1990s Ovation Celebrity CS-245 12-String Guitar

This Ovation was one of those projects that was just... too much time for what the guitar rated. I'm a sucker for making things right, so of course I gave the (local) customer a steep discount and fixed it anyway.

Suffice to say: the L-shaped, big-gap, epoxied neck joints -- what were they thinking? Also, gluing a bridge over hard finish just so it can pull up and warp -- what were they thinking?

This stuff was resolved -- neck reset with bolt-reinforcement, new custom bridge glued to the wood over the original bridge's footprint, fretwork, and a fully-compensated saddle -- and now it plays bang-on. Still... it's simply a cheap Ovation from the late '90s. Its tone is bright, even, and jangly with a little compression to it.

I remember being a fresh player in the late '90s and thinking I really, really wanted a shallow-bowl Ovation 12-string. They certainly have a tone to them that you don't get anywhere else -- but I don't think it's a good fit for me these days. My kids love the "leaf" rosettes on these guitars, though. "Sooooo pretty," they say.

Scale length: 25 1/4"

Nut width: 1 7/8"

String spacing at nut: 1 5/8"

String spacing at bridge: 2 3/8"

Body length: 20 1/4"

Lower bout width: 15 3/4"

Waist width: 10 1/8"

Upper bout width: 11 1/4"
Side depth at endpin: ~5"

Top wood: solid spruce

Back and sides: synthetic bowl

Bracing type: straight fan

Fretboard: rosewood

Bridge: rosewood, bone saddle

Neck feel: medium C-shape, ~12" board radius
Neck wood: mahogany-like

Because there's an access hatch on the rear of the instrument and because the bracing pattern precludes the use of bridge pins, I made "string-through" mounting... where strings and slipped through the holes from the inside of the guitar.