Ovation Applause

A few months ago eBay had a sunburst Ovation Applause UAE 148 cutaway on auction and a buy it now for $349 plus $50 shipping. It looked so much like the first new guitar I bought in 1975, an Applause Celebrity deep body, that I put in a maximum bid of $299. As the auction end approached, I lost out to a last second bid. Boy did I kick myself for not buying it outright.

Ovation Applause 148 burst.jpg


A couple weeks later I saw a sunburst Godin Multiuke in Marketplace with the price lowered to $400. Knowing how nice they are and not wanting to miss out, I bought it. I justified it by saying that it's better instrument than the Ovation (and it is terrific), but I still had the Ovation on my mind.

Godin Multiuke sumbust mine 843.jpg


A few days ago I saw a mahogany UAE 148 on eBay for $399 shipped and decided I'm carrying on with my UAS and bought it.

Ovation Applause mahogany.jpg
 
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Kohanmike,
Which do you like better? I've played the Godwin and it's great. Never played Ovation tenor but have played a few of their guitars. Just curious. I thin I read in another thread Ovation is shutting down. Too bad!
 
"Godwin" (g) was fat fingers on an iPad just as I was running out the door. Haha. I'm Canadian...I know and have owned several Godin ( gotta do the French accent when you say it) and they are great. When you get the Ovation, I'd be interested in you comments. You seem to have a big selection of amped ukuleles. Looking forward to you comments. I have a Godin LG solid mahogany guitar with P 90 soap bar pickups I'd love to trade for a multi Uke!
 
I kinda had a feeling about the typo. Even though most of my ukes have electronics, I hardly amp them, hopefully the Ovation has good projection un-amped. Put your guitar on the Marketplace to trade, see what happens.
 
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Ian Chadwick has a review of this uke from a few yrs back, and goes into depth and detail, and one thing that put me off these was his description of the procedure to change the preamp.

see: http://www.vintageukemusic.com/ukuleles/applause.htm

Mike - I hope it meets your expectations as it seems that this uke has been haunting you for a while and I am glad that you found one and it is on it's way to you, and I am interested in your thoughts for when it arrives and after you've had some time to put it through it's paces...
 
Ian Chadwick has a review of this uke from a few yrs back, and goes into depth and detail, and one thing that put me off these was his description of the procedure to change the preamp.

see: http://www.vintageukemusic.com/ukuleles/applause.htm

Mike - I hope it meets your expectations as it seems that this uke has been haunting you for a while and I am glad that you found one and it is on it's way to you, and I am interested in your thoughts for when it arrives and after you've had some time to put it through it's paces...

I read that it was highly entertaining
 
I read the review on the hassle of changing the battery on the preamp. To me, if you like the Ovation ithe hassle of changing a battery once a year will be minor. I'd like to play one. One thing I keep hoping for is MFC come out with a 8 shaped tenor. My Fluke is so awkward to hold. Yet it is cool and I like the "built in stand" function. Still I would welcome a double bout with a little nicer neck for a go anywhere Uke. Yesterday, I picked up mt wife at work after dropping my son off, so took my Fluke to play in the car for the half hour I waited. Fun but still, if Ovations were still in production I might try one. Enter MFC with a double bout. Only an opinion FWIW.
 
Interesting reading about the battery. My first thought is to just remove the battery to save some weight since I really don't amp my ukes, or maybe get a replacement battery box and cut open the body to fit it.

battery box.jpg
 
Just received the Ovation, it has a made in Korea label. I guess each person has their own idea of good projection, I find this one is plenty good for me, better than many I've played before. The color isn't near what the photo showed and the seller didn't even dust it off, but that's OK.

WAIT! I opened it up to change the battery (which was not difficult) and discovered a bunch of bug remnants, dead larvae and a couple of live bugs, truly disgusting. I just sent a message through eBay that I'm returning it for a full refund plus my shipping cost. My first negative experience with an eBay seller after many years of purchases.
 
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Just received the Ovation, it has a made in Korea label. I guess each person has their own idea of good projection, I find this one is plenty good for me, better than many I've played before. The color isn't near what the photo showed and the seller didn't even dust it off, but that's OK.

WAIT! I opened it up to change the battery (which was not difficult) and discovered a bunch of bug remnants, dead larvae and a couple of live bugs, truly disgusting. I just sent a message through eBay that I'm returning it for a full refund plus my shipping cost. My first negative experience with an eBay seller after many years of purchases.

YIKES. That's gross!
 
Just received the Ovation, it has a made in Korea label. I guess each person has their own idea of good projection, I find this one is plenty good for me, better than many I've played before. The color isn't near what the photo showed and the seller didn't even dust it off, but that's OK.

WAIT! I opened it up to change the battery (which was not difficult) and discovered a bunch of bug remnants, dead larvae and a couple of live bugs, truly disgusting. I just sent a message through eBay that I'm returning it for a full refund plus my shipping cost. My first negative experience with an eBay seller after many years of purchases.

Sorry about that Mike - I know how bad you wanted this uke, but at that price, with the 'gift' of insects, I too would send it back for a refund. I hope you took photos of the bugs just in case you need to file a dispute with ebay and/or Paypal in order to get your money back.

Also, before the seller deletes the listing or changes it and BEFORE you notify them, PRINT the ebay listing to a PDF file so you can prove that they did not disclosed the infestation and also that with the pictures that YOU take, the uke was dusty and colors did not match, i.e., you MAY need evidence for later, and you need to capture it all now before it goes away...
 
The seller immediately agreed to refund and pay the return shipping. I did take photos, including the poor job of packaging. I actually did a much better job in a proper ukulele shipping box I had with foam wrap and blocks.

Here are the bug shots. When I turned over the uke, all that larvae residue fell out. There's actually a live bug down the hole where the copper wire goes through the wood.

IMG_2187.jpgIMG_2189.jpg
 
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I have an old Applause tenor, I love the way it feels and plays but I too have never found the right strings for. It always sounds tinny and thin to me but the intonation is spot on perfect.
I always model my homemade tenor necks around my Applause.
 
I have an old Applause tenor, I love the way it feels and plays but I too have never found the right strings for. It always sounds tinny and thin to me but the intonation is spot on perfect.
I always model my homemade tenor necks around my Applause.

Tinny & thin...is that acoustically, plugged in, or both? I was surprised that superb uker Ian Emmerson plays only an Applause UAE-20 on gigs. I guess maybe they sound good plugged in, but not unplugged.
 
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