Ovation

This is a detail of my beloved Ovation guitar.

I first saw an Ovation in the hands of Preston Reed at a concert in the Eastgate Theatre in Peebles. His style is genuuinely unique, and it was clear that the Ovation was a critical part of his sound, though he plays custom built Ovations with extra long necks. If you haven't heard Preston Reid, here's a sample. I have seen him three or four times, met him through a mutual friend, and he is a really nice guy. A New Yorker by birth, he now lives in Scotland.

Back to Ovations. Having heard that sound, I wanted one. I've had two. The first was a cheapie second hand one bought on Ebay. I liked its loud percussive sound, which was great for being heard over the sometimes cacophany at the local folk club, and it served me well for a couple of years.

Then we were on holiday in France, and visiting the town of Blois. It was such a hot day, that we did something we never do - take a horse drawn carriage tour round the city. En route, we passed a music shop, and we turned to each other when we spotted this object of beauty hanging in the window - a Bear Claw Koa topped Ovation. Straight round to the shop after the tour had ended, and I spent an hour playing it. I wasn't sure of the price, so we didn't purchase that day. The next couple of days were interspersed with visits to internet cafes to try to identify this particular model and its value. Even a friend at home - the other guitarist in a rock band I then played in - helped by researching it.

It was inevitable. After a few days, we drove all the way back to Blois, managed to get 100 Euros off the price, and I was the proud owner.

Ovations are a peculiar design, and not to everyone's taste, but I think most guitarists respect them. Designed by helicopter engineer Charlie Kaman, the peculiar roundbowl "plastic" (actually it's a complex polymer) back is designed to reduce feedback. Ovations were amongs the first acoustic guitars with inbuilt electronics for playing live, where the classic problem is feedback. Kaman's experience in dealing with vibration and harmonics in helicopter blades gave him the background to design out the usual sources of feedback.

The Ovation is not the most delicate of sounds, but, plugged in to a dedicated acoustic guitar amp, there is nothing to beat it for power and depth.

There are three design features that make them easy to recognise. The particular curve of the headstock. The roundbowl plastic back. And, in the case of a model like mine, the beatiful laser-cut leaf shapes clustered round the particular pattern of sound holes. Mine is unusual in having sound holes only on the upper (bass) bout.

This is the guitar I shall be playing at our first proper (ticketed) gig on Saturday night.