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Posts: 15654
Location: SoCal | I've got 2 1983 cases. One black and one brown. |
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May 2008
Posts: 1553
Location: Indiana | Outside the fact the 60's cases were traditional wood construction, covered in black material, once they went to the plastic cases early 70's, I personally didn't see or own any O's with black cases during that decade. Had/have quite a few with original cases. All brown.
My 82 and 83 custom orders were shipped with brown as well; although the newer case design with a wider neck section.
My 85 custom order came in black for the first time. All my 90's forwards are black.
Just my experience. Would never doubt Paul's examples. Early 80's were often transitional.
Hope that adds to the discussion.
Edited by Jonmark Stone 2023-10-05 4:35 PM
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February 2016
Posts: 1769
Location: When?? | I had a '74 Custom Legend that came in one of the old style black cases, which I must have assumed was its original, but I didn't buy the guitar until 1982, so I can only spin the wheel on that one per what both Jonmark and Paul said on that date frame since the original owner I bought it from is now deceased. My oldest brown case is for sure a 1981.
Edited by Love O Fair 2023-10-06 2:51 AM
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December 2018
Posts: 34
Location: Richmond, VA | Thanks guys. It's clear brown was used at least until the early mid 80s. Although apparently not exclusively. Makes me suspect that the case that came on my '76 Custom Balladeer (description from the '76 price list. I thought it was a Deluxe Balladeer, guess they renamed it to match the Custom Legend.The Legend cost a hundred bucks more and the Custom Legend almost twice as much, I suppose that even in the mid '70s the Custom Legend had abalone.. Everything else seems the same, except the VT-11 bracing) the other day may be a little newer, although not much from the condition of the plastic. It has the wider neck section. It may be that as with tuners Ovation used a variety of cases, especially as sales were accelerating.
My two brown cases from '72 vary in lining color. The Balladeer has brown lining and the Legend purple. It was my guess that the Legend being the new upscale model got the royal lining.
From '72, '76 and '85 price lists there is only one acoustic case listed, 9110 and later models 9110-0.
Edited by Lefty665 2023-10-07 4:17 PM
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February 2016
Posts: 1769
Location: When?? | As for comparing a guitar's year of build to the case that came with it, let's not count out retailer case stashes. Unless a guitar is known for sure to have come directly from the factory to the end user during any given year, and was purchased off a retail rack, there's no telling how many cases any particular store may have had stacked up in the back room, and for how long or whatever reason, that were eventually paired with any given guitar sale. They could be several years apart. |
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December 2018
Posts: 34
Location: Richmond, VA | Did Ovation ever sell guitars with cases? Martin started that in the '70s with their "steal me" blue cases. Ovation cases seem to be listed as separate price list items at least through '93. You are sure right, if cases were dealer stocked and sold items, there is no telling when a particular style case was sold or what guitar it went on. Like with Gibson guitars, features sometimes show up years after they were nominally changed as the factory got down to old stock of parts. With them you can at least tell the earliest possible date by the introduction date of the newest feature. Be interesting to know when Ovation switched case styles they supplied to stores to get an idea of when the switchover started, although folks could certainly come back and buy a case for a guitar that was originally sold without one. From the price lists the case model number did not change. To Ovation a case was a case. Looks like early '80s is the likely time frame. That's also around the time Martin switched to black plastic.
Edited by Lefty665 2023-10-08 10:38 PM
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February 2016
Posts: 1769
Location: When?? | @Lefty665 - >>>Did Ovation ever sell guitars with cases?<<<
I suppose that custom shop orders that were placed with a case in the mention could be considered as "coming with a case", but I have always wondered how retailers typically receive their off-the-rack guitars as they come off the truck. Maybe Alpep can chime in on that aspect of the process since he has no doubt seen countless examples from various manufacturers over time. |
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June 2002
Posts: 6192
Location: Phoenix AZ | At serval OFC Factory Tours we saw a warehouse area full of new cases. |
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October 2005
Posts: 4025
Location: Utah | Guitars shipped in cases, tuned to concert pitch. That was this century. Idk what they did last century. |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 15654
Location: SoCal | Sometime in the last 5 years or so, Ovation stopped including hard cases with their guitars. I assume to save money, but it sucks. They don't even have the high qualtiy TLK gig bags anymore. I'm bummed.... |
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VT-11 bracing improvements
