Ovation Balladeer 1112-4 1975 value ?

Gizmo

Hey guys

Looking for a bit of help pinning a value on an Ovation Balladeer 1112-4 serial of 049234 dates it to 1975
(http://www.ovationguitars.com/en-GB/support/date-your-ovation/)

I took her in part payment for some work & im wondering if its worth spending the time/money fixing a few issues that need correcting or if id be better off selling her along and letting someone else enjoy

Over all she in pretty good shape for a 40 year old acoustic but a few things that need looking at are as follows

Rosette has come away from the body.

She has a few lacquer cracks two on the front (must be just in the lacquer as i can't feel any trace of them on the inside the top)
and one on the rear of the neck behind the nut

Frets 10,12 & 13 are quite worn on the high E side

She also needs a bit of a clean and tidy/restring ect ect

any feedback or help putting a value on her would be much appreciated

Cheers
Steve

richardhomer

£300 or so in that condition would be my guess.

I owned a sunburst Balladeer (from the early '80s). It played really well and sounded okay. In fact I have a real soft-spot for older Ovations.

I seem to be in a minority of one though....

John_P

I have one just like that.    I rarely take it out of the house but I'll never sell it. The neck on it is great and it always inspires me when I play it.   Mine has some hideous cracks in the top - I think they are prone to that with age but its part of the character now.

I haven't seen many for sale so putting a price on it would be hard - I'd say Richard is probably about right but with a good ad it might fetch more.

Gizmo

Many Thanks guys have some + wisdom

If you'ed come back and said £100 id have had a crack at fixing her up myself but if she's worth more i think i'll put her up for sale and pass her on to someone who'd take more time to restore her,im not a massive acoustic player so she's kinda wasted on me and i dont see the point in keeping her to hang on the wall

Cheers
Gizmo

ICBM

The shop I work for recently sold one the same but in near-perfect condition (having been polished up, fret dressed etc) with the original case (a little battered but intact) for…

£699.

So don't undervalue it. They *are* desirable to a small number of people, and the non-electric ones seem to be worth more - and sound better, the soft plastic bridge on the electric ones is a real tone-killer.

The cracks will be in the finish only, this is very common on Ovations due to the type of hard but brittle finish they used.

MattFGBI

ovationtribute.com is probably the best resource for Ovation info. Might even find someone interested in it on there!

Gizmo

Wow thanks guys + wisdom alround

Im so glad i decided to make this thread before attempting any "DIY fix up" of her

I shall take some better pic's over the next few days (if it stops raining) and drop round ovationtribute.com to see what's what all things ovation & i'll report back if any info/buyer are forth coming

Cheers
Gizmo