THINGS--OVATION GUITARS--FACTORY

 WELL—I WAS KINDA DISAPPOINTED WITH THE WELCOME I RECEIVED AT THE RECEPTION DESK,,  BUT THEN AGAIN,, WHAT COULD I EXPECT?? I HAD ‘DROPPED IN’ ON A WHIM DURING ONE OF MY MOTORCYCLE RIDES—NO APPOINTMENT—NO NOTHING—JUST SEEMED LIKE A GOOD IDEA AT THE TIME..I FOUND THE RECEPTION AREA EMPTY EXCEPT FOR ONE OF THOSE LITTLE ROUND BELLS THAT YOU PUSH A BUTTON ON THE TOP AND IT GIVES OFF THIS ‘SOMEBODY IS HERE’ TYPE OF FRIENDLY RING..I HIT THE BUTTON AND IN ABOUT FIFTEEN OR SO SECONDS THIS MAN APPROACHED FROM SOME INNER CUBICLE..NOTHING TOO FRIENDLY ABOUT HIS MANNER.. SORT OF A “I HOPE YOU HAD A GOOD REASON FOR RINGING THAT *%#%!^ BELL,” LOOK ABOUT HIM..



(BIRTHPLACE OF EVERY OVATION GUITAR)

MY POWERS OF PERCEPTION ARE AMAZING SOMETIMES, AND I KNEW IMMEDIATELY THAT ANY HOPE OF BEING SHOWN AROUND THE FACTORY FOR A FEW PHOTOS OF SOME OVATION GUITARS BEING BORN WAS OUT OF THE QUESTION..HE SIMPLY STATED THAT I SHOULD VISIT THE INTERNET IF I WANTED INFO ABOUT THE COMPANY..(?)  “O.K. HAVE A GOOD DAY-SORRY TO HAVE BOTHERED YOU.” BUT HE DID ASSURE ME THAT I WAS WELCOME TO TAKE PHOTOS OF THE BUILDING..COOL—I RETURNED ON A SUNDAY WHEN THE EMPLOYEE VEHICLES WERE GONE AND GOT A FEW SHOTS OF THE BUILDING WHERE EVERY OVATION GUITAR EVER MADE BEGAN IT’S LIFE..SOME HAVE LIVED IN OBSCURITY WHILE OTHERS HAVE, QUITE LITERALLY, BEEN IN THE SPOTLIGHT WITH THE MUSICIANS WHO CHOOSE THEM AS OUTLETS FOR THEIR TALENTS.

DAVID GILMORE-ROGER WATERS-MOTLEY CRUE-MEGADETH-JOHN LENNON-REO SPEEDWAGON-PANTERA-JUDAS PRIEST-SCORPIONS-JIMMY PAGE- GLEN CAMPBELL-THIS LIST COULD GO ON AND ON BUT THESE ARE JUST A FEW OF THE WELL KNOWN NAMES WHO HAVE SEEN FIT TO SHARE THE STAGE AS WELL AS THE RECORDING STUDIO WITH AN OVATION GUITAR…SO-REGARDLESS OF YOUR INDIVIDUAL TASTE IN MUSIC YOU HAVE, AT SOME POINT, LISTENED TO AN OVATION GUITAR (UNLESS YOUR STRICTLY A PAN-FLUTE FAN)……

THE WORLD'S FIRST TURBINE POWERED HELICOPTER-KAMAN BUILT

AT THE SMITHSONIAN AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM THERE IS ON DISPLAY THE WORLDS FIRST GAS-TURBINE POWERED HELICOPTER BUILT IN 1949..IN A SENSE THAT ANTIQUE MACHINE IS THE GREAT-GRANDFATHER OF THE FAMOUS OVATION GUITAR FAMILY..BUT NOW I’M GETTING A LITTLE AHEAD OF MYSELF..

IN JUNE OF 1919 CHARLES KAMAN WAS BORN IN WASHINGTON DC..LATER HE ATTENDED THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA WHERE HE GRADUATED WITH HIGH HONORS AND THEN PROCEEDED TO A POSITION WITH HAMILTON STANDARD WHERE HE WAS INVOLVED WITH PROPELLER PERFORMANCE AND OUTPUT..WHILE THERE HE BECAME INTERESTED IN HELICOPTERS (A NEW TECHNOLOGY AT THE TIME) AND SECURED A POSITION AT SIKORSKY AIRCRAFT WHERE HE DEVELOPED SOME IDEAS AND VISIONS OF HIS OWN..AND SO, IN 1945, AT THE AGE OF 26, CHARLES KAMAN ALONG WITH TWO FRIENDS WHO HAD INVESTED A TOTAL OF $2000.00 STARTED A COMPANY IN THE GARAGE OF HIS MOTHER’S WEST HARTFORD HOME IN CONNECTICUT..THE COMPANY BECAME KNOWN AS KAMAN AIRCRAFT AND TODAY IS A BILLION DOLLAR COMPANY WITH A WORLD WIDE CUSTOMER BASE..

A MAJOR PROBLEM THAT PLAGUED EARLY HELICOPTERS WAS VIBRATION WITHIN THE ROTOR BLADES AS WELL AS VIBRATIONS CAUSED BY THE ROTOR BLADES THEMSELVES, IN ADDITION TO THE INHERENT VIBRATIONS OF ANY INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.. A GREAT DEAL OF RESEARCH WENT INTO THE PHYSICS AND MOLECULAR DYNAMICS OF MATERIALS THAT COULD DAMPEN OR ELIMINATE THE DANGERS THAT SEVERE VIBRATION COULD CAUSE AN AIRCRAFT.. AND WITH THAT RESEARCH CAME THE GROWING KNOWLEDGE OF COMPOSITE MATERIALS AS WELL AS A VERY INTIMATE KNOWLEDGE OF VIBRATION ITSELF..NOW—LET’S TIE IT ALL TOGETHER..

AS WE ALL REMEMBER FROM SCHOOL, SOUND IS VIBRATION, AND ANY MUSICAL COMPOSITION IS ESSENTIALLY A CAREFULLY ARRANGED COLLECTION OF VIBRATIONS..AS FATE WOULD HAVE IT MR. KAMAN WAS AN ACCOMPLISHED GUITAR PLAYER WHO ONCE TURNED DOWN AN OFFER TO PLAY IN THE ‘TOMMY DORSEY ORCHESTRA’.. AT SOME POINT IN 1965 HE DECIDED TO APPLY THE KNOWLEDGE ACQUIRED ABOUT COMPOSITE MATERIALS AND VIBRATION DYNAMICS TO HIS FAVORITE INSTRUMENT-THE ACOUSTIC GUITAR..HE ASSIGNED A TEAM OF ENGINEERS TO THE PROJECT AND AFTER MONTHS OF RESEARCH, EXPERIMENTATION AND CREATING PROTOTYPE INSTRUMENTS, A ‘ROUND BACK’ DESIGN WAS IMPLEMENTED THAT WAS BLENDED AND MOLDED WITH A CUSTOM COMPOSITE MATERIAL RATHER THAN THE TRADITIONAL WOODEN-BACK ACOUSTIC GUITAR..THIS INITIAL SUCCESS LAUNCHED A WHOLE LINE OF ‘ROUND-BACK’ ACOUSTIC/ELECTRIC GUITARS AND IN 1966 “OVATION GUITARS” CAME INTO BEING..THE REST IS HISTORY—WE HAVE ALL HEARD THEM—AND WE HAVE ALL ENJOYED THEIR BEAUTIFUL SOUND..

OVATION WENT ON TO MANUFACTURE SOLID BODY GUITARS BUT THEY WERE NEVER AS WELL RECEIVED AS THE ACOUSTIC INSTRUMENTS..SOME OF THESE SOLID BODY SPECIMENS ARE QUITE RARE AND HAVE BECOME COVETED PIECES AS ONLY A FEW THOUSAND WERE MANUFACTURED..I LIFTED A FEW PHOTOS OF A COUPLE SO YOU CAN CHECK OUT THAT OLD GUITAR YOUR DAD LEFT BEHIND..

THIS POST WOULD NOT BE COMPLETE WITHOUT EXPANDING A BIT ON MR. CHARLES KAMAN..IN 1960 HE AND HIS SECOND WIFE ROBERTA FOUNDED THE ‘FIDELCO SEEING EYE DOG FOUNDATION’ BASED IN BLOOMFIELD CT...AN INSTITUTION WHOSE ASSISTANCE TO THE BLIND IS BEYOND PRICELESS.. MR. KAMAN AND ROBERTA WERE INVOLVED WITH THE CAREFUL SELECTION AND BREEDING OF BAVARIAN STOCK GERMAN SHEPHERDS AND ESSENTIALLY CREATED A BREED WITHIN A BREED (FIDELCO GERMAN SHEPHERDS) WHOSE INTELLIGENCE, STRENGTH AND LOYALTY MAKE THEM ESPECIALLY SUITED FOR THEIR FUTURE TRAINING AND NEARLY MIRACULOUS WORK AS GUIDE DOGS..

THE ‘KAMAN HUSKY’ FLEW MORE RESCUE MISSIONS DURING THE KOREAN AND VIETNAM WARS THAN ALL OTHER HELICOPTERS COMBINED AND NOT ONE LIFE WAS LOST DUE TO MECHANICAL FAILURE..IT IS ESTIMATED THAT KAMAN HELICOPTERS HAVE BEEN INVOLVED WITH SAVING OVER 15000 LIVES DURING THE LAST HALF OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY.. IN THE YEAR 1996 PRESIDENT CLINTON PRESENTED HIM WITH THE NATIONAL MEDAL OF TECHNOLOGY, ONLY ONE OF A LENGTHY LIST OF AWARDS AND CITATIONS THAT THIS OUTSTANDING MAN HAS TO HIS CREDIT..

HIS WIFE, ROBERTA, PASSED AWAY IN 2010 AND MR. KAMAN PASSED AWAY JUST THIS YEAR (JANUARY 31) AT THE AGE OF 91..

I AM SORRY THAT I WAS NOT ABLE TO POST A PHOTO OR TWO SHOWING THE MANUFACTURING PROCESS THAT GOES INTO THESE UNIQUE GUITARS, BUT AS I RESEARCHED THE COMPANY I FOUND THAT THE STORY OF OVATIONS FOUNDER WAS MUCH MORE INTERESTING THAN ANY DESCRIPTION OF THE MANUFACTURING PROCESS COULD HOPE TO BE..

NEXT TIME YOU HEAR A HELICOPTER THUMPING AWAY-THINK ‘VIBRATIONS’—THINK ‘OVATION GUITARS’..

DONE WITH THIS POST—TAKING A RIDE TO ANOTHER OF MY FAVORITE SPOTS—NEXT WEEK I’LL SHARE SOME PHOTOS OF THE LOCATION AND ROADS LEADING THERE,, AND INTRODUCE YOU TO THE BIKERS I AM SURE TO MEET THERE OR ALONG THE WAY….SEE YOU THEN….HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A GREAT WEEK….JIM  

(as always click photos for more detail)