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I completted the Ovation Balladeer crack repair, Neck inlay, refinish job and it was to be picked up yesterday evening. It was setting on my bench in my guitar craddel When I went inside for lunch. 20min latter I returned to find my halagen bench light lying on top of the guitar and a 2" dia hole burned thru just below the sound hole. I called Ovation and they told me that the neck was epoxied in with a high temp epoxy and I will not be able to steam the neck off to replace the top. It has been a while since Mr. Murphy has bitten me, and never like this.

A word to the wise. If you have an articulating bench light. never leave it on unattended.

it's time to start examining your past to understand why you have been singled out for extreme retribution!

first you are submitted to the ovation trial, then to the falling light trial. you must have been a very, very bad boy.

on the brighter side, you could cut the fingerboard at the 14th in the manner used back in the bad old days when resetting necks, replace the top and glue the extension back on.

what has the client said?

Michael--I just can't believe it! Well, I don't mean you are fibbing to us, I mean it's just such a bad stroke... like a bad dream.
I think CMMichael has suggested the only sane route to take. Will Ovation supply you with a new top? Will you supply us w/ before and after pix?

Sorry, bud   

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Wow, MP, sucks to be you right now. Sorry to hear of your bad fortune. I'm at the point on my three Hldsbrg guitars that they are going in the booth tomarrow. I'm so scared that I'll do something like this and ruin one, or all, of these guitars, I'm actually shying away from my shop.
Out of curiosity, how is the top of an ovation attached? Are there kerfed linings attached to the plastic and the top attached to those as usual?
Hope it works out for you. P

linngs are plastic (abs) attched to the shell. For me the real problem is the neck. The high temp epoxy they use make removal pretty much impossible for me. Ovation tells me they will cut the shell and top away clean up the dovetail put the neck and fb on a new top and shell for $450. This probably what I will do.

My camra should be back next week. I will send picks. It aint pretty

Michael--weren't you saying long before this that you'd never work on another Ovation? This will certainly make a believer out of you--if not all the rest of us. This not only "sinks the nail" of your resolve--it knocks it way out of sight, doesn't it?

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Wow... I guess the only thing worse would have been catching fire and burning down your shop.   

This really sucks.

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

Oh Steve, I worked so hard to get the finish to look good (being that I could not melt the original finish to get out the contamination infiltration in the finish cracks. I had taken my dremel and routed down till I was past the finish cracks filled with CA. leveled coated with two coats of shellac, 3 coats of lacure. Inlaid his momogram on the FB refret and rebound the FB repaired a half dozen FB divits, cut a new bone nut. Then burn the the thing up. In four years I beat I have walked away from a dozen guitars for hours on end with that lamp on. but never again

Michael,

Sorry to hear of this. I bet you were ready to get that Ovation out of your shop finally, and then this. Does this guitar even have much value?

Jeff

Not really, but a bunch of sentimental value for the client. Not to mention that the client is my bosses son, and one of my x-band members and a repeat customer MichaelP38503.5880671296

Ouch! But count your belssings in that the shop didn't burn down. That could have been very, very nasty! As you said, never leave a light on unattended! Any light that isn't fixed to the ceiling.

Also, invest a few bucks in a smoke detector or two, and either an intercom or a simple baby monitor. Set the smoke detectors in the shop(I have 3 in mine) and then set the inetrcom or baby monitor near one of them, and the receiver someplace in the home where it would be heard. I keep mine on my end table, next to my bed. I had a couple of false alarms in the wee hours of the morning, and trust me, you wake up! Beats the alternative of sleeping while your shop goes up in flames. In this case, you may have caught the burning top before it got too far.

Repeat after me: Ovations are bad, mmmmmmmmmmm-kay. <g>

I am going to have Ovation fix it then I am going to Inlay MOJO in the FB and pray I never see it again

isn't it a great feeling to do work for nothing, or at your cost!

I'll never figure out why I don't listen to that little voice telling me not to take a job. I did a stew-mac kit for a guy earlier this year. He bought it and upon watching the video realized that he couldn't make it. So it sat in a box for 3 years. He finally called me to see if I would do it. Why I said yes, I'll never know. EVERYTHING that could have gone wrong indeed did. Finally got it done and finished (he didn't want me to put ANY finish on it because that would cost extra, I couldn't live with that so I finished that darn thing for free) and delivered it to him with a big "swhooooo, it's finally done". He called a couple of weeks ago because he broke the nut off the truss rod while only turning it "1/4 turn". Trying to somehow blame me for screwing up the truss rod.
I'm sure I haven't heard the last from him...

Paul he could have cracked the FB or neck and broke the nut on the TR

That "little voice" is always a good barometer. I too always suffer when I don't listen to it.

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

Michael I feel for you. You had to be sick. I had a similar incident happen to me. Luckily I caught it just as the finish started to bubble.

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Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

Michael, man...I can't even say it...I half expect Sally Struthers to walk into your shop, put her arm around you, and plead with the TV audience to send "just a dollar forty a day" to pay Ovation for your repair! Seriously though, you are lucky to still have your shop...a friend of mine found out that the thing about storing used finishing rags in a closed container REALLY WOULD BURN HIS SHOP DOWN! And, it was attached to his HOUSE! So I know it sounds trite, but it could have been much worse. Hang in there, the sun will come up tomorrow!

Larry

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http://www.presnallguitars.com

It is going to be a $500 dollar bill. wish I could get the neck off but Ovation tells me there is no way. They will cut the neck from the body clean up the dovetail and put the neck on a new body. I can't believe it burned as bad as it did with out starting a flame. I am glad it didn't but I am really bitting a bullet this time. Oh well good lesson learned.

So, at this point you are replacing the top AND the body? All that is original on that guitar at this point will be the neck. Where's the sentimental value of a guitar who's entire body has been replaced? Man, I feel bad for you!

[QUOTE=rlabbe] So, at this point you are replacing the top AND the body? All that is original on that guitar at this point will be the neck. Where's the sentimental value of a guitar who's entire body has been replaced? Man, I feel bad for you!



[/QUOTE]

according to Ovation this is the only way to replace a top on a balladeer. aparently even Ovation can't loosen the neck adhesive. Ovation owners forget neck resets

Bummer! Been there....

I had a similar thing happen on the 2nd guitar I made, which was for a friend. I was using IR lamps to speed the cure rate of the ktm-4a product, and had a double-lamp unit hanging over the guitar suspended from a nail in the ceiling joist above. Well, I was doing some close-up work on it, and straightened up. My head hit the light, knocked it off the nail and dropped it smashing into the top. Took a big hunk out of the soundhole and left a nice dent in the top. Fortunately, the top was a bit thick and it sanded out mostly, but it was never perfect again.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

ooops I forgot to bring the pics with me. I will go getthem later if time permits. But I must warn you, it aint pretty. MichaelP38505.3911921296

Well I just got a phone call from Tanner (the owner of the Ovation) asking if we could work out a deal on a new build instead of repairing his Ovation. It seams the sentiment for this guitar is not all that great after all.

Anyway I am giving away the material cost of an OM and a case and keeping his case and Balladeer. He is getting Black Acacia OM with Bearclaw Sitka top. Other details to be work out, but add-ons from basic will be at his expense. This is no cash out of my pocket except for the basic materials and I already have them. He will be walking a way with a new guitar. I will try to remove the FB and put a new top on the balladeer and sell it cheap later.

In reality this cost me more, but just in labor but that is a bit easer to absorb. I feel much better about this solution vs. sinking $600 into a guitar worth $450 resale. Plus I get to put my self into it, to help me repent for my mistake. This makes me feel better

You Know......This whole guilt trip thing is expensive MichaelP38506.4677546296