Any Ovation Players Out There?

Hi there

I swear by Ovation and have a Legend which is almost 30 years old, it is in mint condition as I have always looked after it, if you have not got a hard case for your guitar yet, think about it.

I don't know how established a guitarist you are but you can't go wrong if you practice finger style and take it one step at a time.

Once you have mastered finger style the chords sound a lot more exciting, even the simple ones.

I use Martin Acoustic light 80/20 bronze as they are easy to pick and have an amazing sound.

I am sure you will get that Adamas one day, the more you pay the more you get, Ovation certainly offer quality when you get to the higher end of their market.  Good Luck

Semi-Acoustic.

I know this is a really old post but for some reason today I wanted to start at the back and see what I've missed.  This topic is a gem.  If you haven't had the opportunity to own or play an older Ovation,  please take the time.  They are not that expensive and fairly available.  I have a model 1112 balladeer from 1981 that I bought new in Jan 82 and will never sell. This was not my first guitar. It won't be my last but it's the one I hold dear.  It's been refretted once and needs it again.  Its been with me on three continents over 28 years.  I've played it in live settings since 1986 and it has always performed well.  It's been outfitted with numerous pickup configurations (it has a Fishman matrix blend in it now). It has been from the arctic to the desert and to the tropics and has never let me down.  It just sounds better. year after year.  Now that I've puffed up the Ovation company, let me let some air out.  The new ones don't sound as good as their old ones.  The fit and finish is not as good.  I've seen new Ovations that should have been given the "traditional Ovation B stock treatment".  Run em over with a catepillar tractor.  Now these seem to be the standard. I'm talking about the American made ones of course.  Keep an eye out for those old ones though.  They don't disappoint.

I have a solid-body Ovation bass.  It's an Ovation Magnum third series.  It weighs about seven tons and is one absolutely humongous hunk of mahogony.  It sounds great (in the right hands).  It's a classic instrument, but mine is not in collector condition.  It's in well-played condition.  I have mostly restored it to original, except that I have not been able to find an original soapbox pickup.  I purchased a Bartolini Musicman pickup, which fits perfectly, and had it professionally installed.  The bakelite pick guard broke at a practice once, so I also replaced it.  I could have gotten an original replacement, but given that it's never going to be original condition again, I went ahead with a much sturdier tortoise shell, which looks much cooler too. 

- Zurf

This is interesting because I was debating between an ovation and a Takamine myself, and ended up going the opposite way because I found such an amazing deal on my G-series dreadnought.  But my neighbor brought an ovation over here the other day for me to tune (it has a built in tuner so it wasn't too hard at all really), and I have to admit I had a moment of doubt. As a female player the ovation was such a great fit for my hands and body, very very comfortable. And the sound was nice too, even for the lower end model. Made me rethink all over again... but I'm rather attached to the Takamine, there is still something about the acoustic guitar that I can't get over. Maybe its the feel. I will say an Ovations on my wish list now...

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