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December 2002
Posts: 29
| I have a vintage circa 1970 (bought new) Legend. I have since added electronics (Fishman Prefix I). The neck seems to be straight, but appears to be at an angle up from the face of the guitar body (almost like the tension of the strings is pulling the neck up) making the guitar difficult to play on the upper frets. So, I adjusted the neck as far as I can go without bowing it backwards. It helped a little, but I was wondering, what string sizes are recommended for this baby? Can I go down to an 11 or even 10?
Thanks. |
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November 2002
Posts: 3666
Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | Neil, are you getting any heel separation on the neck? If your neack is straight, you might need a neck reset job done. Take it into a warranted & certified technician for diagnosis. |
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December 2002
Posts: 29
| Seesquare,
I haven't noticed any separation of the heel of the neck from the body, but I must say, I didn't really look there. I did notice that without the strings the neck flattens out really nicely. Once I string it up, though, it pulls up and the action gets quite a bit higher, especially in the higher frets. In fact, you can apply downward pressure on the neck while strung and that movement definitely lowers the action. I just thought maybe my strings are too heavy and pull too much. Lighter strings would not have as much pulling force. But I don't want to kill the volume and tone in the process. The neck adjustment helped a lot. I tweaked it until it started buzzing on the high E string first and second frets. Then I backed off quarter turns until it went away. Big improvement but I thought lighter strings might make it even better. I just thought someone here might suggest the lightest string that still "works" for the guitar. |
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January 2003
Posts: 146
Location: Ct./ USA | 1970. WOW, SEND IT TO Gene Brown( service dept.) at Ovation, if you can afford it, or if it is worth it. |
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March 2002
Posts: 15686
Location: SoCal | I agree. Get it to Ovation or a good repair person.
Does you're Legend have the single neck inlays at the 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th frets, and then the diamond-dot-diamond at the 12th? And is the neck bound? I've got the catalog from 1970, but have never seen an early Legend. |
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Joined:
December 2002
Posts: 29
| OK. I'm feeling kinda stupid right about now. It guess it's not a Legend (it WAS over 30 years ago . . . lots of brain cells have fallen by the wayside). I think it's one of the Balladeers - probably Artist Balladeer. I recall it wasn't the lowest model at the time, but not the most expensive either. I think I paid about $320 for it with HSC back then. I'm going to write down the Model # tonite and check with the Ovation timeline site to see just what model it is. It has the dot inlays and deep bowl if that means anything. I did check the neck joint and it is not lifting away from the body. After reading this site, I realized that this thing (even in its near-mint condition)is probably worth about what I paid for it. Considering some of the other guitars I could've bought at the time, I could've done better investment-wise. But, I have enjoyed it over the years so I have that at least. That said, I don't really want to put more money into it - that's why I attempted to adjust the action myself. I probably already spent too much by buying the $125 Fishman p/u (which I installed myself). Any additional funds will be put toward purchasing another acoustic/electric and I have been leaning toward the Guild F47RCE and Taylors.
Still no one has suggested a string gauge to use . . .
Thanks. |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 15686
Location: SoCal | Light gauge Elixars.
If it's a deep bowl, then it's a regular Balladeer. The Artist was a shallow bowl, like the Glen Campbell model.
How come you aren't looking at another Ovation? If you can spend for the Guild or the Taylor, you could go for a new Elite, or even an Adamas. |
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December 2002
Posts: 29
| Light Elixirs? That would be .12 gauge?
How about the custom lights (.11)? This might just bring the action down a tad and be easier to play.
I've owned (acoustic) Ovations exclusively for over 30 years now. I'm looking for a change in sound/appearance. Also, about the same time I bought my Ovation, my brother bought a pre-war Martin D-18 for $250 (now worth $10k +). While I don't believe the Taylor or Guild will do that, historically, the Ovation has proven it most certainly will not do that. |
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Joined:
December 2002
Posts: 29
| OK, I ran the numbers. My guitar must have been made in 1972 after they dropped the K prefix. It's the 1121-4 model which is the Artist Balladeer (slightly shallower bowl - I thought it was the deep bowl, but what do I know?). The first digit is always 1. The second 1 means round bowl acoustic. The 2 means Artist sized bowl and the last 1 means Balladeer. The 4 means natural finish. Not that this means much to anyone. At least, now I know what I have.
I'm gonna give a set of CL Elixirs a try and see how I like them. I'll post for anyone who's interested. |
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March 2002
Posts: 15686
Location: SoCal | That's an Artist all right. I had one from the same time. Beautiful guitar. I'm sorry I sold mine. |
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Lowering action on vintage Legend
