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  #1  
Old 11-20-2021, 01:48 PM
M Hayden M Hayden is offline
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Default Ovation - repair even possible?

I was recently given an old 1970s Ovation Glen Campbell 12-string.

it’s in great condition except for the neck angle, which is well into suspension-bridge territory - it’s sort of playable in the first five frets, but beyond that, nsm.

The bracing is in good nick, as is the bridge; nothing’s cracked or come loose.

Is it even possible to remove the necks on older Ovations, or is this likely a wall-hanger at this point?

I’ve done some research and it seems like newer Ovations have bolts securing the neck, but I don’t see any on this ca-1978 one. If I can sort out how to get the neck off, I might have a chance of fixing it, but there’s very limited information on this neck joint.

The plan is to repair if possible and give it to the local community college music program. If it isn’t reasonably possible, not sure what to do with it, except turn it into a wall decoration or something.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts.
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Old 11-20-2021, 02:38 PM
phavriluk phavriluk is offline
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Default a thought

Is there an Ovation forum to which OP can pose his question?
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  #3  
Old 11-20-2021, 06:26 PM
FLRon FLRon is offline
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Ovationfanclub.com is a good place to start.
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  #4  
Old 11-20-2021, 06:50 PM
mirwa mirwa is offline
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Yes you can remove the necks on ovations, typically they are epoxied on.

Does the rosette buckle under string tension, that is the most common problem I see, the top deforms under tension and a pronounced wrinkle exists in the rosette material

Steve
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Old 11-20-2021, 10:03 PM
merlin666 merlin666 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by phavriluk View Post
Is there an Ovation forum to which OP can pose his question?
Yes they have a bottom feeding luthier section where they discuss amazing repairs.
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  #6  
Old 11-21-2021, 12:00 AM
6L6 6L6 is offline
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Back in the early 2000’s, Frank Ford and his team at Gryphon did a neck reset on my Ovation 1869 Custom Legend. Very tough job and expensive, but it turned out great.
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  #7  
Old 11-22-2021, 10:07 AM
tadol tadol is offline
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Maybe yank the frets and plane the fretboard down? How much do you think you’d need to remove to make it good for another 10 years?
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Old 11-22-2021, 01:07 PM
Zigeuner Zigeuner is offline
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Ovations are devilishly difficult to work on. When I had my shop, an Ovation came in with part of the bridge missing. I had thought that surely they wouldn't use epoxy to fasten the bridge. LOL.

No such luck. I had to plane the bridge off down to the top to remove it. I made a new bridge and reglued with hot hide glue. I was sure sorry that I took that job.

I can't imagine trying to remove the neck from one if it were epoxied on. That would be a thankless job and the cost at a luthier shop should exceed the value of the instrument.

There's no such thing as vintage epoxy.
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  #9  
Old 11-26-2021, 04:11 PM
Tony Burns Tony Burns is offline
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some are easy, some are not -have heard of one guy who just janked it and it came off -It wouldnt hurt hurt to ask a luthier
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