Ovation Guitar Company

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The Ovation Guitar Company, a holding of Kaman Music Corporation, is a guitar manufacturing company based in Bloomfield, Connecticut, USA. Ovation primarily manufactures acoustic guitars.

Ovation guitars are differentiated by their composite synthetic bowl, rather than the traditional wooden back and sides of the modern acoustic guitar as produced by luthiers starting in the late 18th century. Ovation has also produced solid body electric guitars. A lower-priced version of the bowl-back Ovation design, known as the Applause Guitar, has also been produced.

Developed starting in 1966 and introduced as the 'Balladeer' in February, 1967, Ovation has sought to bring modern materials and construction techniques to guitar building.

[edit] Innovations

Charles Kaman gained extensive knowledge of composite plastics as an engineer designing rotor blades for helicopters, working with Igor Sikorsky. He reasoned that the negative effects of vibration in wooden rotors were in fact a positive in acoustic instruments that required controlled resonance to produce pleasing musical tone. As a guitarist as well as an aerospace engineer, he developed the round-backed composite-body Ovation guitar as a way to produce uniquely modern instruments.

The extensive number of models, many of which are collectible by virtue of their obscurity, are still mainly distinguished by one or two characteristics: the aforementioned synthetic bowl and early use (1971) of preamps, onboard equalization and piezo pickups. Such features made Ovations particularly attractive to live acoustic musicians who constantly battled feedback problems from the high volumes needed in live venues.

In 1972, Ovation introduced the first production solidbody electric guitar with active electronics, the Breadwinner. The odd but ergonomic shape of this guitar and its deluxe model, the Deacon along with the FET preamplifier made this a popular studio guitar with numerous artists including Steve Marriott of the Small Faces. The model failed to gain widespread popularity, however, and production of the Breadwinner/Deacon line ceased in 1980.

Other Ovation innovations include composite tops and multiple offset sound holes on guitar tops, pioneered in the Adamas model in 1977.

[edit] Models

The following Ovation models have been produced (not comprehensive):

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Balladeer 1111, Custom Balladeer 1112, Classic 1113, Folklore 1114,
Pacemaker 12-string 1115, Concert Classic 1116, Legend 1117, Glen Campbell 12-string 1118,
Custom Legend 1119, Artist 1121, Country Artist 1124, Glen Campbell Artist 1127 and 1627
Matrix 1132, 1137 and 1142, Anniversary 1157, Custom Legend 12-string 1158, Magnum 3 1263,
Magnum 4 1264, Viper 1271, Preacher series: 1281, Deluxe 1283 and 12-string 1285,
U.K.II 1291, Ultra series: 1312, 12-string 1315,Deluxe 1515D, 1517, 1527 and 1528,
Elite 1537, Custom Balladeer 1612, Classic 1613, Folklore 1614,
Pacemaker 12-string 1615, Concert Classic 1616, Legend 1617, Glen Campbell 12-string 1618
Custom Legend 1619, Artist 1621, Country Artist 1624,
Matrix 1632, Matrix 1642, Legend Ltd. 1651, Anniversary 1657, Custom Legend 12-string 1658
Standard Balladeer 1711, Standard Balladeer 1861,Custom Balladeer 1712, Classic 1713, Legend 1717, Elite 1718
Custom Legend 1719, Legend Elite 1736, Matrix 1737 and 1738, Standard Balladeer 1751
Custom Balladeer 12-string 1755, Legend 12-String 1756, Elite 12-String 1758
Custom Legend 12-String 1759, Standard Balladeer 1761, Classic 1763, Legend 1767
Elite 1768, Elite LTD 1768-LTD, Custom Legend 1769, Custom Balladeer 1860
Custom Balladeer 1862, Legend 1867, Elite 1868, Pinnacle 3712 and 3862
Balladeer 4861, Elite Standard 6718, Elite Standard 6868, AN35-5, Elite Bass B768
Celebrity CC11, Celebrity CC026, Celebrity Deluxe CC255, Celebrity Deluxe CC275, Celebrity CC67, Celebrity CC68
Custom Elite CE768, Double Neck D868-X, Viper EAB68, Ultra GP1-S, 30th Anniv. Mandolin MM68-7LTD
Old Country Artist N724, Craftsman N768 and N769, Old Walnut Elite N858 and N868, Thunderbolt TB01