This is a wonderful 1974 Ovation Folklore 12 fret steel string. If you know Ovation history, you know that the first model (1966-1967) they produced was the Josh White 12 fret folk guitar. The Folklore began production in 1973 as an updated version of the Josh White model. This was designed for finger-pickers with a wider nut and fretboard than other steel string models. If you love to fingerpick, you’ll love playing this guitar. It might have the nicest neck/fretboard I’ve ever played. If you like to flat pick, you’ll love this guitar. With the deep bowl, the tone has that lovely, balanced Ovation sound. Sounds great unplugged, maybe even better plugged in.
This guitar’s story: I bought this guitar from a young man via Facebook Marketplace, who received it as a gift from his uncle. The uncle bought it at a pawn shop. The guitar has the very typical, for Ovation, center seam crack on the top. Unfortunately, someone had done a very poor repair job on the larger crack below the bridge that had to be redone. While the new repair is not cosmetically great, it is solid and does not affect the tone at all. I also repaired a smaller crack between the sound hole and bridge. The truss rod cover was cracked which I replaced with a new replica.
In 1974, this model came with tuners borrowed from their nylon-string model. These had black plastic sleeves on the rollers. While these work great for nylon strings, they did not work so well with steel strings as the strings would gouge into the sleeves and create tuning issues. I was able to find some new stock OEM Schaller tuners that I put on the guitar, which now stays in tune forever :-). If you’re an Ovation fan, you know what a cool guitar this is. If you’re a finger picker and looking for a great working guitar you need to give this one a try. I’m having a hard time letting this one go because it’s such a wonderful instrument, but it just doesn’t get playing time. Take a look, let me know if you have any questions.
Doc Hanson’s Guitars: Every guitar I sell has at a minimum has been cleaned, the action adjusted to a good playing height, new strings installed, and tested by me. If the guitar has electronics, these have been tested and repaired if needed. I do not sell guitars that don’t work properly. If the guitar has been repaired prior to me receiving it, I make every attempt to describe those repairs in the listing. If I have made repairs on the guitar, I will describe them in the listing. I attempt to be as accurate and transparent as possible in my descriptions but acknowledge that I don’t know everything and can make errors. My list prices are based on the assessed condition of the guitar and market rates. I will entertain reasonable offers, and reject low-balls. My desire is to get good guitars into the hands of people to play and enjoy. I charge a flat shipping rate for every guitar shipped within the US. If you are in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area and want to look at a guitar, or pick up locally, let me know. Thanks for looking and keep on pickin’. Doc Hanson.
