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HeartOTexas
Akahai
55 Posts |
 Posted - 12/22/2005 : 09:55:53 AM
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Any comments pro or con on using Ovation guitars for slack key?
I see on their web page they also offer a Koa wood face. Any one seen one or played on one?
I have an old 6-string Ovation that is my "good" guitar. In the market for a decent 12-string also.
I'm also curious about the tonal qualities you look for while playing slack key. We had quite a variety of tonal sounds on the CD set, and to me, they all sounded good. For me, I will live with my next guitar purchase a long time, and don't want to be disappointed later, saying I wish I knew ...... before I bought this.
Thanks Karl, for your feedback on Taylor guitars. I found a dealer today, and will go there tomorrow.
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Frank
Deep in the Heart of Texas |
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Karl Monetti
`Olu`olu
USA
756 Posts |
Posted - 12/22/2005 : 2:59:54 PM
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Frank,
The rest of the story I told you goes like this; I had been playing a 12 string 12 fret Ovation for abouit 20 years. It was my only guitar. I played the heck out of it. When i'd break a string, I'd remove the whole upper course and play it as a 6 string until one of them broke.It was the only guitar sound I knew. I was not in love with it, but it was mine. Then I was in NYC one afternoon and that is where i first played the Martin J-40 i began my story with. I felt the Ovation was just not good enough any more after having heard a really good guitar
So, Ovations sound OK. They sound REALLY GOOD plugged in. They are just about indestructible. I have had mine outside with no case, carolling at 40 below zero, take it back in and play around a barrel stove at 80 above and repeat that all night. No ill effects. One bad thing about the Ovation, mine anyway, is that, although i now have a number of guitars and a really good 12 string, the Ovation still sounds good enough to keep. I mean, does a guy really NEED 7 or 8 guitars? Afte all, I might be able to get $200 from the old girl and buy a pile of strings. But, It never goes out of tune. It has excellent intonation (the real test of intonation on a 12 string is to play Crow River Waltz by Leo Kottke...it has to be a good guitar to stay properly in tune the whole way down the progresion, and the Ovation always does). It slides off your lap while playing...easily remedied by gluing a piece of leather, fuzzy side out, along the treble side waistline. (I'd never do that to a wood guitar, but hey, this is only plastic, or something like it).
I posted a note a few months back a bout my good fortune in haveng been given an almost new 6 string cutaway thin body, electrified ovation as a gift. ( a divorce had left the guitar unplayed for several years). It is a nice guitar, but unpluggfed it has a sort of thumpy sound to it. The old 12 string is less so, but neither feel good playing fingerpicked stuff when they are not plugged in.
Ovations are acoustic, but they lack, in my opinion, the depth of sound that a wood body can produce. I understand a lot of recording engineers like them. But, then, they also love Taylors.
Look over as many guitars as you can play. Play them all, the ones in your price range, the ones below your range (you can get some great surprises with Seagulls --shut up Rik, you wise guy--Tacomas and several other relatively inexpensive b rands) and especially the ones way above your price range. By playing the best there is, you will have an idea what is possible, then you can decide what you can afford and find a guitar that sounds and plays as close to your ideal as possible. And, don;t forget to look at used instruments. I almost missed my favorite guitar because i thought that high-end taylor would be way out of my price range...in fact, the one time i did pick it off the rack to play, i made sure not to look at the price. Turns outthe salesperson told me to try it after i told him my price range...it had been traded in just the day before and was only half its original price, which put it right in nmy range.
Taylor has grown large enough that they now offer low-end models which are quite resonable in price. And, as i said before, they all play great and sound good. Their 12 strings are among the best. Guild is also a great 12. Uncle George plays a Takamine, but then he could play Jesse's washtub and it would sound great
All that said, i have that 12 string Ovation behind me on the wall at work rightnow. Think I'll pick it up and smash thru some Aunties' Rose Garden, or maybe plug 'er in and slide over some Kottke or Cooder stuff. It sure does sound good plugged in:)
As in the other fine things of life, enjoy the search. take your time. Visit a bunch of shops. If you cannot make up your mind as to which one to get, have the salesperson play them both for you out of your sight...that shold tell you which one sounds best to you. |
Karl
Frozen North |
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Karl Monetti
`Olu`olu
USA
756 Posts |
Posted - 12/22/2005 : 3:15:00 PM
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I promie this will be shorter!
OK, so i did just play the Ovation 12, and i lied...it sounds quite good acoustically on slack key. But the 6 string (thinner body?) does not. No, you cannot buy my Ovation 12 string...it' not for sale:) |
Karl
Frozen North |
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neeej
`Olu`olu
USA
643 Posts |
Posted - 12/22/2005 : 6:42:58 PM
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quote:
It slides off your lap while playing...easily remedied by gluing a piece of leather, fuzzy side out, along the treble side waistline.
Or just plop a bit of that no-slip rubbery shelf liner (or the heavier rug-no-slip stuff) in yer lap & set da kika thereupon. I keep a bit of that stuff in each instrument case, as well as having some lying about several places :-) |
--Jean S |
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Pua Kai
Ha`aha`a
USA
1007 Posts |
Posted - 12/22/2005 : 7:48:20 PM
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Hi HOT,
As long as you're going to be out this way.......
Taylor is in San Diego, complete with tours etc.....
just thought you'd like to know. |
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cmdrpiffle
`Olu`olu
USA
553 Posts |
Posted - 12/23/2005 : 11:17:37 AM
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| Never played kihoalu on one, but I actually like the sound. The only guitar I ever had stolen was a 12 string Ovation, don't remember the model, but it was high end. Brought it for $350.00 from a friend in 1985. While moving between houses, some bozo lifted it. |
my Poodle is smarter than your honor student |
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`Ilio Nui
`Olu`olu
USA
826 Posts |
Posted - 12/23/2005 : 11:33:11 AM
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First couple years playing Slack I played an Ovation 6 string that I bought new in 1977. For me the only downfall is that my round belly is no longer compatible with the round back on the guitar. And the neck width isn't right for my stubby fingers. I still love the sound of that guitar. BTW; many island players use them or the Adamas. Kevin and Ikaika Brown seem to do OK.
Dave |
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HeartOTexas
Akahai
55 Posts |
Posted - 12/23/2005 : 4:08:49 PM
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Thanks to all for the info, advice, and experience. I've spent a couple a days looking around.... more to follow.
Frank |
Frank
Deep in the Heart of Texas |
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thumbstruck
Ahonui
USA
2165 Posts |
Posted - 12/25/2005 : 07:17:06 AM
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| Just another note: Just about every "Oberkrainer" style group in Austria, Slovenia and Bavaria use Ovations. They "cut" well, as the guitar serves as the drum kit in the band, chopping like a mandolin in Bluegrass. Much cheaper than an archtop, and durable. The great electonics built in don't hurt, either. |
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Ianui
Lokahi
USA
298 Posts |
Posted - 12/25/2005 : 07:46:43 AM
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| My situation with an Ovation is, the back is Round. Perhaps the real problem is my front is Round as well. Just not enough contact between me and it to keep it from sliding away. |
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slackkeymike
Lokahi
440 Posts |
Posted - 12/26/2005 : 4:50:52 PM
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Hehehe, round on round. Never liked that round body. Wood all the way. By the way, I could be wrong, but just adding Koa to the front won't make a guitar a great guitar. Sometimes, just age and tlc does the trick.
Mike |
Aloha, Mike |
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slackkeymike
Lokahi
440 Posts |
Posted - 12/26/2005 : 6:03:14 PM
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Btw, Karl,
You know what the trick is to getting a washtub to sound good? You play it over and over and over, and no mattah how rusty that tub is, yo gonna make it sing like a Taylor. Practice, practice, practice.
Mike  |
Aloha, Mike |
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HeartOTexas
Akahai
55 Posts |
Posted - 12/26/2005 : 6:28:17 PM
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The round back is a problem for me with slack key, because I play that exclusively sitting down. Fingerpicking and straps don't get along well for me.
I played through a long line of Taylors and settled on the 510ce L9 Short Scale. Not only does it sound wonderful, loud and clear, but with a 5/8" shorter scale (nut to bridge), the chord reaches down toward the nut are MUCH easier for me. Although I am a novice at ki ho 'alu, the slides and hammers sound several times better on the Taylor than they do on the Ovation.
Thanks to all who contributed their commentaries! I love the 'patch and hope some day to meet all (well, at least most) of you.
Frank |
Frank
Deep in the Heart of Texas |
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Mika ele
Ha`aha`a
USA
1493 Posts |
Posted - 12/27/2005 : 10:34:49 AM
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Had an Ovation and played it while I was on ship. I thought it was GREAT. I then started to play slack key and thought something was missing. I went to Buffalo Brothers Guitars here in San Diego, CA (actually Carlsbad) and played a few Taylors. Found I could afford the bottom end Koa back and sides (not the high end curly koa) Grand Concert model and really loved the slack key sounds. Gave my Ovation/Applause away to another new guitar player from church that did not have a guitar. After a few years I went back to BBG and traded up to a solid curly koa Grand Concert size and it sounds even better. (They have a nice trade in policy where they give you the price you paid for your first guitar off of a new guitar). Now I have added a rosewood nylon string Taylor to the mix. Some songs sound better on nylon strings and some better on steel -- I really am beginning to appreciate the differences in tonality and sustain. I just added a solid koa six string ukulele from KoAloha that knocks my socks off on some songs and sounds better plugged in. Last week I toured the James Goodall factory in Kona, Hawai'i and keep looking up. (ssshhhh don't tell my wife)
That said, we have a very large mix of guitars in our SCSKS and (when those bubbas get cranking) the range and beauty of sounds awes me.
I have gone in to several guitar shops and played guitars that sound great in standard tuning but sound like crap when slacked to a simple Taro Patch G. I play around and ask the clerk if I can adjust the tuning - some are wary and say no. (I have been the bad boy and done it anyway only to break a string when trying to get it back to standard - I don't go to those shops anymore) The best places have good fingerstyle guitarsists that play in altered tunings and can play the guitar for you. I have found that a guitar that sounds good to you when you play it sounds different when you sit in front of it and listen to someone else play it. [All my guitars sound better when someone else plays them for me and I listen in front] |
E nana, e ho'olohe. E pa'a ka waha, e hana ka lima. |
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ohanabrown
Lokahi
281 Posts |
Posted - 12/28/2005 : 03:18:46 AM
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I was wondering when someone was going to post this subject. As Dave said ( Ilio Nui.) Ikaika and I are devoted ovation players, It's all about the sound that your looking for and trying to match it up with a baratone uke upright bass or electric bass hoping that playing these instruments together in a band well make it blend together. It may not work for everyone because again,it all depends on what kind of sound you want.
I've been playing an ovation since '73 thats when it first came to maui. We started our band around that time. For the first 6 months i used my friends nylon string guitar, my gutar did'nt have a pick up, One day we played music at the old kahului shopping center, after that i went to check out a music store and there on the wall was this funny looking oval shape guitar. I asked the clerk and he said it's a new guitar called "Ovation". He took it of the wall and told me to try it, I tuned it to taropatch and it's been like that ever since. Infact i still have that same guitar he gave me back in '73 laying in my closet. ( 6 string.) Then in '78 my brother asked me to jump on a 12 string because he changed from playing a 10 string uke to a 4 string baratone uke and he wanted a much fatter sound. ( with the 12.) Jus then our friend was going into the army and was selling his 12 string ovation, ( glenn cambell model.) My brother bought it for me as a christmas present. Out of all the ovations i owned that 12 was the sweetest and most comfortable of all. Several years later playing at a gig in one of the hotels and coming back from our 15 min break i saw someone playing my 12 string, as i got closer i could see he was in his late 60's he asked me how did i like the sound of the guitar? I told him you can't beat these ovations especially this one. He said what did i like about the guitar, I told him the feel, the sound it projects, and the sweet melody that it has. He said, I was playing your guitar, and it sounded different, so i told him the whole story about slack key, he then sat with his wife and listen to our last set. After that he came up to me and said he had never heard of slack key but he and his wife became lovers of ki ho'alu that night. He also handed me his card and said back home i have a guitar from ovation it's a new product that will be out soon, and it's called "Adamas" named after Adam in the bible. He said if he brought it with him to maui, he would've left it with me, while leaving his house before coming to maui he had the guitar in his hand and his wife said they had to many bag's and told him to leave the guitar back. Then i looked down at the card and it said... "Charles Kamman" president and owner of ovation guitars. We shook hands and took pictures together along with the 12 string ovation.( glenn cambell model.)
Then in '89 after a gig my uncle wanted to help so he grabbed my 12 string ovation, swung it on his shoulders not knowing the strap was loose, the guitar fell and the neck cracked in half. That was the first time my wife saw me cry, I tried to repair it but there was no hope for my 12 sring glenn cambell ovation guitar. You'll be surprise, maui is small, word got out i was looking for a 12 sting ovation, a few days later my high school friend called me and said he was selling his adamas, so i bought it from him and played it up until '2000, Ikaika and i was playing at the Ocean center in maalaea,in the 6 years we played there we always gave our time to play for fathers day. After setting up the sound system i left my adamas on the guitar stand, jus before we started i looked around and could'nt find my guitar, instead, on the stand, was a brand new 2000 fiber optic dark blue adamas. I kept asking who's guitar it was and know one said a word, i looked at ikaika and saw a smile on his face and he said, dad the ocean center bought you this guitar for fathers day, for all the time we gave to play for free on fathers day, they had taken my old wooden adamas and told my wife to hold on to it. And i've been playing the 2000 adamas every since.
Just before thanksgiving, Fed Ex came to the door, and there was a huge box for ikaika, i knew he was putting together another race car, so i called him and said a box came in and he said to put it in his room, that night i passed his room he called me to come in, then he said, dad check out this guitar, I looked in this old black case and there was a 12 string glenn cambell model ovation guitar, I looked up and said... wow! kaik's thats a glenn cambell 12 string and they only made about 800 of them back in the mid 70's and that you can't find it anymore. He said i know dad.... I bought this for you, I found it on e-bay put a bid on it and this lady sent it from canada, she bought it in the 70's played it 6 times and had it the closet ever since. Good thing is she loosen the strings first. It's in perfect conditon action not as close as my first one but it has that sweet tone, Ikaika also plays ovation, I guess you can say...like "Father like "SON.
Me Ke Aloha
Kevin
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Kevin K. Brown |
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Admin
Pupule
USA
4551 Posts |
Posted - 12/28/2005 : 05:24:29 AM
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Uncle Kevin,
Merry Christmas! Mahalo for sharing your stories. Always so much fun to read. |
Andy |
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