if I get stuck at least now I can give a local repair guy a good point in the right direction.
I want to get it fixed ASAP but every time I get it out I just end up looking at it, lovingly cleaning it or playing it !! |
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Preamp Trouble - Help!
