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February 2003
Posts: 99
Location: St. Petersburg, FL USA | First of all I must say, after owning an Ovation Balladeer for 20 years, I was shocked and slightly embarrassed to learn only just now that Kaman made all these other instruments, like the Preacher, Breadwinner, Viper, etc. I had no idea. I suppose an Ovation harpsichord will turn up sometime soon in the gallery. What an eye-opener this board has been! I feel like I’m showing up for a ballgame after the 7th inning stretch. Anyway… I notice, particularly with the Adamas guitars, that there are some slight variations. 22 and 15-soundholes, epaulettes that curve “in” and some “out.” Paul Templemen’s gallery shows this clearly in the shot of his Adamas. Are there names for these patterns? Reasons for the different numbers of soundholes, etc? |
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December 2001
Posts: 7247
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | As I understand it, Bill Kaman used to go out in back of the factory and shoot at this old barn with a shotgun. The carvers would then go in and cut out the epulets, and sometimes had to change the shape to match the spread of the shot. You can always tell when they built guitars during hunting season, as they had two epulets. During the off season discharging a shotgun, then having to explain everytime why, just got to be a hassle, so they would only use 1 epulet to conserve them until next open season. After that original barn was totally destroyed, Kaman Music went around buying up old barns all over Connecticut, and they have now a team of "gunners" to go create epulets.
:) |
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March 2002
Posts: 15686
Location: SoCal | I thought Glen Campbell's mother used to shoot the shotgun. |
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March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | While on the subject of Master Templeman's gallery pics:
Paul, it appears that your SMT is sporting those little rubber "feedback buster" plugs in some of the soundholes, or is it merely "digital camera" illusion?
If such is the case, do they work for you in reducing lo-freq. feedback in live applications?
(Or are they just there to keep the Guinness out?) :D |
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Joined:
February 2003
Posts: 99
Location: St. Petersburg, FL USA | Did somebody say "Guinness"... Actually, the center soundhole poses more of a problem while tossing back a cold one. But then again, this a clear illustration of the advantages of Lyracord, you don't have to worry about spilling your beer on it. :D
BTW, the shotgun story gets funnier with each read. I think you're onto a classic! |
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March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | Using "Guinness" and "a cold one" in the same sentence is borderline blasphemy. ;) |
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Joined:
February 2003
Posts: 99
Location: St. Petersburg, FL USA | I repent. You are correct, sir. For me, Guinness is a rare "treat." I must have slipped up thinking more about my "usual" red ale which can be served cold when I wrote that sentence. I would never chill a stout below "cellar" temp. (usually, I just lay the case down on the garage floor...) BTW Not to split hairs, but it was the NEXT sentence (not same), but I admit still WAY too close. :)
And it does look like "plugs" are in those soundholes, cause you can't see the label like you can through the others. |
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Joined:
February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | Cliff, well spotted, I have the larger holes closed using Ovation Airlocks. The multihole guitars seem be be generally less prone to LF feedback the centre-hole guitars, but I play pretty loud & I don't use picks so every little helps. I've found that using the airlocks means that there are less filters needed on the Berhinger Shark, so they obviously work. I take my Guinness intravenously while I'm playing. |
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March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | If only they made suppositories.
". . . . . eeewwwww!!" |
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January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | We never let Glen's mother have the gun, she would have taken hostages and made an escape. |
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May 2002
Posts: 3005
Location: Las Cruces, NM | Ack, Ack, Ack
I'm sorry but I just choked on a Guinness rocket from sucking to hard on a draft bottle. I swallowed it and now my digestive juices have a beautiful head that you wouldn't believe. I love Guinness draft but it costs almost $8 a six pack here in NM. You got the story wrong on the epaulets, the original design that I heard was a result of a civil war reenactment with a small cannon and various muzzle loaders cranking off at an antique spruce hutch that cwk2's mother was attached to, in order to save his ass, he had to convert the destroyed hutch into some worthwhile project. Before the black powder smoke had cleared, little cwk2 had scribbled a sketch of a guitar to mollify his mother, who had assembled a swatch of switches with the intention of depriving little cwk2 of a seated position for at least a week or two. His father saved his ass by producing a guitar from the destroyed hutch, susprisingly it worked great. Little cwk2 still got it cause you all know you don't mess with your mama.
Bailey |
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Epaulette / soundhole variations
