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Joined:
July 2015
Posts: 4
| Hi there,
This is my first post here. I just bought my first ovation about a month ago. I wanted one of these since I first saw one some 15 years ago. I don't know why I waited so long...
I wanted a deep contour body since I care mainly for the acoustic sound. I don't even own a guitar amp, I played my classical guitar until now, so this is my first acoustic. The only entry level deep body ovation I could find was the CC29S which was the last Ovation guitar in the shop I went asking for it (CC29S-4C). They really don't sell Ovation anymore here in Israel. So I'm happy with it for about a month bow, and I lowered the action so it feels really nice. It is a fun instrument to play.
my questions are:
1. why is this model not showing on the ovation website? have they stop producing it? I bought it brand new. did I buy a "lemon"?
2. I like how it sound but I feel it can do better. I would like to buy TUSQ saddle & nut. can thin line saddles be replaced? it look like it is attached to the pickup. has anyone done it with such saddle before?
Thank you all
Y
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Joined:
September 2006
Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Hi Y...
Since the ownership of Ovation has changed hands, the "official" website has been in disarray.
DW Drums recently bought Ovation, and it is not currently producing guitars yet.
The website really needs to be upgraded... But it wasn't much better when Fender was running it.
Apparently the are not making the CC29S-4C any longer.
I do not know if they are still making other Celebrity models nowadays either.
I don't think that many CC29S were produced, not compared to things like the CC24.
Some models are still on sale "new"... But they may have just made a bunch of them in advance.
Yes, you can get a Tusq Nut for an Ovation.
Graphtech does make a saddle that might fit into the "tray" that holds the piezos.
But I don't think that will change the tone of the guitar much.
If you really wanted to change the Saddle, you could get a different under-saddle piezo to go under the new saddle... then you can get Tusq, bone, or fossilized whatever.
The pickup plugs into the preamp with a 1/8" jack.
But I think that you need to remove the battery box to get to that connection.
If it plays well and sounds good, why mess with it?
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Joined:
July 2015
Posts: 4
| Thanks for the quick reply old man.
I'm not gonna mess with it for now. as I said, I don't eve own an amp and I do like this guitar as it is. maybe some day I will play with it a little. I'll write my impression here... |
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Joined:
July 2015
Posts: 4
| OK, This is frustrating. when I bought it the action was too high so i took out all the shims from beneath the saddle. I thought that how it should be but it is still too high. the problem was it is my first guitar so I didn't know any better. Only after I played others I realized how poor this one feels. I will try and see with a local luthier here in Israel if anything can be done. since the neck seems to be pretty straight, maybe reset the heel position can do somthing. I really don't know.
I will report back. |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 7236
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | It does sound like it needs neck reset. If the neck is straight and not bowed and removing the shims aren't enough... then the neck may not have been set properly in the first place. |
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Joined:
July 2015
Posts: 4
| That mean I bought a flawed instrument brand new? That is disappointing. what is the company's stand on this? I tried to mail the customer service on Ovationguitars.com but it goes to DWdrums. What is up with that? Ovation don't have any customer service? I am still looking for a reliable luthier to see other opinions on this. I will update. |
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Joined:
September 2006
Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | yoavku - 2015-09-21 4:44 AM
I tried to mail the customer service on Ovationguitars.com but it goes to DWdrums.
What is up with that? Ovation don't have any customer service?
DWdrums owns Ovation now.
You can contact John Budny at Ovation repair...
But they won't fix a Celebrity (I don't think).
But they could give you some advice.
Jbudny@DWdrums.com
800-552-4681
As to whether the CC29S came from the factory like that... Yup, probably did.
This is another reason why many people think that Ovation guitars suck.
But that factory is in China, and the CC29S is a Fender-design product.
The CC29 and the CC49 were the first and only Celebrity guitars made with the Contour bowl.
As I said, I found a lower saddle for mine.
I just happened to have a CP100 pickup-saddle in my collection that was lower than the saddle that originally came with my CC29S and I switched them.
Then I put Martin Silk-n-Steel M1400 Marquis strings on it.
Those strings have much lower tension, so that lowered the action.
My Final Solution was that I SOLD IT. Let it be another person's problem.
(but I sold it for cheap and warned the new owner)
I did like the Cedar top... So I bought a used Made-in-USA GCS771-C with a Cedar top.
Best of luck to ya' 
Edited by Old Man Arthur 2015-09-21 2:59 PM
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 7236
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | yoavku - 2015-09-21 4:44 AM
That mean I bought a flawed instrument brand new? That is disappointing. what is the company's stand on this?.
The Warranty on the Celebrity models stops at the store's (where you purchased it) doorstep. That ship has probably sailed due to the time since purchase and that is disappointing.
I know it doesn't help at the moment, but I have it on good authority that DW will have a completely different approach to imports in that they will have to meet certain quality and build standards. Fender (the previous owner) really dropped the ball on the non-USA models. Actually saying they dropped the ball it probably an understatement... they didn't even care about the ball.
When Ovation first started doing imports (I guess they're all imports to you, but I'm sure you know what I mean) they were actually nice instruments. Just less expensive, maybe not as durable, but you certainly would bring home a playable nice sounding instrument. Over the years when KMC took over there were some consistency issues, but you could still find a decent import that played and sounded just fine. Then Fender came in and who knows why, but any "quality control" was out the window. It was only for a few years, but when you make as many guitars as they did, that's a lot of trees that died for nothing.
So now DW owns Ovation. Their goal is to bring Ovation back to the glory days using the model that has made DW Drums the premier drum maker on the planet.
None of this helps you of course. I would try to find a local luthier that is familiar with Ovation and reset the neck. It's not that difficult for someone that knows what they are doing and I don't think the cost would be prohibitive. |
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New member from Israel - with some questions
