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January 2006
Posts: 2120
Location: Chicago | I was blown away in 1970 by "My Goal's Beyond" on which John McLaughlin plays his Balladeer. Beautiful acoustic record with the axe featured prominently in the album art. That was it forever.
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April 2010
Posts: 1227
Location: Connersville, Indiana | I had an early 60's Fender I was trying to teach myself how to play, but my next door neighbor who I babysat for him and his wife when he performed on weekends. This is around 1975. I don't like being the same as everyone else. He played an Ovation and his electric was a Strat. I would watch him play and listen and I was so amazed of not only the way his Ovation sounded but the look of it. He started teaching me how to play and I have been in love with Ovations ever since. 
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September 2005
Posts: 3619
Location: GATLINBURG TENNESSEE :) | Slipkid pretty much said the same thing I was thinking. After seeing a round bowl, I was intrigued to find out the science behind the design. I was able to get my hands on a brochure that explained it, and when I was afforded the opportunity to play one in a pawn shop in '89, (a 1537) I was hooked!! I've played a gazzilion guitars since then, and have not found any guitar that satisfied my ear and hands like a USA made Ovation or Adamas. |
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Joined:
September 2011
Posts: 59
| I liked the look first...
A few years ago I was watching Bad Company's televised concert from Hollywood Florida... during the song Seagull Mick Ralphs played a black Elite or similar as it had the epaulets. Mick picked a real nice tune to accompany Paul Rogers and decided I had to have one of those... picked up the celebrity 257 first then the q597 a bit later.
But what made me a fan was the technology of the Ovation line. The roundback - with a little bit of science and experimentation to finalize the exact shape - strikes me as better suited for dealing with sound generation. There must be little echos that are generated in the 90-degree corners of regular guitars which are mostly avoided in the Ovation. Of course we all know that regular guitars sound great - but there is that subtle difference that gives the Ovation it's different sound - I like that feature.
Use of carbon fiber. The acoustic science and materials science applied to the Adamas suites me perfectly. Before knowing about the Ovation brand I knew I wanted a carbon fiber guitar as it is "high tech" and "cutting edge" - and the Adamas did not disappoint. Love that top - love the delicate bracing inside - love that I can't even rest my spare fingers on the top without changing the sound.
They made a passion into a business and we ended up with fantastic heart-warming guitars. |
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Joined:
July 2008
Posts: 185
Location: Long Island, N.Y. | For me it was around late `77/ `78 I went to see Jorma Kaukonen here on Long Island and he was using a custom legend. I can still remember thinking at that moment, what a great sound! I had been exposed to regular wood box acoustics with my brothers being players but there was something about the bite/tonality of the guitar that got me hooked. I used to go to the music store in the mall and they sold ovations, I remember looking up and seeing the custom legend and all its bling! Of course back them, my parents and I could not afford one of those, So I wound up getting a Matrix ac/el. with the aluminum fretboard, T-bar sunburst color. Now I am on my 6th custom legend, what a beauty at 17 yrs old, like new! 1769. this one is not going anywhere! |
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November 2011
Posts: 741
Location: Fort Worth, TX | In rereading the whole thread, I see I am the only one who has said the looks (aesthetics) of Ovations drew me in in the first place. Does that make me "shallow"? Or could I still be considered "deep" since I went on to praise the individual tone of all 4 I have owned so far? Or do I exist somewhere in between? I can't believe I admitted I like to look at myself holding one in a mirror! What can I say, they make me look better.
On another note, while I have bonded with the cracked top 1768C recently shipped to me (I stabilized the crack), dwgpreacher has offered to trade me the K-1111 40th anniv resissue I traded to him for a luthier built dread. I told him I would give him an answer after this weekend. The Elite needs the first five frets replaced, although it's not imperative it be done anytime soon. Plus, with the disability I have after 18 major abdominal surgeries, I am NOT supposed to pick up anything heavier than a gallon of milk. I have to lift the Elite with my left arm or the slight pull of using my right sends shocks of pain thru my body. It's hell to be such a wuss over such light weights but it is what it is. The K-1111 is one of the lightest weight O's I've ever had. Lastly, I prefer the shiny bowl. The Elite, with the cedar top, is ideally suited to fingerstyle and I have been playing it several hours a day. Also, of course, it has the OP-24 preamp. I might have to end up flipping a coin to decide! |
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Joined:
January 2006
Posts: 2120
Location: Chicago | Wow, you're right, Dave. I've got to admit that I LOVED the looks of the new Ovation Legends in the early 70s. The headstock was so original and IMO beautiful. The round back, spruce top and striking rosette simply sparkled. And the bling that developed (inlays, binding). The combination of something that looked so fine and was the signature sound of the most sophisticated jazz-rock acoustic players was over-the-top fantastic. I am still thrilled by the acoustic moments on albums like Birds of Fire (Mahavishnu) and Romantic Warrior (RTF). |
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March 2005
Posts: 12759
Location: Boise, Idaho | I may have been trying to sound like a rational person instead of the shallow person I really am. I liked the looks, too. I still remember thinking how nice they looked with a unique headstock and no pickguard. I totally bought into the technical benefits of the headstock and lack of pickguard, only to read much later in The Book that the headstock design was pretty much window dressing. The hard poly finish that supposedly made the pickguard unnecessary also seemed questionable as I discovered and owned so many with finish cracks, but I still like the looks without the pickguard. It took me 20 years to like the looks of the Adamas or Elite, though. With those, my interest was much more technical than emotional. |
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Joined:
August 2002
Posts: 8307
Location: Tennessee | Dave Mason and Jim Krueger playing a Pacemaker and a Legend at the San Diego Civic Auditorium in 1975. |
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Joined:
November 2002
Posts: 3651
Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | I fix things. The Ovation design is the PERFECT guitar platform, especially one with bolt-on necks. I will never be a good player, but play well enough to know how good my re-engineering is.
I went looking for a set of Klusons for a really old 1111 (no last digit), and found this place. Never looked back, since.
Long live the BFLG!
Edited by seesquare 2013-02-03 8:57 PM
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Joined:
November 2011
Posts: 741
Location: Fort Worth, TX | seesquare - 2013-02-03 8:55 PM
Long live the BFLG!
What's the Baby Feeding Law Group got to do with guitars? |
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Joined:
November 2002
Posts: 3651
Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | To those who may have arrived a bit late- BottomFeeders Luthiery Guild, or alternatively, per MWoody, Bottomfeeder League of Gentlemen |
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Exactly What Made You A Fan?
