1981 Applause AE-38 Classical Crossover Modded Guitar

This early-on Applause was made in Korea and started-off life as a steel-stringer. It arrived to me via my friend Tom as a $25 yard sale find and had broken tuners, was horribly gross and grungy, a bad pickup system, no nut, and no saddle. He walked-in with it at just the right time, though, because I have been looking for something I could mod into a gig-worthy "crossover nylon-string" guitar on the very cheap -- meaning a classical but with a comfy neck I can thumb-over on.

Ovations (and these Applause models) have easy necks (medium C with a 10" or tighter board radius), fan bracing, and are built sturdily-enough for take-anywhere use. This one is ply in the top, has a shallow bowl, a cutaway, and an actual inlaid rosette (vs. the plastic Ovation glued-on ones), so it was just about perfect for the job. I don't mind the (retro, funky) looks, either, save for the hideous headstock shape. Oh well, you can't have it all!

I set about modding it for the job by yanking out four of the fan braces (thus lightening the bracing on the top so it would sound better with the lower tension), leveling/dressing the frets, replacing the tuners, nut, and saddle, yanking-out the old knobs and electronics, and fitting a K&K Twin Spot pickup as well. The saddle slot is still compensated too far to the rear on the bass side -- which means intonation is slightly flat on the bass side up near the 12th fret), but because of the way I tend to thumb-over, it means I'm pulling the strings into tune enough that it's not noticeable and I think I'll wait a while to fix it properly.

I'm happy with the mod -- it's turned something that is usually so-so into something that's different and fun to pick-up and play. As an aside -- "crossover" model classicals are often kind-of expensive and hard to find and, if you're into funky and old, they don't really exist. Maybe the way forward for folks looking for one on a budget is more modding to extraneous guitars that are already out there in the wild...