Where's The Ovation Love

[kip4]

I have the slim back with all the small holes and carvings around them.
I love it and it records really well but in a mix it's just too bright and i end up compensating with my mic choices otherwise, its just too forwards in the stero field a lot of the time.
The love is there but for recording it takes a while to find its best spots.

 

[Sky Blue Lou]

Ovations are the quintessential "bar guitar". Every troubadour or "balladeer" plays one. There's a reason for that. They play easy and with on-board electronics set up easy too. Others have copied that aspect - Takamine comes to mind - but Ovation got there first.

Having said that - and I have a shallow-bowl Legend - if you want to record quality acoustic tracks you are micing up a Taylor, Martin, Hummingbird or some other higher-end all wood box.

 

[Illsidgus]

Guilds could also be tuned to concert pitch back then because they used two truss rods in their 12-string necks and the tops were braced more heavily. I think they've quit using the double truss rod in the necks since Fender took them over,...

What the heck is going on? Why is Fender buying everybody out? Would somebody take their checkbook away from them!

 

[BassMan53]

Love my Ovation Celebrity. I bought it about six weeks ago because I wanted something "convenient" that I could leave out on a guitar stand and not worry about. A beater if you will.

It's a mid-depth bowl with some decent punch, it's built like a tank, and in all honesty, the Ruby Red color is striking. It's got an onboard tuner (that's rarely needed) and after a pro setup, it plays very nice.

Sounds great plugged in too. I've completed one recording with it so far and it sounds very good when recording direct.

I have to say....for a budget guitar, it's exceeded all my expectations and has earned a place in my stable as a keeper.

 

[YeshuasFan]

What the heck is going on? Why is Fender buying everybody out? Would somebody take their checkbook away from them!

I have no idea. They bought out Tacoma back in the 1990s, then bought out Guild about 10 years ago and put the Tacoma label off the market. They've also bought Jackson/Charvel and most recently, Kaman [Ovation, Applause, Takamine]. This means when a person purchases any of those brands, they are in essence purchasing a Fender. I have to say the customer service at Kaman appears to have diminished significantly since Fender took over.

 

[acidrock]

Not dissing the Ovations but in my experience, they're a great gigging acoustic but not what I want in a pure acoustic guitar. I had a 12 string back in the 70's that played REAL nice and was loud but as an acoustic guitar, I found it lacking in tone. I had a Guild 12 string that just spanked the Ovation for tone. No dissrespect, just my own humble experience.

This is exactly how I feel about them.I used to play in an acoustic duet in bars and towards the end all we played were Ovations.Necks that played like electrics,no feedback but still were acoustic-y.

 

[Neutral Steer]

The one real interesting thing about Ovations is they were conceived by a helicopter engineer, Charles Kaman.

 

[YeshuasFan]

The one real interesting thing about Ovations is they were conceived by a helicopter engineer, Charles Kaman.

A multi-millionaire aviation engineer who played guitar and wanted to build "the perfect" guitar. So he hired a team of acoustic engineers to design one applying what they learned about vibrations and stress in avionics to designing a guitar. And some of what they learned and designed should make other guitar makers envious: the metal u-channel in their necks [in which the truss rod rests] provides more stability [and I imagine some sustain], while allowing them to make slimmer necks. A friend of mine who played an Ovation for over 25 years said he never had to have the neck adjusted. When he switched to a Taylor after his Ovation was stolen, he said he's had to have it in to have the neck reset twice, and he has to have it adjusted every time he changed strings--and he's only owned the Taylor for five years.

 

[Track Rat]

I'm sure they're Dandy's but I think your story about the Taylor is an anomoly. I've had a Taylor about 10 years and Martins for 40 and never had problems. Now the headstock on my D-41 snaped off once but that was more my fault than an issue with the guitar (rough treatment).

 

[moresound]

If they are good enough for Glenn Campbell they are good enough for me.

I've had two but ain't gone none now.

 

[YeshuasFan]

I'm sure they're Dandy's but I think your story about the Taylor is an anomoly. I've had a Taylor about 10 years and Martins for 40 and never had problems. Now the headstock on my D-41 snaped off once but that was more my fault than an issue with the guitar (rough treatment).

You're probably right about my friend's experience with his Taylor guitar being an anomoly. But at the same time, I'm not about to risk $1,000+ by purchasing one to find out, since I'm not that enamored with the sound of Taylors. [Taylor fans please do not flame me--my statement is one of personal preference and is not intended to be a criticism of Taylors.]