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Joined:
January 2003
Posts: 105
Location: San Francisco, CA | 1111, white top with black neck & fingerboard.
20 years ago ...... on the east coast.
Only two choices back in the 70s/early 80s: Martin or Ovation.
Ovation looks better & more affordable.
Martin was ugly (I like their looks now. Getting old??) & way too expensive for college student then. |
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Joined:
November 2002
Posts: 1196
Location: Lafayette, Louisiana | Ralph, my first Ovation was a Legend. I was 16 years old, and fell in love with Ovations from the first time I played one. The Legend fell of the strap one night at choir practice, and cracked the top. You could hear a pin drop as I looked at my beautiful Legend and started crying. That was tough, but I sent it back to Ovation who changed the top and the guitar was as good as new. Around this time I began to play alot more at church and weddings, and my Legend did not have a pickup in it. After trying different methods of amplifying it, I decided I would sell it and get an acoustic electric Ovation. And I wanted to go all the way and shoot for an Adamas. After selling my Legend and a few other guitars, I got what to me is the best acoustic electric guitar made. I got a new black 1687 Adamas. Man did things take off for me musically then. I have played that guitar at churches throughout the south. I get just as excited about my Admamas now as I did back in 1981 when I got it. Oh how I can sing the praises of my Adamas!...Paul Hebert |
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Joined:
May 2002
Posts: 651
Location: Australia | I was turned onto O's after seeing Simon & Garfunkel's "Concert In Central Park" in 1981.
It was the best plugged in acoustic/electric I had ever heard thus far and I was smitten with that black Custom Legend.
Anyway, as much as I would of liked that black beauty to be my first, I ended up buying a 73'shallow bowl Balladeer (I think) from a guy I worked with at the time.
I must confess that acoustically it sounded dreadful but plug it in and your away.
Today I have that black Custom Legend like Paul's and a new 1687 Adamas. |
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Joined:
January 2003
Posts: 38
Location: Denver, Colorado | 1617 Legend. Bought it many, many moons ago. Wanted sunburst like Jim Croce was playing. I traded a Gibson and some cash for it. Still have it and play it every day! |
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Joined:
June 2002
Posts: 136
Location: Parkersburg, WV | I grew up in the seventies listening to Jim Croce & Cat Stevens and like Dan S. wanted a Sunburst A/E Legend like Jims. Scraped up $440.00 bucks after high school (all the money in the world back then) and wound up getting a red A/E Custom Balladeer(1612-2). I saw one in the Ovation catalog that year and loved the contrast between the red top and the black bowl. I still have it after 25 years and it feels like a friend that you will never seperate from. |
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Joined:
November 2002
Posts: 1196
Location: Lafayette, Louisiana | Patsbro, I have a white 1712 Custom Balladeer. I always thought the red Ovations were very cool. What color is the neck on your guitar? Mine is black with the black headstock and ebony fingerboard....Paul Hebert |
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Joined:
November 2002
Posts: 30
| 1778 Elite T...bought from Alpep. I was more intriqued over the years by the O look and when I finally took the chance to play and hear one I knew I had to have one. I definitely have had some bad GAS over the last couple of months and am prepping myself for my next purchase...hopefully an Adamas but time will tell..... |
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Joined:
February 2002
Posts: 613
Location: Zion, Illinois | Grew up in the seventies. Enjoyed Cat Stevens, Jim Croce, & Bread. I wanted a 12-string guitar, saw a Glen Campbell at a local music store in 1974, and I've had it ever since.
Bradley |
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Joined:
December 2002
Posts: 68
Location: Texas | Between the ages of six and twelve I took guitar lessons from an awesome guitar player. I got back into the guitar about a year ago and walked into my closest guitar shop and the same guy was sitting there. I had bought an Ibanez on ebay and it was an okay guitar. I sat thru a few few sessions with Steve and I knew he was 10 times if not more the guitar player I would ever be...but his guitar just sounded better on single notes. The guitar he was using was a 1968 1112 Balladeer that he had since he was 15. Today I now own a 1975 1112-4 that looks and sounds beautiful.
I may want to plug in one day but this guitar is one I will never part with.
My 9 year old who is now taking lessons from Steve came home the other day and said, "Hey Dad..your guitar looks just like Mr. Steve's...what's up with that?". This is my first Ovation but it's not my last. I'm thinking about a 1997 Collectors that I have been looking at.
It's funny because Steve was really diggin' my guitar because it came with an Ovation case and pearl inlays that his didn't. Thirty years from now I hope I can play as good as him...until then we will share one thing...we're both playing old "O"'s.
-Shaft |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 7236
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | 1975 Ovation Medallion, because I could afford it and it was made in my home state. I had been playing a classical "Seville" bought with S & H Greenstamps in 1963ish and I still have that guitar. |
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Joined:
October 2002
Posts: 61
| 1127-4 Glen Cambell It was a Gift from my folks in 1979 aftre graduating St.Anthonys grammer school in Winsted ct.I've since had it up-dated with a wide neck 1.788" @ the nut gloss finish and ele. package optima .It is still my main Ovation. :D |
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Joined:
May 2002
Posts: 1445
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada | After seeing Glen Campbell play these unusual looking but cool roundback guitars for a couple of years, I had an oppertunity to buy a used Balladeer 1111-4 from my girlfriend's uncle. I've had at least one or two O's ever since. I now have the most I have ever had...five with one more on the way.
Wayne |
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Joined:
June 2002
Posts: 6202
Location: Phoenix AZ | Summer of 1971 in Belmar NJ. A guy sitting on a picnic bench outside Belmar Playland was playing "You've Got A Friend" on a guitar with a round plastic back. Later that summer I actually held and played one at Red Bank Music (the old one in Neptune on Rt.35) and some how talked my mom into buying me that 1111 Balladeer. It had the small Kluson tuners and winged bridge. It was $189 plus $15 extra for the chipboard case. About a year later I started to fall in love with the Storms and got my first Thunderhead at "Sound Of Music" at the Monmouth Mall. It wasn't even a "mall" back then. You actually had to walk outside to go from store to store - how odd. Anyway, in a stupid move I later have up that Thunderhead but in a stroke of supreme luck got it back many, many years later and still have it. Dave |
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Joined:
January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | what: old number 6.
when: when it was new
why: it was available |
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Joined:
January 2003
Posts: 146
Location: Germantown, MD | 1117-1, now called "Blizzard." In February 1979, my wife and I decided I was ready for something much better than my ten-year-old Yamaha FG-125, and I liked the distinctive tone of Ovations. Our local music store advertised a great Washington's birthday sale, and we walked two miles each way on the morning after a blizzard to take advantage of it--even though my wife was five months pregnant at the time.
Epilog: Last July, we were in a music store to buy strings, and my wife saw a CC-0057 with an unbelievable low price. She decided that I needed a new guitar, and the Celebrity, now known as "Summer," came home with us.
Peace,
John |
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Joined:
February 2003
Posts: 22
Location: Austin | Mine was a 1976 Magnum II Bass. It had the active electronics and the EQ sliders. Bought it in the early 1980's because I saw Ross Valory of Journey use one. I've also have a '72 Glen Campbell 6 string as well as a '68 Deluxe Balladeer. |
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Joined:
March 2003
Posts: 4
Location: San Jose CA | I just got my first Ovation a few months ago. I've been playing them in stores for years and always wanted one. I found a 1667 special used for $200 and couldn't pass it up. |
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Joined:
July 2002
Posts: 150
Location: Minneapolis, MN | Saw Richie Sambora play his doublenecked elite(?) in 1987 for "Dead or Alive"- that was the first time I took notice of Ovation- Wow, what a cool guitar!
My first O was a Celebrity (CS-257) then I found this website and learned the way of the USA made O's :D Have since acquired a Custom Balladeer and a Legend Classic. Thanks to the new Folklore, my GAS may become unbearable sooner than I anticipated... :eek: |
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Joined:
August 2002
Posts: 39
Location: Bethel, Me | I've wanted to purchase an ovation for years, but could't justify another guitar with the wife until I saw and played the 2002 collectors. It was one of those "I have to have that" moments. Absolutely love it... |
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Joined:
February 2003
Posts: 25
Location: St. Louis Mo. | I will be forty this summer and I rember seeing an applause guitar in high school and seeing some dorky guy turn cool when he started playing it. I bought a red one a few years later when I was seventeen and only dreamed of buying a real Ovation. The years zipped by and after way too many bad guitars I got ahold of a custom balladeer 1712 that is my pride and joy. |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | Custom Balladeer.
Bought it new in the summer of '76.
First guitar I ever bought.
Was looking for a Yamaha (or similar) to learn on.
The planets were aligned in my favor that day I went home with one of the best guitars a working musician could ever own. | |
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Joined:
December 2002
Posts: 939
Location: Fort Worth, Texas | My first Ovation was a Celebrity bought six years ago from a friend. My first USA made one (beautiful Legend) I just got in February. My experience with Ovations goes back to when, as an 8th grader, I took guitar lessons from a guy who lived two blocks over from us in the eraly 70's, he played strictly Ovations.....
My GAS is somewhat placated for now with the new Legend, but a 12 string is would sure look good next to it or in my hands! :D | |
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Joined:
August 2002
Posts: 623
Location: Lake Hiawatha, New Jersey | Funny thing Paul, I'm looking to sell my Adamas 12 string SMT in mint condition!
Anyway...my first "O" was my Elite 12 string, bought in '94. She's lived through many gigs, and still my favorite. GAS got the better of me, and since I've gotten a Custom Legend 6 string 4 years ago, and an Adamas SMT 12 string last year.
It's a wicked drug, I swear. Looking to buy a Custom Legend 12 string. Played one last week and it melted in my hands...it was THE guitar for me. Can't stop thinking about it. My girl will kill me if I bring yet another guitar into the apt! (8 already there).
Help? 12 strings, I mean, steps aren't curing me! | |
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Joined:
February 2003
Posts: 2178
Location: the BIG Metropolis of TR | Hello Guys (and Gals?) This is my first post (So be gentle) But I wanted to tell of my first O! It was a '78 Custom Balladeer #1112-4 (Still got it!) I've been a Glen Campbell/Ovation nut ever since the '70s. After many years of lust (for the Ovation not Glen) I finally found the #1112 in 1980 cause it was the closest looking to a Glen Campbell model(fancy diamond inlays on neck) Played it for years all the while lookin' for more O's!! In the years since I've gotten GAS and my O collection has grown to seven(Including a '78 Glen Campbell and my latest a '94 EA68 Viper!-both bought on ebay)....Norseman1 said it best in his March 6th post-Ovations do have something magical about them!!! My name is Mike and yes I'm an Ovatiaholic!
I'll try to get some pics of my o's posted soon!
Mike :cool: | |
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What is your 1st Ovation? When & why?
