Ovation Preacher Pawn Shop Find

HNB · Post by **HNB** » Thu Jul 07, 2016 2:16 am

Went to the pawn shop by my house to get the kids some wii games cheap and found this. It has seen better days, but for $300 it seemed like a good deal. I am going to get a new guard made since this one is broken and put two singles in it. I might either do lace sensor singles or rails or something. I like bright pickups like JB's and Super Distortions. I also like Red Lace sensor pickups. Not sure yet and will have to wait for the guard. The knobs the guy put on broke the pot shafts so I am just going to put new pots and switch in to make it easier. The neck on it is super nice. Thin and wide like the old Japanese necks I like. The strap buttons on these are the tiniest I have ever seen on a guitar. It even came with it's stock case.

20160706_165629 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

20160706_165639 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

20160706_165650 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

20160706_165657 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

20160706_165709 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

20160706_165722 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

20160706_165728 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

20160706_165735 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

20160706_165753 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

20160706_165743 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

20160706_183633 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

Poor Guard.....

20160706_184937 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

They nailed the pickups to the body....

20160706_181920 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

20160706_181922 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

20160706_173753 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

Pickguard is going to look kind of like this.

Modified by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Thu Jul 07, 2016 2:32 am

Oooo I was just thinking of these the other day. These were their Gibson SG/LP style guitar whereas the Vipers were their Fender style. I have an Ovation Tornado that's pretty much been my #1 guitar for the last 10+ years. $300 is a pretty good deal, if you ever decide to sell or trade let me know. I would probably go with Gibson humbuckers on this or Filtertrons.

dezb1 · Post by **dezb1** » Thu Jul 07, 2016 4:20 am

Nice... needs Humbuckers.

benecol · Post by **benecol** » Thu Jul 07, 2016 7:39 am

Nearly bought one from a local shop twelve years back, and still rue the day...

gusman2x · Post by **gusman2x** » Thu Jul 07, 2016 7:46 am

That is very cool indeed.

timhulio · Post by **timhulio** » Thu Jul 07, 2016 9:02 am

Think single coils might be a bit uninteresting in this guitar. I'd probably go for mini humbuckers as they're kinda close to the original pickups.

Post by **Doog** » Thu Jul 07, 2016 9:35 am

Still looks like a ballbag

I like it in that colour though!

dezb1 · Post by **dezb1** » Thu Jul 07, 2016 2:32 pm

timhulio wrote:Think single coils might be a bit uninteresting in this guitar. I'd probably go for mini humbuckers as they're kinda close to the original pickups.

Mini hums or firebird pickups? Don't be upsetting benecol by not making the distinction...

paul_ · Post by **paul_** » Thu Jul 07, 2016 3:19 pm

The logical compromise would be for you to double-P90 that bad boy.

Bacchus · Post by **Bacchus** » Thu Jul 07, 2016 3:20 pm

P-rails?

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Thu Jul 07, 2016 4:51 pm

Bacchus wrote:P-rails?

are the worst.

HNB · Post by **HNB** » Thu Jul 07, 2016 4:57 pm

Right now I am leaning towards a lil 59 in the neck and hot rail in the bridge.

HNB · Post by **HNB** » Thu Jul 07, 2016 4:58 pm

(Cause the depth in the cavities isn't really low enough for humbuckers and I don't want to rout the body.)

Bacchus · Post by **Bacchus** » Thu Jul 07, 2016 6:08 pm

Nick wrote:
Bacchus wrote:P-rails?
are the best.

HNB · Post by **HNB** » Thu Jul 07, 2016 6:18 pm

I came up with this diagram. It isn't stereo, but I don't really see myself running stereo cables, so I thought this might be cool. Not sure if it would work, so let me know. Basically the "mono" labled jack would be an normal jack where the toggle selects pickups. Volume and tone work as usual. The "stereo" jack would just run the humbucker pickup only with volume and tone. If I felt like running a second cable to a separate amp, it would just have the bridge while the other could also have bridge, neck, or both going at the same time. Should work, right?

Dual-Jack by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

dezb1 · Post by **dezb1** » Thu Jul 07, 2016 8:56 pm

Stereo... just noticed it has two inputs... waits to be corrected

NickS · Post by **NickS** » Thu Jul 07, 2016 9:19 pm

HNB wrote:Should work, right?

Yes. You may notice a volume drop on your primary amp when you plug into the second one depending on the input impedance and any buffering you may have in the chain.

HNB · Post by **HNB** » Thu Jul 07, 2016 9:30 pm

Yeah it has two stock inputs.

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Thu Jul 07, 2016 10:16 pm

IIRC on these models the necks are both glued and bolted. Neat!

HNB · Post by **HNB** » Fri Jul 08, 2016 6:30 pm

Did some work on the neck today. It has some dings, so I dropped some gorilla glue gel in to them and let it cure. Scraped the bumps more flat with a razor and then wetsanded it smooth.

I also cleaned the fretboard.

20160708_111212 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

20160708_111218 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

20160708_111225 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

20160708_111203 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr