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Location: Plano, TX | I'm hoping to pick up a shallow (or shallower) bowl acoustic-electric, cutaway and normal sound hole that will predominantly be plugged in and easily played standing up. Considering some of the higher end models from back in the day, but don't really know where to begin. Hoping you gals and guys can send me off in a productive direction.
Whar should I look out for when buying used Ovations? Any common issues that tend to show up that I should look closely at?
I mainly play Taylor and Radio King but looking to get my Ovation on with a new gig.
Thanks in advance
Tripp |
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Location: Jet City | high end SSB with a regular sound hole, look for an 1869. One step less is an 1867
Here's an R869 (an 1869 with an additional Roland synth pickup)
Make sure the action is good. Even better if there's shims still under the bridge. |
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Location: Plano, TX | Damon, that is beautiful. Now time to find a good one. |
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Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | Adamas also made a few high end SSB models, which is all I use these days. Very comfortable playing in a standing position and they take up less room in a stand and are easy to handle on stage. Plugged in, the sound is excellent. |
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Location: Jet City | Yes.... If I had the $, I'd have no problems upgrading all my SSBs to Adamas... aside from the Roland one. But I probably wouldn't do a center hole Adamas. |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | I have an 1881 SSB Adamas that is surprisingly loud acoustically.
(just an observation  )
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Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | I also use a Legend SSB for band practice. I think the model is a 1567 which is a bit rare. Bought it from a member here who had it freshened at the MS. |
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Location: Plano, TX | Is the XX67 and xx69 the model designation I should be looking for? |
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Location: Frozen Tundra of Minnesota | tripp2k - 2016-06-29 7:46 AM
Is the XX67 and xx69 the model designation I should be looking for?
I think, according to the FAQ's Section that the second number is the depth designation X8XX for Shallow Bowl Models.  |
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Location: Jet City | The 1567 and 69 were only made the first year. After that, the model# changed to the 1867 and 69.
Same guitars for the most part. The main difference is the 15xx had an older stacked knob preamp. I used to have one (pic below). This was the first year of not only the SSB, but the cutaway in general on all the other models. The deep bowl cutaways had the same preamp and were only made for a year too, the cutaway Legends had a different model number for that one year as well (1667 and 1669). The deep bowls actually had parts cutaway, then added a second bowl piece glued in place to form the cutaway. I've had a couple of these too, and for some reason, they just sound great.
Here's the 1567 shallow bowl:
 (DSCN3430.jpg)
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Location: Plano, TX | Y'all have me GASing with those pics. Beautiful gits. |
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Location: Denmark | Damon67 is very gifted with that camera and the red blanket. |
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Location: Frozen Tundra of Minnesota | tpa - 2016-06-30 2:14 AM
Damon67 is very gifted with that camera and the red blanket.
EXTREMELY Gifted!!! |
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Location: SoCal | Damon, I always thought that the 1667 was a mid depth bowl cutaway Legend, not a ssb. It was only out for a year or so. It was A braced and as you stated, it had the stacked tone/volume control at the waist. |
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Location: Jet City | The 1667 and 1669 were deep bowl Legends with cutaways. The mid bowl didn't come out for another 10 years unless you consider the artist bowl a mid.
I had a black 1667 that had the sweetest action and sounded oh so nice, one of the nicest sounding O's I've ever had. I sold it to Alison after getting the Al Di Meola CL. Stupid stupid stupid, but she really enjoyed it while she had it, then made a buck or two on it.
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Location: Jet City | Here's a pic of the inside where they cut the bowl to make the cutaway and added the other piece. Once they had a cutaway mold, they stopped this practice. The 1667 and 1669 models became the 1767 and 1769 and the preamp was upgraded as well.
 (DSCN2765.jpg)
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Location: Jet City | BTW, I should add that Woody helped me instal an Op50 into this black beauty. It was really a stellar axe. |
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Location: When?? | Damon.. for some reason I remembered the 1667 as having fingerboard inlays that were round.. and the 1669 had the diamonds. Am I thinking of a different Legend paring.. like maybe the 1567/69? |
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Location: Jet City | The balladeer had dots... the 1661 was the cutaway version of the balladeer from that era (1561 for the shallow bowl). Both the Legend and the Custom Legend have diamonds, though there are more inlays on the custom (and they're abalone instead of MOP)
Edited by Damon67 2016-06-30 12:37 PM
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Location: When?? | Ah.. doh!.. the standard/custom Balladeer pairings did dot/diamond.. yep.. I had that mixed up with Legends. Thanks for the correction. |
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Location: Indiana | My 1677-X is a mid bowl with the pieced together cutaway. Built in '82. Agree with Damon, for some reason these sound great.
Edited by Jonmark Stone 2016-06-30 1:57 PM
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Location: Jet City | Ahhh... Yours is probably what Moody was remembering. I should change my statement then. Mid bowls WERE available.
Edited by Damon67 2016-06-30 3:42 PM
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Location: Jet City | hmmm... I've never had one of these. There's one on eBay right now, same era with the pieced together cutaway. Tempting.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1985-86-Ovation-Balladeer-Acoustic-Electric...
Apparently, these were only available during the pieced-together era. They must've cut up the artist bowl just like the deep bowls, but didn't continue to make a mold for them until the mid bowls later.
Here's a quote from Mr Moody in the archives:
"From a 1983 catalog, I'm reading that the 1677 is the Legend sahllow bowl cutaway, not a Glen Campbell model (I'll get to that in a second). It was built in the first one or two years of the cutaways.
Per the catalog, it has a AAA spruce top and an "A" bracing pattern. It has the stacked volume tone control.
As noted above, it's not a Glen Campbell model, but it should be. For some reason (maybe they were phasing out the GC models at this time) Ovation decided to call the guitar a Legend even though the only difference between this guitar and the GC model was the cutaway.
Regardless, I've always thought that this was a keeper guitar (or it would be if I ever had one). A fuller sound than the original GC Artist (due to the better "A" bracing pattern as opposed to the GC's VT-8 pattern), and a cutaway. I think you are going to be very very happy with this guitar."
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Location: Jet City | So, to wrap it up...
Early 80's 82ish to 84ish:
1567 - Super Shallow Legend
1569 - Super Shallow Custom Legend
1677 - Shallow Cutaway Legend (Glen Campbell really)
1667 - Deep Legend cutaway
1669 - Deep Custom Legend cutaway
After:
1867 - Super Shallow Legend
1869 - Super Shallow Custom Legend
1767 - Deep Legend cutaway
1769 - Deep Custom Legend cutaway
and the shallow/artist/campbell thing was discontinued
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Location: Jet City | But if you want to continue on, we can move into Elites. Personally, I like using Super Shallow Elites. These are the 2 I'm usually playing when plugged in these days...
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Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | And there's also the SSB prototypes with serial/model numbers representing their build dates. I have two, both with all the later 1537 detailing, one as a cutaway with an Ovation headstock, the other without the cutaway but with an Adamas headstock. |
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Location: Indiana | Damon67 - 2016-06-30 3:40 PM
Ahhh... Yours is probably what Moody was remembering. I should change my statement then. Mid bowls WERE available.
Interestingly enough, they were called "shallow" in the literature then... pre SSB. Similar to an Artist depth. Definitely what we refer to as mid now.
Edited by Jonmark Stone 2016-07-01 10:38 AM
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Location: Plano, TX | Any opinions on pre-owned pricing for the 1867 and 1869 models for pieces described as very good to excellent? Are "minor finish cracks" near the bridge common or should I avoid these?
Y'all have been wonderful...thank you! |
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Location: SoCal | eBay has five (5) completed 1869 auctions. The purchase prices are your range. I sold my mint 2002 1869-CCB for $800 to one of the guys here. It would have been $900 BIN on eBay. |
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