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Vintage Ovation Glen Campbell Guitars


Lawtonboy50

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They were "the" guitars to have in the early 70's. Glenn Campbell endorsed them and he was, well, a celebrity. My brother had the six string. I played it quite a bit and we both agreed that it sounded like it was in the next room when played. They did not come with on-boards at that time so there was no augmenting/escaping the sound, or lack thereof. Plus, Cat Stevens and other celebs played Ovations and the guitar was pretty cool to look at. The Glenn Campbell model is just another collector git at this point. My brother paid under $400.00 for it, w/HSC, in 1973. I went with him to the shop when he bought it.

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They were "the" guitars to have in the early 70's. Glenn Campbell endorsed them and he was, well, a celebrity. My brother had the six string. I played it quite a bit and we both agreed that it sounded like it was in the next room when played. They did not come with on-boards at that time so there was no augmenting/escaping the sound, or lack thereof. Plus, Cat Stevens and other celebs played Ovations and the guitar was pretty cool to look at. The Glenn Campbell model is just another collector git at this point. My brother paid under $400.00 for it, w/HSC, in 1973. I went with him to the shop when he bought it.

 

 

Yes, I remember the Glen Campbell git craze when I was young. We were all great fans of his and all wanted Ovations just like he had. (Still thanking my lucky stars I never talked my mom into one.)

 

Since I don't pay much (if any) to Ovations, I hadn't realized these models had achieved "collector status" so to speak. To each his/her own.

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Guys like Glen Campbell really popularized the Ovation. I remember late '70s if you played live it was the guitar to have.

You even see Jim Croce playing Ovations in a few videos and photos before the became really popular. Probably would have been a Croce edition if it weren't for his plane crash.

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Looking for any early model Ovation Glen Campbell guitars-12 string or 6-string models. If you have one for sell or know someone that does, please contact me with as much info as possible. Thanks.

 

 

Had one of each...the 6-string was pretty nice, but the 12-string wasn't very good at all, due the necks on the original 12ers being very weak, so almost all would bow even w/ fairly light strings tuned down a whole step...avoid any Ovation w/ the 12-fret body joint/slotted head.

 

Possibly the reissues don't have this problem, but I can't say for sure.

 

I gave my 6-string to my cousin for his ministry work and it's still very playable, strung .012 - .053, almost 30 years since I first bought it (think it's a '74 model that I bought used.)

 

Both of mine had the P/U and original preamp, but I suspect they were retrofitted before I bought 'em, presumably by Ovation at the request of the original owner...I assumed, up until recently, that they came stock w/ these from the factory, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

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Retromusic in Keene, NH has this one:

 

 

Hmmmm...my cousin's/my former GC looks exactly like this one, so maybe mine did come originally w/ the P/U and preamp...I really should write to Ovation one of these days and verify, one way or the other.

 

The reissues appear to have the retro system, as well.

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Looking for any early model Ovation Glen Campbell guitars-12 string or 6-string models. If you have one for sell or know someone that does, please contact me with as much info as possible. Thanks.

 

 

I have a Vintage Ovation Glen Campbell 12 String Acoustic Guitar model 1118-4

serial# 013036 with the hard shell case. Its in excellent condition. I was going to put it on ebay with bid starting at 800.00.

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Tom T. Hall had one that Glenn Campbell gave him. Tom brought it to our house a few times and played it. I was fascinated by it the first time I saw the round back. That was some time between the song "Harper Valley PTA" and the "Homecoming" album, maybe 1968 to 1972 time-frame.

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That's certainly true. I remember going shopping for a Glenn Campbell Ovation in 1973 & ending up buying a red Guild D-25

I saw hanging on the wall. I'll never forget that day, in fact.


The Guild was cheaper and sounded better than anything in the show-room. But it was still a close call. I really wanted a "Glenn Campbell Ovation" & I'd never heard of a brand named 'Guild'.


I am one of the few acoustic players who still has a very high opinion of Ovations. I still own a 1988 Elite.

It's a superb instrument.

 

 

I played a lot of studio work in the early 1980s with Ovation guitars. I also played them on the road into the 1990s and they never let me down. I used mostly laminated tops playing live and that was to prevent those pesky finish cracks around the bridge on their solid-topped guitars. The laminated tops never had that problem.

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He was a session player for many years. There are a couple of videos out there of him playing "Classical Gas".

 

No Probs..But i put him up there i reckon also some people whom are more so even talented than others say higher up the rung

sometimes just dont make it as big.. I guess its a who you know type of thing which is sad really

But Glen Campbell certainly was well know in these parts :)

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