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Joined:
December 2023
Posts: 2
| Hi. My name is Chris Overton and I am Australian, where I live. I have two Ovations... a Balladeer that I bought 45 years ago and an Ovation American SX, which I bought a month or so ago. [I previously also bought an Ovation classical guitar on a trip to the US, but was forced to sell it during a period of 'financial embarrassment'].
My faithful and much beloved Balladeer was damaged recently when a school student dropped it and dislocated the neck from the body (only slightly but it rendered the guitar unplayable). No repairers I approached would even attampt to make repairs but I was able to get a 'write off' notice from a well known guitar repairer here in Adelaide, priced at AUD$1700 [Australian Dollars]. My insurance company paid up the full amount minus an excess which the school at which I was teaching, paid.
So armed with a very decent amount of money, I approched a well-known guitar shop in Adelaide, who were advertising on line an American SX for AUD$1890 marked down as 'Clearance. When I went to look at it I asked why it was marked down as a clearance. They told me a customer had ordered the guitar though the shop but had changed his mind when it arrived, so the shop, having already paid the wholesale price to the US supplier, sinply wanted to get their money back. I decided to buy it so for AUD$190 I got a brand new American Made Ovation with a built in Fishman Blend Controls pick-up. But that's not all...
The insuance complany, unexpectedly, did not ask for the damaged Balladeer so I wondered if I could make enough repairs myself to make it playable. Imagining that the tension rod was damaged I researched to find out if I could restring the Balladeer with nylon strings, to reduce educe the stress on the damaged neck. I bought some Ernie Ball ball ended strings and rised the bridge enough to get rid of the buzz. It worked!
So here I am, with a second Ovation for AUD$190.
I now have a question. The Pickup in my SX works fine to send a signal to an amp but I cannot seem to get the tuner to work. I hold in the button and the tuner button lights up green with a Capital A showing, nothing else happens, when I let go of the button the light turns blue but nonthing happens. Am I doing something wrong? |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 7210
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | I have upgraded you to full member and moved this post to the general forum where more folks can respond. |
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Joined:
December 2004
Posts: 556
Location: Denmark | Hi and welcome.
The Balladeer being at least 45 years of age indicates a pre-Kaman bar neck. Maybe this thread http://www.ovationfanclub.com/megabbs/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=47... can give some inspiration and encouragement. It seems many repairmen/luthiers are reluctant to handle epoxies. The subforum "Bottom Feeding Luthiery Guild" is a treasure of knowledge for pros and diy'ers. A few photos may stimulate additional responses . |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 15654
Location: SoCal | Chris, if you're on facebook, look for a group called Ren-Ovation. It deals entirely with Ovation repairs. You might even learn how to re-set the neck on your Balladeer.
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Joined:
September 2012
Posts: 809
Location: Thredbo, NSW, Australia | Welcome to the OFC Chris.
There are a few Aussies lurking on this site, but spread around the country, Canberra, Sydney, Brisbane and so on.
Cheers, Paul |
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First Post, New Member
