A Brief History of Ovation Acoustic Guitars

The history of Ovation Guitars is unique because its founder, Charles Kaman, was actually an aeronautical engineer designing rotor blades for helicopters. It was this experience that caused him to contemplate standard guitar structure and eventually lead to the development of the round-backed composite body. Traditional guitars have wooden backs and sides, so this feature differentiates Ovation Guitars from the competition. This revolutionary move came about in the 1960s.

Kaman was unique because he was both an engineer and a guitar player. He not only understand the instrument from the perspective of a player, but also his observations related to helicopter blades and materials and how they related to the guitar caused these innovations. So, he approached what he perceived as standard guitar design problems from an engineers perspective- to define the problem and find solutions. To him, guitars and helicopters were related because in helicopters, you want to remove vibrations but with guitars, you want to keep the vibrations in to generate the sound.

Ovation has a long tradition of using modern materials in standard guitar design. For the most part, guitar design has remained relatively unchanged since the 1800s. Kaman wanted to develop a guitar that transcended and improved upon that tradition. His die hard fans believe he succeeded. Starting in 1966, Ovation released a line of guitars at a pretty standard rate, starting with the Balladeer.

Now, Ovation boasts a complete line of acoustic guitars, most of which include the Ovation standard and unique design features. These include the LX Series, the Celebrity, the Celebrity Deluxe, the Elite, the Legend, the Custom Elite, and others. You can also find vintage models through shops and on the internet.

There are plenty of artists who love the unique qualities of Ovation guitars. These include Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue, Al DiMeola, an accomplished solo player, Godsmack, Melissa Ethridge, Blasko from Rob Zombie, Rex Brown, who performs with Pantera and others, and Vince Neil with Motley Crue. There are actually a lot more artist that use Ovation Guitars. If you want more information you should visit Ovations web site.

Here is what one person has to say about their Ovation guitar:

About the Ovation Magnum 3

This bass puts out a beautiful tone. When I mix the two pickups just right it s either a low growl or a crunchy bite. Put together they sound just great. The output can be a bit lower than I am accustomed to, but easily overcome with a decent amp.