In Part one I analyze why the bridge failed and develop a plan to repair the damage. This will involve making a new bridge from scratch. I also show how I recondition a badly worn fret board.
I had the same problem with my ovation. After watching many of your videos, I felt comfortable attempting the repair. I cut the finish around mine and chipped out all the finish from under the bridge. Sanded the epoxy off the bottom of the bridge. Then glued the bridge back on with tite bond. The finish was about a 1/16 to 1/8 inch thick. recessing the bridge in the thick finish fixed my high action issues. What a bonus. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
Thanks for sharing your invaluable experience and top notch skills, always look forward to watching all these videos showcasing practical ingenuity offering real solutions to complex problems and issues. I have an Ovation somewhat similar to the one in the video (my model is a CC61) sunburst, with a walnut bridge along with "the screws" evenly spaced closer together behind D and G string areas. I totally agree with you about this major design flaw with the ball ends on top, rather than traditionally anchored at the bottom and firmly held in place by pins. Really something how Ovation continues to sell variations of these exact models even after all these years without little change in this critical flaw. Being the original owner of this guitar when it was new back in '85, gifted to me by my late grandfather (who received it directly from the company as a promotional endorsement) as he was also in a very famous and successful country music band at the time. The guitar has never really traveled on the road, nor experienced any variation of temperature and climate extremes nor venue settings, spending nearly all its life detuned in a humidified hard case, in the back of dark and cool closets. Although I've played it occasionally from time to time over the years, mainly preferred other lesser significant acoustics and mostly solid-bodies that are not as sensitive to travel and climate. Also taken great care of preserving it to a pristine condition as brand new, with the only telling sign it as an older instrument is the top of the binding around the body has yellowed with age and not the sides. There's absolutely NO SIGNS of wear and NO INDICATION of bridge separation, nor soundboard humps or depressions according to a carpetenders straightedge and viewed by the natural line of sight when it's tuned and left overnight to concert pitch. The guitar plays and feels beautify, superbly performs in key without any issues whatsoever. Now the sad part. My grandfather passed away earlier this year and I really need to play the guitar more now than ever before because that's what he would have wanted, I've also became more sentimentally attached to the guitar out of deep respect for all the memories; however, I'm frightened sick after reviewing all the reports and horror stories about these bridges suddenly pulling away, leaving considerable damage and now very worried about playing it at all until I've exhausted all preventable measures available. Also understand you're not a big fan of "the screws" through the bridge (neither am I), yet also need to work with what I have and choose not to drastically alter the guitar in any way from it's true character and form. Couldn't install a traditional bridge even if I wanted to because as you know with the position of the fan bracing, it's not all possible without extensive reconstruction and modification So my question is, could I utilize a form of long bracing material from wood/metal base plates and/or blocks in between the screws and washer/nut to help prevent (or minimize) the damage, if or when the bridge ever decides to pull-up? Thanks kindly for reading and any insightful acknowledgements will be greatly appreciated.
The amount of knowledge you lay down.....This is seriously one of the best channels on YT when it comes to string instruments..I have a few I'm looking to restore and your advice has given me an even greater respect for my own instruments...and gotten me to buy wethered ones to repair for fun..you even convinced me to buy myself a mandolin lol p.s. have you ever had to repair a hole in the lyrachord back? I'm not sure how to deal with that .. I also have a violin with a chipped f hole I need to fix..and I'd like to keep the original front..not sure what to use to 're sculpt' that little bit..
+Alida Bailey I'm not sure about the whole cuz I'd have to see it. Regarding the F hole I would suggest using Spruce with matching grain gluing it in there and then carving it with tiny exacto knives or something similar staining to match. Good luck with it
I've always been big on linseed oil. It's the best. What I hate is when people either use or tell you to use lemon oil or anything that contains lemon oil on the body or fretboard of your guitar. Lemon oil lifts inlays and binding.
I bought my Ovation Celebrity back in the late eighties - I think I spent 350 or 400 on it and It was my first nice guitar. I took that thing with me everywhere I went - I learned the major scale on it and then learned to pick on it and its been with me to this day. I sat in the back seat while I took it to grateful dead shows/circle jams and after all these years, surprisingly, it's still in nearly mint condition and it still sounds beautiful. I've considered getting a Martin or a Taylor but they don't sing like my Ovation. I thought about getting a new Ovation but... why? LOL
I’m mid repair of the bridge on this same style of celebrity, my problem was a string actually pulled through the back and messed up the wood so it wouldn’t hold a string anymore. Thankfully no deformation, and it came off great for me
Well done! I have posted a link to this segment of your video series on this repair to my Facebook page, Ren-Ovation Nation. It is dedicated to renewing, repairing, and restoring Ovation/Adamas guitars. I look forward to any additional Ovation or Adamas repairs you might do.
Looking forward to Part 2! I have a pretty nice made in Korea Ovation Celebrity from the mid 80's (their 'low end' instrument at the time) and it has some of the same pits in the fretboard. Might just have to try your razor blade technique...
If I remember right, Ovation didn't glue the bridge to the finish as Don suggests. The finish itself was the glue. It was some kind of catalized finish they used and the bridge was put in place before the finish hardened. That's if I'm remembering right.
My Ovation Koa ck047's bridge has been chipped off. The saddle is okay but it is not possible to string it because of the chipped off bridge. I am searching for the fallen off piece and then maybe glueing it ... If I cannot find the piece, how easy is it to remove the bridge? And then putting a new bridge on?
Im lucky the Ovations i have do not have screws thru the bridge. They are just glued. Mine are 1990s models. Ive had great luck with Ovation, but ive seen other folks who have not. I guess i got lucky.
hey, I'm attempting a similar project except I'm converting my unit to a octave mandolin . how do you feel about using a tail piece. the pressure from the string will be down on the sound board except pulling from the bridge. shame so many ovations with cracked tops. if it don't work at least I have a new shovel for in the garden
Great video man! I wonder if it'd be best to install a Plate Mate or just make a bridge plate bigger than a Plate Mate in size and run the strings thru the top like most acoustics? I never did like those kind of bridges that pulls itself up as you mentioned where the strings to thru the back of the bridge. BTW a bunch of folks stirred up arguments on several of my repair vids too about using linseed oil, and some of them even insisted on never putting anything on the fingerboard. lol I use linseed on all open grain fret boards I work on. No word on the Kentucky mandolin yet, I may be giving you a shout soon as/if it arrives. Gonna share this on Google maybe more people will see it.
Thanks Randy. I watched your latest vid too. But it wouldn't allow me to comment. In part two, I show making the bridge in some detail. It worked out pretty well. The customer seemed very happy. The sound was good too.
It's a standard file that I cut the tag off of and glued to a block for better guidance. Watch is that no file is perfectly flat. You can look down the file and you will see there's always a very slight concave and convex side. You put the concave side up the convex side down when you glue it to the block. Thanks for watching.
I'm working on one of these with same bridge, mine is still glued on good, top of bridge popped off where the strings were in, my 1st bridge replacement, do I glue bridge to top or scrap all the glue and finish off before glueing new one on? I was told to sand down to the wood just needed another opinion
Thank you,,bought a new bridge, got old one off,,looks like they might have glued bridge to finish, I haven't got to bare wood yet so I didn't know how ovation did it(or) the owner before me.
Hi I have an ovation and I'm trying to remove the bridge with a hot iron. But it doesn' move. I removed the 2 scews already, I can't get it to lose. Any idea how to do it? Thanks.
Ovations are a horse of a different color. They are very difficult to work on. Mostly because most of the glue they use is epoxy. I am not a fan of epoxy at all. The best I can offer is good luck to you. It's not an easy thing to do and I don't really have any great suggestions. You just have to be persistent. The negative is you may pull off a bunch of finish with the bridge. It's highly possible you could also crack the top. In fact Ovations are so difficult to work on I don't think I will accept any more of them in the future.
I just had someone give me one of these as payment for a small job. Luckily the top was completely popped off and I was able to shave those braces back and put on a bridgeplate.. message me I'll share pics if you want
It's a crappy product. So, as I'm also a crappy handyman, i just epoxied the bridge. Added two screws underneath. If thats not wasn't enough, i drilled two holes on the sides and fastened it with blind rivets. I hope i last a lifetime.
When they were made in Connecticut, THEY DID NOT DO THAT!!!! after Korea and Japan got their grubby little fingers on them, quality went down considerably. still have my first made in the seventies, to date only four people have played on it. intend on keeping it that way
nobody explain HOW TO REMOVE THE 2 SCREWS from the bridge, everybody who makes videos they just "SHAZAM" and it suddenly the bridge was removed.... SR...... EXPLAIN HOW DID YOU REMOVE THE 2 inlay SCREWS !!!! they are protected and we can damage the bridge wood trying to remove the screws inlay protectors,,,,, i hate magic shazams
