Ovation

thomasross20

Good post, songman! 

CHRISB50

I haven't heard one so can't comment. But I like your passion @songman so I'll give you a wow and take your fret cherry

ICBM

I don't think they sound bad - certainly not the early full-depth fully-acoustic ones, the further they got away from that the less good they sounded, I think. But they do sound and feel quite different from wooden guitars - so different that I was only partly joking about not judging whether you like acoustic guitars from playing one.

That old one I restored recently sounded genuinely good, in its own way - obviously not like an old Martin or something, but still a good tone. Of the electric ones, I also like the original single-volume-control models the best - again, I felt that as they got more complex they started to sound less good - amplified as well as acoustically.

It's the shape of the body I really can't get past - I just find them immensely awkward to play. I'm not keen on the skinny V necks of the early ones either, that's one of the things they did improve as time went on.

crunchman

ICBM said:

It's the shape of the body I really can't get past - I just find them immensely awkward to play. I'm not keen on the skinny V necks of the early ones either, that's one of the things they did improve as time went on.

This.  They just don't sit right.

I shared a house with a guy who had one and it sounded fine, but I just couldn't get on with the shape.

usedtobe

Played one many years ago. I'll never play another.

honkytonk

I've always been quite into them ever since I got my first USA one over 20 years. I own four so I'm biased (I also own a Japanese Takamine, a Breedlove and a Yamaha LL so not completely an Ovation fanboy)
They're maybe a bit uncool now but possibly all it will take is for some hip young things at the top of the charts to be seen with one round his or her neck and prices and desireability will go up again.
If that happens,or as is the way of things and fashions, fads and tastes change, and with there being no USA Ovations being made anymore, could be worth a giggle if players start clamoring for 60 and 70 year old roundbacks.

In response to the OP,from experience I have found the Elite type multi soundholes do nothing for eliminating feedback. The only way of reducing that from the guitar is either using a notch filter control if the guitar has one or by plugging he holes with those feedback buster rubber thingies.

GuyBoden

I had an Ovation Electric Legend in the 1980's, good neck and sounded reasonable acoustically. It needed to be supported by a strap at all times because of the round back, especially while playing seated.

Neil

GuyBoden said:

I had an Ovation Electric Legend in the 1980's, good neck and sounded reasonable acoustically. It needed to be supported by a strap at all times because of the round back, especially while playing seated.

Yep, otherwise they just slide off your lap.

songman

Yes the sliding off the lap is really annoying. I use one of those fake chamois which you can find in most supermarkets to aid in twisting off lids from jampots and the like. Looks a bit funny but it works. Cheers, Bob.

xmrchi

I had a bit of a thing for them in 2012 had a celebrity which I thought sounded great, then a Mick Thompson sig model which again played well and sounded good, not in a standard acoustic way but in their own way, they all have a usable tone,

proggy

I cannot stand bowl-backs, only ever played one, sounded and felt horrible and awkward.

What is the point of them?

Why do they make them?

thomasross20

Didn't the owners come from an aeronautics background? 

I think they were trying to apply some of their principles...

Neil

thomasross20 said:

Didn't the owners come from an aeronautics background? 

I think they were trying to apply some of their principles...

Charles Kaman started a helicopter company and the bowl backs on Ovations were made of composites, apparently from the same stuff as rotor blades IIRC.

proggy

It might be very high-tech and all that, but you can't really replace the beauty of wood with melted down helicopter blades.
I don't think!

Evilmags

They were the sound of 80s electroaccoustics. Jimmy Page and Roy Harper´s Jugula album is the sound of an ovation at its most period correct. I think pickup systems got a lot better than they were back in the day and Kaman´s other brand (Takamine) seems to have replaced them as a go to electro. They have appeared on a lot of really good albums and Al Di Meola soldiers on with his, oblivious to fashion.

thomasross20

Yep I was going to mention about Al!

ICBM

I think Fripp still uses his too.

Neil

Al Di Meola, Robert Fripp.

Dare I open the case again?
:-O

ESBlonde

Evilmags said:

They were the sound of 80s electroaccoustics. Jimmy Page and Roy Harper´s Jugula album is the sound of an ovation at its most period correct. I think pickup systems got a lot better than they were back in the day and Kaman´s other brand (Takamine) seems to have replaced them as a go to electro. They have appeared on a lot of really good albums and Al Di Meola soldiers on with his, oblivious to fashion.

Chicago - 'if you leave me now' was the classic ovation sound. Mind you the whole song is lush with aural exciters and spiky reverb so the ovation fits right in there.

Chalky

I've got a Ovation Glen Campbell if anybody is looking to sample Ovation delights