Ovation Country Artist with Prismatone pickup
Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2013 6:20 am
Recently I bought a mint Ovation Country Artist from the early 70's with a Prismatone pickup. It's one of the 100-150 models that Ovation provided with the pickup. It all started during "The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour", were Jerry Reed was a regular guest. Jerry picked his Baldwin on the show and Glen was unamplified with his Ovation, cause they didn't had a electrical classical on the market. Glen liked the idea of being amplified so he could actually be heard by the other players. Glen suddenly appeared with a Baldwin (also from Jerry) on his lap and Ovation didn't liked it at all, because Glen endorsed Ovation. The company hereby wanted to bring a amplified Country Artist on the market. They wanted to act quickly, so they contacted the Baldwin Company. They agreed to buy about 100-150 Prismatone pickups and preamps and got permission to put it on their models. There are several clips on YouTube were you can see both Jerry and Glen picking Prismatone fitted Ovations on the show, but they strange enough never played it amplified... There is one clip of Glen playing a amplified Ovation with Prismatone with a orchestra performing "Classical Gas".
The strange thing is that, like the Baldwin guitars, this model doesn't need a separate 22.5v battery-box but runs only on a 9v battery that is inside the guitar. The sounds is equal to the Baldwin guitar, maybe a bit more clean and less fat due the difference in battery. The pickup is the exact same one as on the Baldwins, only it misses the adjustment screws due a Ovation bridge and the sticker with "Baldwin Prismatone Pat. Pend".
Just wanted to share this with the fellow Chetboarders.
The strange thing is that, like the Baldwin guitars, this model doesn't need a separate 22.5v battery-box but runs only on a 9v battery that is inside the guitar. The sounds is equal to the Baldwin guitar, maybe a bit more clean and less fat due the difference in battery. The pickup is the exact same one as on the Baldwins, only it misses the adjustment screws due a Ovation bridge and the sticker with "Baldwin Prismatone Pat. Pend".
Just wanted to share this with the fellow Chetboarders.