Open Box Ovation Custom Elite C2078 AX Deep Contour Acoustic-Electric Guitar Level 2 Black 190839090393

First off, there has been only 1 review of this guitar that I have found (online or otherwise) so I felt compelled to to add this review to add anothers perspective for anyone considering a purchase. I allowed myself a few days of playing the guitar before writing the review to get acclimated and to provide an unbiased opinion. With that said (As mentioned in the previous review) this Guitar is born in Korea, not the USA. I'll break this down into the usual catagories. 1- Sound - Unplugged, the guitar has a nice balanced tone. Sort of woody (it's not a full wood guitar afterall) certainly very full and responsive though. Plugged in, the OP Pro Studio electornics allow this guitar to cover a nice array of sound shaping and it provides a very balanced output. Sounds very good indeed. (One item to note, if you are going to use an XLR with this guitar you 'may' need to purchase a specific Ovation XLR cable to allow the phantom power to work correctly. I tried a standard XLR cable and it did not power the onboard electronics, even after initializing it with the 1/4" jack. Not sure of the exact cable # as I haven't been there yet. Pls review Ovation knowledgebase for more specifics.) 2- Playability - The guitar came setup with D'addario EXP16 12 to 53 gauge strings. The action was Med. For the 12 gauge strings and Med action and neck width, it played very well and was easy to get used to. (If you are used to lighter strings please note that bending 12s will require more omph to accomplish the bend. Also, if you plan on having the guitar setup wih ligher strings, a truss and action setup is recommendedd by Ovation support). 3 - Quality - Quality for the guitar that I received was at about 80%. The top was very nice with the laser inlaid epaulets (guitar is Black by the way). The bowl of the guitar (be sure to read the review for that later!!!) was finished nicely the neck joint fit as expected. *** The items to note here are: The electronics unit in the guitar was loose in the body and required a tighening. Also, the bottom binding on the neck had left over clear on it and was not smooth and finished like the top binding where the fret markers are located. And, there was a splash of glue on the ebony fretboard. Not a ton but, something to note. 4 - Reliability - Only having the guitar for just less then a week I can't speak to much for the reliabilty just yet. I can tell you that this guitar DOES NOT come out of tune easily. 5 - The Contoured bowl - Ok, here it goes. First, if you have not played an ovation guitar before MAKE SURE you go and play ALL THREE non contour bowls first (Super Shallow, Med and Deep)to get a feel for thier thickness\width. I'm used to thinner body style guitars (Takamine 568 for example) so when I decided to puchase this guitar I read the description of the deep contour bowl and it states (and I quote) 'A Contour Bowl body has the acoustic projection, midrange punch, and huge bottom end of a traditional jumbo-style instrument, yet offers the playing comfort of Ovation?s Super-Shallow body.' The first part is on the money, however, this guitar DOES NOT provide the same feel of the Super Shallow bowl. It's closer to the Med\Deep bowl (as listed deep). Very important to note because when I was researching this guitar NOT ONE DEALER had a contoured bowl in stock to play. NOT ONE!!!!!!. I had to order this sight unseen and took a chance. The contour bowl is well suited for players that like to sit while playing and feels very natural in that position. Standing did pose a bit of a challange with the wider body but with that said, I am glad I purchased this guitar. Now that I'm used to the wider body :-) 6 - Ovations Support team - I did mail Ovations support team prior to ordereing this guitar. I did receive a response from them unlike some other companies support teams that will go unmentioned here. They were knowledgable but it did take them quite a while to respond. Hopefully I'll never have to send the guiatr in for work to exercise thier support further. Overall, I do enjoy this guitar and think it's a nice piece. If the quality was better and the electronics were tight I'd probably have rated this a 5. I'd wish that I was able to play it first and that guitar dealers carried at least one contour body Ovation for prospective buyers to check it out. The Quality did leave a little something to be desired as mentioned but was only cosmetic and easily fixed. A few other things before I finish. The guitar does come with a hardshell case and, The pamphlet that came with my Custom Elite C2078AX-5 was for a Celeberty, not the Custom Elite. Maybe it was late Friday afternoon and a beer was calling. Who knows..... I hope this review is able to assist with making your decision easier. Especially since these guitars don't seem to be in to may stores for players to get a feel for. Happy playing on what ever instument you choose.

First and foremost-THIS GUITAR IS NOT MADE IN AMERICA- IT IS MADE IN KOREA. (This may or may not be a bad thing but if you have been using Ovations for 30 years, like me- You NEED to know this.) The design, materials, and overall craftsmanship of this guitar are quite good for the price which also includes a locking, hardshell case! With ebony fingerboard/bridge, hardwood rosettes, abalone inlays, and a TRUE PRISTINE Spruce top-this guitar is unbeatable on paper. The acoustic tone was great but not breathtaking compared to my other ovations (not sure if it has to do with the modern "contour" shell or not, my other Ovations are true "ROUND-BACKS") however the electronics are where this baby begins to SUREPASS all the visual eye-candy. The OP-Pro Studio IS state-of-the-art audio at its finest!! Never heard better "plugged-in" acoustics! (Ran through a Roland AC-60 amp and directly into my Pro-tools rig). Only thing that was a serious bother was the XLR jack (which I would never use) was mis-mounted at the factory and was overly recessed thus exposing the composite shell which made the jack appear cumbersome and unfinished. OVERALL a beautiful guitar that is that is worth the money & is AT IT'S BEST WHILE PLUGGED IN...(into its 1/4" jack, that is;)