Official Luthiers Forum!

Col. Kurtz said "I watched a snail crawling along......" anyway you get the idea.

Oh the horror.... took in an Ov*tion today and did it right away so that I could put it back in the case and not have to look at it. Client has been called and is on the way thinking that we're great for being so very fast. Don't have the heart to tell him that I don't want to get any on me.....

Oh the horror.....

Some interesting facts about Ov*tion if anyone is interested such as how they came to be and how at one time they accounted for nearly 1/3 of US guitar sales..... Go figure.....

Anyway this thing may be the only thing playable when the water rises.....

Never thought I'd see the day. There could be contamination, are you going to change out the bench top now?

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I feel the same way when I have to handle my daughter's veggie burger patties. Can't wait to wash my hands.

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Oddly enough, there was a time back in the late 70's when their pickup systems were considered to be the best on the market, so people bought the guitars.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

It should wash right out.

I'm going to be OK so no worries but I'll have to figure out how to delouse my bench....

Yes, As Don posted above, there was a time, long, long ago.

In a land of the forgotten hair bands.

If you were to play an acoustic guitar among the Marshall stacks and double bass drum sets.

The lowly Ovation guitar was how it was done.

I like to think that I played a small part in bringing the acoustic guitar back to the forefront of contemporary music. Even if it was half plastic, and one quarter aluminum.

I'll probably regret sharing these for eternity but here goes.

My feeble efforts at restoring the acoustic ( ahem,,,ahem) guitar to it's once proud and glamorous position, among the world of pointy peg headed, mural laden, six string electric shred machines.

So. I guess I can only defend the poor red headed step child of a guitar we call, Ovation.
Incidentally, I sure did have a lot of fun with those things.

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jw ( o)===:::

Good going Joe!!!!

I had an Ov*tion too when they first came out with the Adamas, mine was black..... but you knew that.....

Joe was that a perm? (no worries I had one of those too once upon a time with a fro as well.....)

I remember when Larry Coryell, John McLaughlin and Al Dimeola were touring with Ovations.
Coryell was still doing drugs back then, so I'll give him a free pass on that one.

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Oh My Joe!!! Thanks! I have the photos safely copied to be used at a later date!!!

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John Ressler

I had a friend with a 1984 Ovation. No round sound hole on that one.

It was actually really nice. No, it didn't sound like a Martin. It had its own sound that was very "70's" for lack of a better description. But it actually was a beautiful sounding instrument.

That said, I was inspired by that guitar to buy my own Ovation. Could not give that POS away!

My take was that Ovations weren't bad by design, they were bad by execution.

A final note is that I've heard from some gigging friends that the Ovations being made today in Connecticut are far better quality than at any other time in O's history. Faint praise?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I will confess to owning and playing the heck out of a non-cutaway Ovation Electric Custom Balladeer back in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Of course, I also owned a leisure suit made entirely of denim patches. I wish I were joking.

Photos exist, but they are safely locked away.

Hesh
Is that one that came in one of the days I was there at your set up class?
I think I recognize the "red-wood" top.
BTW I hear they can be re-purposed as salad bowls!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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"It is easier to fool a man, than it is to convince him that he has been fooled"
Mark Twain

As long as we are making concessions, I too had a perm once. But it was only the back of the mullet that was permed.

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

Hesh, Bryan, I don't know what is worse, the Ovations or the hair!

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jw ( o)===:::

Not true. I saw a broken one at a guitar store once, and without the top, the back was just incredibly flimsy and floppy. Probably a good thing for sound, but a little bit too malleable for a salad bowl

Confession: My first guitar was an Ovation. I sold my drum set to buy it. I believe it was the Glen Campbell model. The local guitar tech expert had fun a year or two later trying to get the "s" shape out of the neck... I ended up selling it a few years later to some college kid in town, and I used the money to buy a Guild D-40c. I didn't regret it much at all. Sold the Guild a number of years later and bought a LoPrinzi which got used more but I never quite took to it so it has sat in the case since the late '90's...

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Wow, lots of recovering Ov*tion owners here..... Maybe we should start our very own 12 fret program.....

I always thought it ironic that Ov*tion born out of the ashes of a defunded military helicopter company at the close of the Vietnam war went into producing guitars. For helicopter companies damping vibration was very much the core competency where for guitar companies encouraging vibration is desirable.... Go figure.

And let's not forget one of the greatest musicians of all time - Keith Partridge...... who proudly used his Ov*tion while on stage with Laurie, Danny and family.....

Anyway thanks for the moron support I got through it yesterday and it's now a fading bad memory. At least this one had the truss rod adjustor on the head stock and did not require a proctologist with the one foot long Ov*tion special truss rod wrench....

One last thing that's on my mind here is this: Ov*tion was very much the new kid on the block with NO musical instrument production experience when they first launched with the bowl back guitars. They were innovative for sure, aluminum necks, fiberglass bodies, on board electronics etc. And it was this innovation that let Ov*tion at one point be a leader in guitar sales.

But in being innovative they also turned a blind eye to tradition AND some of the issues that remain associated with tradition if we want to call them issues at all. Not sure that the word "issues" is what I want to use here.

For example Ov*tion again being the new kid threw out tradition and slathered the stinkin things full of ep*xy..... Now I understand that gluing wood to metal or fiberglass may be a decent application for ep*xy but they could have at least tried to be judicious with the quantity of squeeze out that they generated.... Sheesh...

We also see Ov*tions that need neck resets, have lifting bridges, cracked tops from permanent dimensional instability in the top woods. These are all common Lutherie problems that Ov*tion could have sought to build a better mouse trap but they instead went for bling, electronics and the hell with some of the more common issues with acoustic guitars. Leads me to believe that they really may have been clueless as to what some of the issues with the traditional guitar design even are....

They most certainly threw the concept of serviceability right out the door and the original interior access for the truss rod was and is one of the most stupid designs ever perhaps over taking Rickenbacker in the stupid department.... Well maybe not that bad....

Thanks for listening and your empathy, I deloused my bench.... , the thing is back in the case and in another room now and my blood pressure is back to normal....

As a student of companies though, a hobby of mine.... I do wonder about Ov*tion's story with such a successful launch, 1/3 of the US guitar market at one point, and now obscurity with their products not retaining much at all in value. We also won't see them, or won't want to see them as vintage instruments either. Such an opportunity Ov*tion had and such as opportunity they pissed away.... A shame.

They could have at least attempted to corner the guitar strap market too since you had to have a strap or the things would not stay in your lap......

Thanks guys! Have a GREAT weekend!!!

Apropos of:
Earlier life confessions
Repurposing plastic shells for rising waters
Money making failures
Idea's that never took.

Years ago, after numerous camping trips with my kids, frustrated they had no way of getting out on mountain lakes, I decided I would lift myself out of lutherie poverty. I would patent and sell quick release hinge kits that would turn every car top carrier into a boat!

"Rocket box Rowboat" had a ring to it.

Can you say, "liability insurance"?
" Members of the jury, my client merely sold cotter pins and never advocated serious river running in such craft"

David that's WAY cool and I want one!

Seriously what a great idea! I can see why removing the hinges was prudent too.

Also the pics are showing some of the prettiest country there likely is, very cool! And you have some great looking kids there too and they are probably older now and grown up?

I don't see why the idea was not a great idea. Liability is one thing for sure but maybe that could have been addressed in the same manner that the windsurfer folks did, molded in floatation, etc?

PS: I posted an envelope to you yesterday with a bumper sticker in it that Dave created and you will enjoy I am sure... It's political so I can't say more..... Just put one on my car this morning...

Nice try.

I have t let you build some things on your own,

cloaking device on [not just look for a handout.] cloaking device off

That's a great idea, but if you didn't remove the top, you could have a catamaran.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

Or two Ovation ama's for a trimaran!

Hesh, in the misery loves company category: we had a customer bring in a busted up Ovation classical. They did make them, you know. So, my customer thought it would be a worthwhile experiment to re-top the plastic shell with a really good top. Thus the challenge became to make a really good guitar, using the fiberglass bowl. Sort of a 20th century version of Torres' paper-mache guitar experiment.
(I'd rather work with paper...)

I feel your pain.

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Don't leave us hanging Steve!
Did it sound like a Torres, an Ovation, or ..................... a salad bowl?