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Joined:
February 2004
Posts: 171
Location: Tulsa, Oklahoma | Each guitar has it's own personality no matter what the brand on the headstock says... Playing one kind of guitar is like drinking one kind of wine...
Gerald |
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Joined:
November 2004
Posts: 100
Location: Asheville, North Carolina | I enjoy this forum because from what I can tell it's not like some of the other forums where if you don't play a custom highend boutique guitar (of which I've had several) they slam you. Forbidden words are Ovation in allot of circles. I have certainly cleaned my stable of guitars having owned up to 12 acoustics at one time, thinking that highend special order acoustic were an investment. Most are not. I have always had a fondness for Ovations, there's just something about them... While not for everyone they have always fit my percussive style to a certain extent. And I must say I have always gotten some of my best ovations on an Ovation, around the campfire or on the stage. I never like to battle over what guitar is best. They are all good, even a $150 Washburn can entice in the right hands! |
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Joined:
August 2004
Posts: 604
Location: Tampa, FL | Having owned an HD28 for 20 years that got sold a couple of years back, my only other guitar was an Ovation from circa 1970. It succumbed to some seriously rough seas during a north altlantic winter in 72. Well, after reading Elite04's preceding comment regarding this forum's egalitarian tenor as well as some opinion regarding certain, shall we say, less well accepted O models... I feel compelled to come out of the closet and make my confession. You see, I bought a new-to-me guitar this summer and, now that I've had it (an Adamas) for a few months, have really grown quite fond of it. Very fond. I love its balanced tone and have been complemented on its appearance quite a few times. But back to my dirty little secret. Well, I must confess that I didn't know when I purchased it and have since learned that my logic was perhaps a little inverted but you must understand that I am coming from a rather antiquated perspective of Luthierology. You see my Adamas is a 6591. I thought the center hole thing was the way a guitar was supposed to look, I was just looking for the no hassle composite construction and kind of liked the 'traditional' appearance. Besides the guy on ebay :rolleyes: said it was kind of rare. Little did I know there just might be reason there weren't very many. But honest guys, I'll do better. I just about have my wife convinced that is is perfectly normal to own more than one guitar :eek: , healthy even. I do love the sound of my present instrument (although I must confess that it didn't meet my initial expectations. The near complete lack of coloration and flatness of response really disappointed me) and I have found it remarkably easy to integrate with my church's PA. So, while I may have gotten here for the wrong reasons (some even delusional perhaps), I console myself with the thought that there can be many paths to a good place. So I'm glad to be here in the OFC and glad to have an acoustodymnamic guitar once again. Besides, with the multi-hole version, where do you place your pinky when you stabilize your picking hand, you see after my first Ovation took a header, I started picking a Gibson long neck banjo. Oh dear, perhaps that part should have stayed in the closet... ;) |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 15682
Location: SoCal | Folklore:
You need to keep your eyes open for a Folklore Deluxe. Do a search on it for either that name or an FD14. There were only 50 built by Ovation and they pop up occassionally (less so now) on ebay. |
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Joined:
December 2003
Posts: 13997
Location: Upper Left USA | Welcome Chatman!
Well put Outing!
Place the pinky on the flat. You can use the Braille method to run your hand down the epaulet to about 2" below the last small hole.
"Admitting you have a problem is the first step!" |
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Joined:
September 2003
Posts: 9301
Location: south east Michigan | Welcome ChatMan,
Nice first post. |
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Joined:
November 2004
Posts: 100
Location: Asheville, North Carolina | Ahh.....Segovia would never hear of anchoring your hand, it binds the wrist up! ;)
Well spoken! |
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Joined:
October 2004
Posts: 81
Location: N W Ohio | Lots of good points. I have to add my 2 cents. I have two Martins and two Ovations. Love them all for what they do. The different ice cream flavors is really about as close of a comparison as you can get. Ice cream no matter the flavor is good. Guitars no matter the flavor is good. What are you in the mood for today? Myself I like variety. |
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Joined:
January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | Folklore, welcome and we're not Joshin ya! (Sorry I had to do that.)
Martin vs Ovation. Why is that not Ovation vs Martin??
Here's the answer, Mercedes Benz-BMW
Next question? |
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Joined:
December 2004
Posts: 26
Location: Detroit, MI | Thanks for the warm wellcome.
May as well comment further on this thread since Sergio and I have had an ongoing discussion about the quality and value of Martin, compared to Santa Cruz, Collings, Gibson, Breedlove, Lowden, and so on (all guitars I have owned at various times). I will recount this experience and then extend the discussion to Ovation.
There was about a 10 year period when I would not buy a Martin because I did'nt feel they were making instruments that equalled their historic name. I tried many other builders and there are some good ones. But I believe Martin's eyes must have been opened by the success of its competitors, and it responded with some really good models in the past few years. I think the Vintage reissue Martins, represent the best value on the market for their style of guitars.
Have to admit, it took a lot of convincing on Sergio's part to get me to take a serious look at Martin again. The same thing is happening with Ovation, which I've overlooked for a couple of reasons. One may be snobbery, to an extent. I tend to agree with an earlier post, which stated that you can't beat the pure acoustic tone of a good wood bodied guitar (he was referring to a D28 but I think it is probably true in general).
That said, I don't think just any old wood bodied guitar sounds better than a good Ovation. There are a lot of guitars in the range of $500 to $1500 (and up) that really don't sound very good at all, to my ears. What I like about Ovation is:
1) Consistent quality. I have found that even some expensive Martin's (for example) don't have great tone, or are poorly set up from the factory and require adjustments. Every Ovation I've ever picked up, was easy to play and had consistently good, sometimes great, tonal qualities.
2) Can't beat them plugged in. I've borrowed a couple for gigs and there is no feedback problem. Plugging them in brings out other dimensions of their tone and power. Don't know because I have'nt played them enough but I'm thinking they could be the best stage instruments available, for situations where you want to crank up the volume a bit, or cut through a mix.
3) Comfortable... Part of the reason I never bought one was because I couldn't feel comfortable playing. I've learned that, as long as I play it with a strap on, my CA is more comfortable than any guitar I have.
4) Value. You can get a heck of a lot more out of an Ovation, for the money, than probably any other guitar on the market.
So Sergio got me a great deal on a beautiful vintage CA. And it is turning my head. This could be the beginning of a beautiful relationship... a whole different breed of guitar for me to get into.
I'd love to get a 12 string, a new CA Cutaway as well as the new Folklore. And yes, responding to another post, someday a Folklore Deluxe 12 fret.
As far as the comment about me playing steel-string... well, the less I play nylon, the less anyone can compare me with Country Artist :) |
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Joined:
November 2004
Posts: 100
Location: Asheville, North Carolina | Hey watch it I play an Ovation and drive a BMW :p
I would have to disagree with Folklore that the pure acoustic tone of a good wood bodied guitar is always better sounding than an Ovation. Some types of music will always sound better on an Ovation... :D |
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Joined:
November 2004
Posts: 3
Location: Ontario, Canada | Even though I dont (yet) own an Ovation, I feel pretty much the same as most of the others here -that there will always be 'good' ones and 'bad' ones of every manufacturer. But Martins I know well, and throughout the years I've previously owned a good handful including a 68 000-18 that was pretty clunky sounding, a killer '70 D-28, a ancient '23 2-17 that I called "the sweet little peanut" and currently own a 83 D-35 Shenandoah which I hate, and a beautiful 67 D-35S 12-fret slot-head in Brazillian that sounds amazing - but unfortunately has neck like a baseball bat. Not exactly built for speed.
I really loved a couple of these guitars, but no matter how small, each and every one of them had a least one issue that had to be dealt with. 'Dead' notes, bellying tops, humped fingerboard tounges, notorious pickguard top cracks - something. :rolleyes:
And these things still happened despite the utmost in care with humidifying, etc., or by previous owners and unnoticed by me when aquired.
Hence my recent newfound interest in Ovation, which will give more balance,fast action, no more fretful worry!(pun intended). Great.
A couple of more months - Adamas here I come! |
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Joined:
April 2004
Posts: 265
Location: Warrenton, Virginia | For John Lawrence
John,
Love them both (Martin & Ovation) HAve owned an Ovation longer than my Martins....First Martin (D-35) bought in 1979...second (Martin slot head) 00 something..great guitar) bought in 1998.
First Ovation I bought was in 1969...still have it...second Ovation in 1975...third was recent in April of this year......
point i guess is that both have features that I am looking for in a guitar....sound...fast neck (O's) credibility...meaning the companies have stayed the course in what they produce......their niche is vectored towards a succinct group of folks looking for quality....
Martin has the supreme history...but Ovation is likeable.....just my opinion
Sam |
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Joined:
June 2004
Posts: 365
Location: NC | There are just times that you can't compare apples to oranges.........this is one such time. :D |
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Joined:
June 2002
Posts: 6202
Location: Phoenix AZ | Come on LX, you can compare anything you want! Everyone knows that oranges are sweet and juicy. Apples are mushy and full of worms. Plus oranges grow in Arizona!
But here is something extremely interesting that I did last night. I have a Folklore Deluxe FD14 that is an amazing sounding acoustic - one of Ovations best in my opinion. I tuned the thing to open D and I could not believe what I was hearing. It was a MONSTER. Just blew me away. I even had to play it for Moody over the phone. very, very nice.
But here is where it gets interesting - I've also got a 12-fret Martin D18VS Slothead, which is THE best sounding acoustic I own, period, no question. So based on my FD14 experience, I then went and tuned the slothead to open D and I expected amazing things. But to my surprise it was rather "plain". A guitar that normally blows the FD14's balls off sounded painfully weak when both were changed to D tuning.
What does this tell me? Nothing really, except that not only can you not compare apples and oranges, but maybe you can't even compare guitars at only a single type of tuning! But, independent of tuning the Martin sure does smell nice, and the Ovation sure does feel nice. |
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Joined:
November 2004
Posts: 100
Location: Asheville, North Carolina | StandingOvation...Well put...My point exactly! I agree you can compare anything with anything relative. So then what's the use in comparing...not much. It would be better to compare an all wooden guitar to a like all wooden guitar. And we haven't even begun to talk of perception, which differs in each of us. We can all agree that Martins are good guitars, however in some circles a Martin is just a well built factory clone guitar when compared to a select Tragott, Olson or any number of other $5,000.00 to $10,000.00 guitars. Are they worth that? Whole other debate. So my next point...A D-28 can't do everything an Ovation can and visa versa. I do think there are a number of other wooden guitars on the market priced relatively the same, that can do everything a Martin does for the player. That's neither good or bad, just more choices for us guitarist to chose from in the "Golden Age of Acoustic Guitars". But to get the signature sound of an Ovation you will indeed have to buy an Ovation. They are that different..period :D |
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Joined:
July 2004
Posts: 338
Location: Omaha | All I know - when it comes to comparing - is that I DON'T want to compare my new lefty L777-5 Legend to a lefty Legend LX (when Ovation starts making them in lefty), cuz' I'm afraid I'm gonna get another "case" of GAS (no pun intended)...
:( |
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Joined:
June 2004
Posts: 365
Location: NC | So Ovations are oranges and Martins are apples...........you see, no comparison! Really there is none other than plainly put if your happy with what you got then you got a deal. I have so many people who compare the price and you could have gotten it cheaper and one fails to realize........if you feel like you did your best deal making and are happy with the product then you won! |
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Joined:
November 2004
Posts: 100
Location: Asheville, North Carolina | Ha..Leftovertion...don't you hate when they do that! :D |
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Joined:
March 2004
Posts: 201
Location: Vernon, CT | Yikes!!! Oh crap I created a monster string. Never imagined so many people would be so opinionated and have strong feelings about Ovations and Martins!!! LOL! But a lot of good dialogue has been said. Play On!
John L. |
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Joined:
January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | Apples and Oranges. Dave very nicely put but you've got it wrong, the oranges come from Florida and the road apples come from the Amish horses in Nazareth Pa.
(Just kidding Chris, you make nice guitars, really) |
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Martin vs. Ovation
