Hi all.

My name is Daren Savage. Many know my bro, DanSavage from the BFLG forum. I was lucky enough to talk him into building a Savage custom Ovation for me (198? 1528-9 Ultra...)

This will be my third Ovation. Dan let me borrow his 1624 Country Artist which I played for a year (think Lend/Lease). The next year I exchanged it for a 2078-TX5 Elite-T. We affectionately call this one Darth Ovation (and for me; a keeper).

My first guitar was a 1978 Aspen AD-28 that I got for my 18th birthday. Unfortunately, due to my neglect over the years, it has become unplayable. This Christmas, Dan gave me a beautiful 1978 Aspen AD-35.

Here's a couple of photos of my new Aspen:

For those new to the old Aspen line of Lawsuit Guitars, these were Japanese clones of the Martin D-35 made during the 1970s. Mine has a solid Stika spruce top, and Brazilian rosewood sides and back with what appears to be an ebony fretboard and bridge. As you would expect, it has a bright clean sound with lots of resonance.

Like Dan, I am a reformed r/c modeler. My last foray into modeling was flying and later crashing a quadcopter. When I realized I could have bought a really nice Ovation for the same money, I gave up r/c modeling.

Helping Dan with removing the top on my new Ultra inspired me to look at Ovation luthery as a new, but familiar hobby. And, the guitar isn't likely to launch itself into the ground without warning.

Daren

You obviously have not seen the trebuchet video.

Welcome aboard!

I dug out my Aspen AD28 to and tuned it up to see how it compared to my AD35. It's got a cracked bridge (not as bad as I remembered) and some of the clear is hazing, but all in all it sounded pretty good.

Not as good as the AD35, but it still has a nice clear voice for an old, abused guitar.

Hazing on neck.

Close up of the cracked bridge.

Here's a video of a guy playing an AD28 left-handed and upside down. Now that's skill!

Daren