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Location: Burbank | OK, I know the age old question of which guitar would you get, keep, want, or which sounds better, usually gets returned with answers like: depends on the flavor of ice cream you like and...... But I am interested the different opinions and ice cream flavors people like. With that in mind, her goes. I have an oportunity to get a '97 collectors which sounds great and I really like. But being in very limited funds, I thinking that I may want to hold out for a 1537, but I have never have played one and am basing that soley on all the great praise it gets here. So if you have or have played both, in your ice cream flavored opinion which would you pick and why. Thanks in advance. |
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Location: Phoenix AZ | Man, that's a loaded question. You can't possible compare these two guitars. They are as different as could possibly be. A few members here either have, do, or will own both so I thnk you'll get some good opinions. I owned a '97 until recently and really liked it for what it was - unique among all ovations, fun to play, comfortable. But it just didn't have "it" for me. I still wanted a small bodied players guitar so I replaced it with a 000-18. The 1537 on the other hand is an acoustic monster. Along with the FD14 and some old shiny bowls, the 1537 is one of Ovations best ever wood topped guitars. It will blow you away. I only played one (Moody PI) but that was enough to convince me to buy one and it will arrive next week. So I probably have not answered your question, sorry about that. Bot the '97 and the 1537 are great instruments for what they are individually. Personally, if you had the opportunity to them for the same price, I think you would be making a big mistake not getting the 1537. But then again, if it ws the unique features of the '97 that really turned you on you would be missingout on that. Another thing to maybe consider is that '97 prices are falling and you can find them pretty regularly. The 1537 values are actually going up and they are not as easy to find. Maybe for good reason. I'lllet you know more after I get mine next week. Dave |
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Location: Burbank | Thanks, Dave that is the type of answers I am looking for. I like the 97 because it felt good and had a nice sound, but when you say the 1537 is an acoustic monster, that make me want to wait and find one of those. Still open though. I wanted to hear what people thought in terms of sound, feel, the whole ball of wax. The more I hear you guys talk of the 1537, the more I salivate. I need to play. Sure would be great to have both, but not now. |
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Location: SoCal | I have the '97 Collector's and the 1537, another 1537 coming in soon.
The '97 is a parlor so hard to compare - bought it for my wife but now that she has her "palm tree" parlor, '97 isn't getting played much although a wonderful guitar. The fact that the smaller size helps my wife (playing position), the smaller size makes it less desireable to me.
1537 is an outstanding guitar - believe everything you have heard about it...I play it a lot, keep it within easy reach. |
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Location: Phoenix AZ | Mario - The answer is obvious. Demand that Tony sells you one of his! Dave |
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Location: Burbank | Tony? Trade? I could do chores around the house! |
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Location: Carle Place, NY | The praise of the 1537 that you've seen on this site is well deserved. I have one. It is the best wood-topped Ovation ever made and acoustically vastly superior to every Adamas that I've played with the sole exception of an older deep bowl non-cutaway model that I recently saw and played at the local Guitar Center. As for the '97 parlor model, if you really want a nice small guitar, get a Baby Taylor. At $259 new, they are one of the few "bargains" in the Taylor line. |
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Location: Central Florida | I don't mean to send this thread sideways, but I'm curious to know, is there really a significant difference in sound between a 1537, and say, a deep bowl non-cutaway Elite from the later 80s? I know there are slight cosmetic differences, and the electronics I believe are different, but acoustically do they sound all that different?
Just wondering, 'cause I have an Elite that was built in 1989, and I think it sounds great, but have never had the chance to compare it to a 1537. My apologies to Mario for jumping in on your thread, but I'm just curious to know if there is something about the 1537s that sets them apart from other full bodied Elites.
Jeff |
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Location: Burbank | No sweat the more the merrier. I'd like to hear the response to that too. |
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Location: Lafayette, Louisiana | 1537 is the way to go. |
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Location: SoCal | Jeff, I can't really compare with Elites.
The 1537 does have AAA spruce and a floating neck. Not sure if nut is bone or other. |
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Location: SoCal | Sound is going to vary from guitar to guitar, even in the same family. The 1537 is a better constructed guitar than the later Elites in that the materials used were of the very highest quality, from the selected AAA spruce tops, to the black walnut fingerboard, to the Adamas stereo p/u (2 knobber). It's a higher quality guitar, material-wise, and to the degree that all that makes a difference, it should sound better. But in the real world, who knows? |
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Location: Nova Scotia, Canada | Here's another slight sidetrack; Moody, how does your shiny bowl Balladeers stack up against the 1537?
Wayne |
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Location: SoCal | Different brothers from the same family. The 1537 is deeper and smoother. The GC DB is brighter with more of a bite, but it also has depth in the deep end that seemed to get lost in the 1970's. I'm perfectly happy playing both of them.
But I will say that in some way that I don't understand yet, the 1537 is an easier guitar to play. Not better, but slightly easier. It might be that I don't have the GC DB set up right yet. |
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Location: Nova Scotia, Canada | It could be the floating fingerboard allowing for a bit better neck angle. It's like an Adamas which are such easy playing guitars.
Wayne |
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Which would you pick?
