When was my ovation guitar made

Essentially a Balladeer with diamonds at twelfth fret, Grover Rotomatics Balladeer now has Kluson tuners , five-ply top binding. Classic introduced. No fret markers, twelve frets clear of body, flat fingerboard. Josh White model introduced. Twelve frets clear of body, wider neck, steel strings, dot markers with diamonds at twelfth fret. Shaded brown sunburst top introduced. Larger floral leaf rosette appears.

Model 5 String introduced July Semi-hollowbody Electric Storm series introduced Model 6 Contemporary Folk Classic appears in the catalog, but is only produced as a prototype probably during development of Glen Campbell model , with red, green or blue bowl color option Nov.

Similar to the Josh White but with shallow bowl, fourteen-fret neck, flat fingerboard, and nylon strings, replaces Josh White as the 4 model.

Adamas introduced in prototype form for artists and select dealers. The first 26 are prototypes; 61 are a non-tooling production run; 76 have a new headstock design and the Kaman bar neck reinforcement.

Wooden epaulettes around soundholes change to a photographic Mylar material. Extensive tooling begins Sept. Dealers receive first production models in Dec. First production Adamas sold is a Model , The first Adamas String is Charles H.

Kaman signs the labels up to At C. Bill Kaman II begins signing labels. You should be looking at a series of number ranges. These are the serial numbers. If you look up at the widget in the top right of the page, you should notice that there are separate charts for three-, four- and six-digit serial numbers. Make sure you are looking at the chart with the correct number of serial number digits or you could improperly date your instrument.

There are also separate charts for Adamas and Collector's series guitars. Find where your serial number fits into the range in the left column, then match it up with the year in the right column. You've now found the year your guitar was made. Tony Burns Posted January 1, Posted January 1, Posted October 20, Thomas yawn Posted November 22, Posted November 22, Posted November 23, Phil O'Keefe Posted November 23, Neal Posted November 23, Posted November 23, edited.

Edited November 23, by Neal Forgot. Grant Harding Posted November 23, Posted November 24, Neal Posted November 24, Micah Thurman Posted November 28, Posted November 28, Posted December 2, Chrisls Posted February 6. Having made this determination as to shape, the engineers next undertook to find a better material.

Since the early Crusades, flat-backed, straight-sided guitars have been made of wood. But the Kaman people felt that even the best woods had serious limitations.

Among the limitations:. Wood is difficult if not impossible to contour to the new round shape. It would require the use of internal bracing and reinforcing members, and, as in conventional guitars, these members would act as baffles, substantially dampening and absorbing the sounds, and setting up non-repetitive vibration patterns which the human ear hears as noise. A guitar top must vibrate to help amplify tone.

To vibrate properly, it must be extremely thin and thin wood is, of course, fragile. Sound, like light, reflects best from a smooth surface, and wood is porous. The cellular structure of wood and the natural oils in it vary considerably, not only from one guitar to another, but within a single instrument.