The Ovation Story
Electric-Acoustic Guitar (r)Evolution
Even after more than 50 years, Ovation guitars are still one of the most advanced, forward-thinking and unique designs in the acoustic guitar market. In fact, unlike other acoustic guitars or acoustic-electric guitars, Ovations are truly “electric-acoustic” guitars. These are instruments where the advanced design and integrated electronics are not an after-thought, not a modification to an instrument built to be acoustic… not a compromise to an entirely different focus.
On Ovation guitars, the carefully thought out electronics are part of the design focus from the very beginning. These instruments were Made For The Stage, and as such, they incorporate the latest and most purposeful pickups, preamps and design integration possible. Add to this the sophisticated body design, space-aged materials and superior top construction and you truly have a revolutionary instrument ready to command attention on any stage, in any concert hall or performance venue.
Where it all began
On the banks of the Farmington River in new Hartford, Connecticut, there’s an old New England brick building that was home to Ovation Instruments and of course, the original acoustic roundback guitars.
Ovation was a subsidiary of the Kaman Corporation, an aerospace company employing more than 2,700 employees, where more than 25% were scientists, engineers and technicians. Charles Kaman, the President and a guitar enthusiast, decided that his company could apply its technology to the age-old art of guitar making.
In 1966, after 18 months of testing and research, the Kaman engineers concluded that the most efficient shape for a guitar back is semi-parabolic (like that of an orchestra shell, amphitheater, radar reflector or even the human ear). The sound such a shape produced from any given energy input was, they found, measurably richer, fuller, deeper and more constant from top to bottom of the scale.
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. The varying densities thus created make it extremely difficult to achieve consistent vibrating characteristics.
To develop material free of such characteristic disadvantages, Kaman’s engineers first made acoustical studies of many of the exceedingly strong yet lightweight laminar substances they had perfected for use in aircraft rotors, fairings, radomes, missile nose cones and other aerospace components often exposed to high vibrational stress. Encouraged by what they found in these studies, and using them as a base, they then developed and tested many new materials.
Finally they found one, the molecular structure of which actually could be “tuned” (chemically and by heat treating) to a precise degree of resonance.
We Call It Lyrachord®
Lyrachord can be precision-molded to any shape, entirely free of bracing or reinforcing.
It can be made as thin as desired for vibration purposes and yet remain practically indestructible. It can’t warp, chip, crack, check or split.
It has a smooth, highly sound-reflectant surface – far superior to wood.
Its inorganic composition is non-variable, assuring uniform vibrating characteristics not only from one instrument to another, but from tone to tone within a single instrument.
It is indeed an ideal substance – a major contribution in the development of the most scientifically advanced guitar in 400 years.
And Lyrachord is still the material we use today, to create these truly remarkable instruments. Listen for yourself. Hear the rounder, fuller, totally unique sound of the Ovation Roundback. Let your own ear confirm the difference that aerospace technology has created. We think you’ll agree, you’ve never heard it so good.
FEATURED PRODUCT
CELEBRITY COLLECTION
BLACK TEXTURED
CE44-5
*Prices and specifications are subject to change without notice.
OVATION
Ovation Exists to Create Innovative Instruments that Inspire Musicians to Change the World… Note by Note.
FEATURED PRODUCT
CELEBRITY COLLECTION
BLACK
CE44-5
*Prices and specifications are subject to change without notice.