ovation guitars for gypsy jazz

rafapak

hi

Many people find gypsy jazz guitars suitable for playing gypsy jazz rather expensive. Cheap models are terrible and I would not recommend them for buying. I know I am not the only one who thinks in this way. Has anyone of you ever tried playing gypsy jazz on ovation guitars? Are they suited for gypsy jazz?

Romane's friend in this clip does good job in my opinion. What do you think guys?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Onjh6YjnSd8

Jon

I disagree that the cheap ones are all terrible - just some of them. I've played a Paris Swing D-Hole that was fine - maybe not amazing or anything I'd be bragging about, but for the money (and they don't cost much), a good guitar, and one that felt essentially in the ballpark of the more expensive examples - I play a Favino at the moment, and if that was getting repaired, I'd happily do a gig or two on one of those. Also the Altimira's (I liked the D-hole I played), and even the oval-hole Ciganos are ok.

Although in that one clip the Ovation sounds sort of ok (there are clips of Bireli playing one too), I think that Ovations are horrible guitars in general - sorry, but I've always hated them - and totally wrong for gypsy jazz. It's not just the sound, but also the way the guitar feels in your hands and the bounce you get when you hit the strings with the pick.

Sorry, just my opinion...

Jon

Steveareno

Don't know about Ovations, but archtops seem to be quite popular as an alternative, with european players (David Reinhardt, Rocky Gresset and many others) going back to the late 40s. Generally flat tops don't really seem to work so well for an "authentic" sound IMHO.
Swang on,

klaatu

Certainly if you're going to play electric anyway, it doesn't much matter what kind of guitar you use, except for appearance. A gypsy guitar with a Stimer or similar won't sound a lot different than an archtop with s single coil pickup.

rafapak

thanks guys for replies

this clip below supports klaatu's and steveareno's point of view.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq2oSaMVyiM

you guys probably meant exactly this guitar from the clip below. I don't know for sure but it seems that this one is much more expensive when compared to regular gj guitars that are not cheap.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mwRF1GeeWw

frater

I've got a couple of old Ovation from my "mahavishnu" years (one is identical to the Legend 1617 used by McLaughlin in "My goals beyond"). Well, I wouldn't use it yo play GJ... the tone is just not right to my ears. But it can be done and, as a matter of fact, it HAS been done.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBT43C8vc3k

Blue Drag

I saw Bireli in the mid-80s and he was playing Django-style jazz (and Django tunes) on an Ovation and he sounded, typically for him, amazing. That being said, I prefer his tone on a GJ-style guitar.

OOOPS! I just watched the preceding video. I think HE could " bring it" on a ukelele if he so desired.