In 1972 Gibson produced a series of 'Guitar of the Month' brochures, each dedicated to one of their high end models, the Les Paul Recording guitar, L5-CES, ES-175D, Super 400-CES, ES-355TD-SV and Byrdland. Each brochure was a single sheet folded into four panels, with details of the instruments themselves, their features, musical purpose, and a little history behind the development of each guitar. Only the Les Paul Recording was a new model; the others were all well established in the Gibson line. Follow the link to see scans and further information on these leaflets and other Gibson guitar catalogues from the CMI and Norlin periods.

1961 Vox Stroller

The earliest versions of the Vox Stroller were actually copies of an early Japanese electricguitar, the Guyatone (also sold under the brand Antoria) LG50. These Strollers, although short-lived did undergo a few changes before taking on the more familiar Strat influenced style of many mid-sixties UK-built Vox guitars. The biggest difference between early and late LG50-style Strollers (and the two pickup version, the Shadow) was the larger pickup, a shade longer, but noticeably wider used in the very first Vox guitars. Compare this early Vox to a 1963 Stroller with the later V1 pickup. For more information about Vox guitar pickups in general, see the Vox guitar pickups page.

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Ovation Electric Guitar and Bass List
Instruments manufactured by Ovation

Fiber-Glas replaces wood - Ovation guitars had a rounded Lyrachord back, a point that they emphasised in early advertising. See other vintage Ovation adverts here.

The Ovation Breadwinner debuted in 1972, as the companies first solid body guitar

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Ovation Elite 1718 - from late '80's
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last message by cdeluc
04/03/2012 19:01

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couldn't resist it..Ovation Magnum
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last message by steveonbass
11/06/2008 23:07

Ovation are relative newcomers to the world of vintage guitars, only launching their range at the 1967 NAMM show in Chicago. Ovation started as an off-shoot of founder Charles Kamen's work in the aviation field, studying vibration and resonances in helicopter blades. Whilst other respected American manufacturers relied heavily of quality nautral products and the artistry of their master luthiers, Ovation came very much from a science and engineering perspective: they used oscillographs to test existing instruments, and came up with the famous Ovation rounded back design, and suggested the use of a synthetic material, Lyrachord, claiming it to be more resonant that any wood.

The following description comes from the publicity for Ovation's NAMM show debut, Chicago 1967:

Ovation Instruments is a Division of Kaman Corporation, a major supplier to the United States government of military helicopters, rescue equipment, electronic components and other aerospace products. There are eight divisions of Kaman, participating in such diverse industries as commercial transportation, nuclear sciences, space medicine, education and social sciences, oceanography and, most recently, recreation.

Production was based in Hartford Connecticut, initially producing acoustic guitars, the first being the Ovation Balladeer, quickly following them with electric semi-acoustics such as the Ovation Thunderhead guitar and Typhoon bass. The first solid body, the Ovation Breadwinner appeared in 1972.

Manufacture continued throughout the 1970s, with parent company Kaman expanding into other areas of musical instrument production (at points owning Hamer and Trace-Elliot). Today Ovation concentrate on their acoustics only.

Index of Ovation content on vintageguitarandbass.com