2000 Collector's Edition

Ovation is sure that there will be plenty of "Custom Millennium Special" guitars introduced this year. At Ovation, they've got almost two decades of experience in creating special limited instruments. The Ovation 2000 Collectors' Edition is the 26th model to be included in their Collectors' Series over the last 19 years. The exotic lacewood top is tinted with a unique Transparent Honey stain, protected by hand-rubbed clear gloss finish. The engineers at Ovation have developed a new Tru-Balance pickup, designed to better sense top vibration for a more balanced tone from lows to highs. The five-piece mahogany and maple neck is shaped in a soft vintage "V" and is a marvel of playing comfort. The Optima preamp gives you complete control over your sound for any venue. It also features a built-in chromatic tuner that can put you in perfect pitch for any standard, open or non-standard tuning. latest in a long line of limited production Ovations that goes back to 1982. Lineage. It’s what separates novelty guitars from truly collectible instruments.

Adamas CVT Woven Carbon Fiber top.

Adamas SMT Carbon Fiber "Smooth Top"

Elite & Custom Elite

When you see an Elite, it's unmistakably an Ovation. The teak, maple, padauk and walnut "epaulets" that surround the soundholes on the upper bout are as unique as the round back. The multiple soundhole concept introduced on the revolutionary Adamas proved to work equally well on a traditional wood top guitar. By moving the soundhole out of the high stress area under the strings, the braces can be tuned to amplify and enhance the sound rather than support a weakened top. But while the concept is the same, the execution is unique to the Elite. The select solid spruce top is graduated in thickness to reinforce the high and low frequency "nodes" in the soundboard. The result is superior dynamics like the Adamas, but with a warm and woody tone that's unmistakably Elite.

Legend

There's a good reason why these guitars carry the name "Legend". Their performance is legendary, with all of our best playing features. The 5-piece mahogany and maple neck is reinforced with the exclusive Kaman Bar, which virtually eliminates the possibility of warping and twisting. The Kaman Bar also provides perfect neck alignment and a massively strong neck/body joint. All Legend steel strings feature our select A grade Sitka spruce soundboards with lightweight 'A' bracing to give you superior power along with a quick and balanced response. The Ovation pinless bridge design eliminates the need for a heavy bridge plate under the top, so more string vibration reaches the soundboard. The design also transmits more torque from string tension to the top, giving you a stronger response and better sustain. Legend guitars are available in three body depths -- deep 5-3/4", mid 5-1/4", and super shallow 4-1/16". The Legend allows you to choose a body resonance that suits your style. If you typically play in intimate settings, the deep bowl will give you full and deep lows. If you play larger venues, a super shallow body will give you additional headroom.

Custom Legend

Custom Legend guitars are the highest point of development in the original Ovation design. Everything about these instruments -- from their AAA Sitka spruce top to abalone inlaid ebony fingerboard -- is the best of our craftsmanship and materials. All this care and quality create a truly high performance acoustic/electric guitar. The 5-piece mahogany and maple neck is reinforced with the patented Kaman Bar. In addition to preventing warps and twists in the neck, the Kaman Bar also serves as the alignment and mounting point to the Lyrachord body. The close tolerances of both the body and the Kaman Bar assure that the neck angle is accurate within half of a degree and that the neck/body joint is the most stable on any acoustic guitar. The outside of the neck is made with equal precision and quality. The Ovation soft 'V' profile and 10" fingerboard radius are ergonomically designed so that your hand falls naturally into a comfortable playing position. The bound ebony fingerboard is decorated with diamond-pattern abalone inlays and fitted with 20 nickel silver frets. Ovation fretwork is on a par with custom built instruments in both playing accuracy and appearance. Each fret is leveled, crowned, dressed and polished by hand and the entire fingerboard is finished with Danish oil.

Standard Balladeer

In the fall of 1966, a folk group named the Balladeers played a small festival in Connecticut. They were playing some different-looking guitars made by an aerospace company in the area. When they finished their set, they received a standing ovation. This small event was the inspiration for the name of the company and their first model of guitar. Over three decades later, the Balladeer still figures prominently in Ovation history. The updated Standard Balladeer is the best-selling USA-made Ovation and the most straightforward Roundback we make. Available in both acoustic and acoustic/electric models, the Standard Balladeer has all the Ovation playing features -- a solid Sitka spruce top, Kaman Bar reinforced neck and Ovation detailed fret job -- in an instrument that's packed with value. All Ovation USA-made soundboards are Sitka spruce from the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. The raw lumber is quarter-sawn and air-dried at our New Hartford, Connecticut factory until it's ready to be bookmatched into guitar tops. We then grade the spruce for flexibility, tightness of grain and appearance, and select the best pieces for Ovation guitars. When a piece fails to make the cut (so to speak) for soundboards, we use it for a non-critical application or discard it. Only the best of the best ends up as an Ovation soundboard.

Viper

As the guitar evolves, it's getting harder and harder to define the line between acoustic and electric instruments. And as acoustic guitar sounds become more widespread in popular music, players are looking for better performing acoustic/electrics to use on stage. The Viper nearly erases the line between acoustic and electric. It's thin, like an electric, but the chambered mahogany body, solid Sitka spruce top and Ovation pickup give it the character and tone of an acoustic. And with its vintage 'V' neck shape and 16 frets clear of the body the Viper plays as easy as any electric. The neck fits comfortably into your hand and the satin wiping oil finish gives the neck a slick, lubricated feel. Introduced as a 6-string, the Viper family now includes a powerful 12-string, a versatile nylon string with a 1-7/8" wide neck and 14 frets clear of the body, and a 4-string bass. In addition to the Viper bass, the Ovation line includes full-scale 4 and 5-string acoustic/electric basses in both round soundhole and multi soundhole models. The roundback body gives these basses superior presence and pitch focus without the tubby and lifeless sound of other acoustic basses.

07-31-07