[Mr. S]

Originally Posted by evil

Umm and the workmanship.

i played some real nice ones in a shop a while back and plus they look nice, i guess i was just lucky then... im not very familiar with who makes the best acoustics yeah i suck

[Matt Crooks]

Originally Posted by evil

Umm and the workmanship.

While I don't care for the sound of Ovation guitars, there is nothing wrong with their workmanship. I've found that their guitars are just as good as any of the other guitars in the same price range.

[Dive-Baum]

Originally Posted by Mr. S

y'know id really love a ovation 7 string guitar acoustic.... theyre great, quite modern sounding... but then alot of people dislike them too... mainly for the boul back i find

Yeah, I almost bout one a few years ago. They sound amazing but that bowl back is just frustrating. If you are standing abd playing, that is one thing but it is hard to play it on your leg while sitting. I suppose it adds to their sound but it is still a pain.

[nitelightboy]

Originally Posted by Dive-Baum

Yeah, I almost bout one a few years ago. They sound amazing but that bowl back is just frustrating. If you are standing abd playing, that is one thing but it is hard to play it on your leg while sitting. I suppose it adds to their sound but it is still a pain.

Especially for those who are a little out of shape themselves and have a bowl of their own. I've never cared for the Ovation design, however they are very well made and do sound quite nice.

[eaeolian]

Originally Posted by Matt Crooks

While I don't care for the sound of Ovation guitars, there is nothing wrong with their workmanship. I've found that their guitars are just as good as any of the other guitars in the same price range.

+1 - I have a mid '90s and it's an awesomely-built guitar. It's the best-sounding Ovation I've ever played, too - I dunno why, but I've played 10 or so of the same model, and none of them sound anywhere near as good.

Perhaps you've seen mostly the Celebrity series? They're, uh, not as well made.

[Nik]

Good luck.

I used to be obsessed with the prospect of getting a good accoustic 7, but eventually I gave up since the accoustic 7 market is so poor. I just got an Alvarezz 6-string instead and saved myself 100s of dollars that I can apply to my next musical purchase

If you don't like the Ibanez, Dean, and Gianni, you're pretty much screwed unless you're wishing do dish out $1500 + on an accoustic.

[noodles]

Originally Posted by Matt Crooks

I actually need all 7 strings. What's the point of playing a 7 if it's really just a de-tuned 6 with an extra string?

Well, if you're playing it live, than yeah, you'll need it. For recording, you don't need all seven strings. I was just making a suggestion, since you have to pay a lot more to get a 7-string acoustic of the quality standards you require, while sixes are everywhere. It's not like an electric where you can pick up something decent for $800-1000. There is $400-500, then there is $2000+.

[Matt Crooks]

Originally Posted by noodles

Well, if you're playing it live, than yeah, you'll need it. For recording, you don't need all seven strings. I was just making a suggestion, since you have to pay a lot more to get a 7-string acoustic of the quality standards you require, while sixes are everywhere. It's not like an electric where you can pick up something decent for $800-1000. There is $400-500, then there is $2000+.

I actually do need all seven for recording. I guess I'll keep looking, but I guess I'll be recording clean electrics for the seven string stuff. For the stuff I don't need all seven strings I'll detune your Martin to B and be good to go

Originally Posted by Nik

Good luck.

If you don't like the Ibanez, Dean, and Gianni, you're pretty much screwed unless you're wishing do dish out $1500 + on an accoustic.

Yeah, I am afraid you're correct. I don't mind $1.5k-2k, it's the $5k for an Abyss that was too much.

[noodles]

Originally Posted by Matt Crooks

I actually do need all seven for recording. I guess I'll keep looking, but I guess I'll be recording clean electrics for the seven string stuff. For the stuff I don't need all seven strings I'll detune your Martin to B and be good to go

Wow, I'm going to have to stop by so you can play me the piece. Most of the stuff I've come up with could be taken care of with overdubs and multitracking.

My D-28 sounds absolutely amazing down there. I've never been in a studio with good enough mics to do it justice, though, so I kinda want to hear you record something on it.

I'm going to go home and measure my 12-string neck width. I'm starting to think it might be feasible to have someone make a custom nut and bridge, as well as filling the holes in the top to drill out seven new ones.

EDIT: 1 7/8" seems to be standard, with slight variances by brand (Fender is 1.68", for example). This would be doable, but I'd need to have a luthier tell me if the holes in the top could feasibly be plugged and redrilled. The nut would be the easy part. The headstock would kinda look weird, but if you're not playing it out, no big deal.

Or maybe I'm just

[Jim Soloway]

Don Ross, who is a ridiculously good acoustic player, has a custom 7-string built by Oskar Graf. I spent some time with Oskar last week in Montreal and his guitars are simply unbelievable. I doubt if I can afford one anytime soon, but if I could, it would be my #1 choice. Here's a link to his site.

http://web.ctsolutions.com/grafguitars/custom.html