OVATION GUITARS ADAMAS, STORY AND SERIES PRESENTATION

VATION

Made for the stage

For 400 years, guitars have been built the same way. On stage played, acoustic guitars are not loud enough... And so begins the story of Charles Kaman, Ovation and Adamas guitars...

1964 - CHARLES KAMAN & MARTIN GUITARS

Charles Kaman was an aeronautical engineer specializing in helicopters.

Early helicopters were unstable and difficult to control. Charles devised the "Servo Flap", more efficient and stable.

The Sikorsky Company he worked for was not interested in his invention. That's why, in 1945, Charles started Kaman Aircraft with $2,000 and became a world leader in the industry...

At the same time, Charles Kaman was an outstanding guitarist. His favorite guitar, a Martin, developed a crack. He went to the Martin factory, where they repaired guitars with glue and clamps. Seeing this, he thought: « We know how to tool these things, we’ve been doing this for years on helicopter rotors ». Charles offered to buy Martin, who politely declined. The idea of a new guitar was born...

1966 - THE FIRST OVATION GUITAR

FROM HELICOPTER VIBRATIONS TO GOOD VIBRATIONS

Charlie wanted to reinvent the guitar. 2500 employees worked at Kaman Aircraft, and 1/4 of them engineers, scientists and technicians. Mountains of research measuring helicopter vibrations were used for developing the new guitar. No other guitar manufacturer knew more about vibration, mode shapes and resonances.

A few examples of the problems Charles Kaman wanted to correct:

1- Corners of the flat-back design are weak

2- By definition, wood is inconsistent. If it’s shaped parabolically, it may crack

3- Waves tend to remain standing, especially in corners

Solutions found by Charles and his team:

1- Parabolic shape for the back: everything is round

2- New material research to build this parabolic shape without risking cracks

3- No more angles = no more standing waves

Thanks to the rounded back, sound waves project better.

THE OVATION ROUND BACK PRINCIPLE

THE OVATION BODY

- No internal bracing or corners on the back (the back is curved at the sides)

- Semi-parabolic shape improves sound stability

- Better balanced sound from low to high pitches

- More resistant materials, better roadworthiness

Charles’ answer: Lyrachord.

This material is used in high-tech aerospace. From Helicopters to Guitars: Fiberglass + Wood = Ovation.

In the 1950’s and 1960’s many of the helicopter blades that Kaman Corporation was producing were made from fiberglass and various kinds of wood, including spruce. An unusual combination of materials for many guitar makers at the time, but Charlie was well aware of their properties and resilience.

Lyrachord standard : Special mixture with a proportion of glass fiber

Lyrachord GS : Special mixture with a proportion of glass fiber and micro glass bubbles

Woven carbon fiber Tops Hand-laid, Lyrachord glass fiber bowl 90% Glass fiber.

LYRACHORD CARACTERITICS

- Tunable

- Extremely light weight

- Highly sound reflective

THREE DIFFERENT SIZES

- Deep Bowl Contour

The Comfortable: largest sound volume. Volume: 15 liters.

- Mid Depth

The All-Rounder:best solution from both worlds. Volume: 14 liters

- Super Shallow

The Slim Shape... Closer to the body when played. Ideal for the stage. Volume : 10 liters.

1971 - AGAINST FEEDBACK

ACOUSTIC GUITARS HAVE FEEDBACK PROBLEMS

HOW TO AMPLIFY AN ACOUSTIC GUITAR AND AVOID FEEDBACK

Kaman’s helicopter engineers used piezo ceramic sensors to measure vibrations of the blades. This sensors were now used to measure guitars: a milestone in guitar development was reached.

Guitarists wanted to move around on stage and not standing in front of a microphone.

Engineers integrated piezoelectric ceramics into guitar nut, instead of „retro fitting“ it to an existing bridge design. Sensitive to pressure, ceramic crystals pick up vibration from both, strings and top. This system works with any string gauge or tuning tension, even thin E-Guitar strings. Less feedback and still the true sound of the guitar, stronger and fuller signal.

1977 - INTRODUCTION OF THE ADAMAS

A SANDWICH MADE FROM AEROSPACE

The top is the heart and most important factor for a good guitar-sound. A thin wooden top is not stable. But it has to be thin to generate more vibrations.

Charles found another material, far superior to wood: graphite-wood-graphite composite. this material was lighter, stronger, resonant and impervious to temperature and humidity changes.

Thickness of a standard wooden top of a folk guitar: about 3,2 mm

Thickness of an Adamas carbon fiber top: 0,9 mm

Still the big sound hole was in the middle of the guitars top, where the most vibrations happen.

Charles replaced on some models the big sound hole with several small side sound holes: the multi sound holes.

Charles introduces the multiholes Adamas!

ADAMAS SUSPENDED TOP

Composite graphite top is suspended above the sides of the body by a fiberglass ring. The top is completely decoupled from the body, lets the surface of the top vibrate over a larger area like a drum head stretched over a rim, so percussive, nearly feels like a Cajon.

While playing, the body and the top generate vibrations that all point in different directions. By opposing each other, they cancel each other out. In this specific case, to avoid the loss of vibrations, the binding allows the top and body to vibrate independently of each other. The result is a more precise, powerful sound.

MULTIHOLE DESIGN

The Adamas Multihole-design was 1982 introduced in wooden top guitars. The Elite models were launched.

ARTISTS

Judy Bailey, Marcel Dadi, Ray Davies, Diazno, Aitor Epas, Ian Ethan Case, Melissa Etheridge, Mixed Up Everything, David Gilmour, James Hetfield, Josh Homme, Kaki King, John Lennon, Steve Lukather, Yngwie Malmsteen, Bob Marley, Julian Marley, Brian May, Al Di Meola, Jimmy Page, Patrick Rondat, Richie Sambor, Ragnar Zolberg, ...

1980-1990 - STRONGEST YEARS

72,000 guitars sold per year. The guitar of choice for Paul McCartney, Melissa Etheridge, John Lennon, ...

1990 - FENDER BUYS OVATION

2015 - DW BUYS OVATION

2021 - GEWA MUSIC TAKES OVER

CURRENT MODEL AND SERIES STRUCTURE

Celebrity Series

- Solid spruce top

- Scalloped, quartersawn X-Bracing

- Mid-depth Lyrachord® Body

- Nato neck, Ovangkol fingerboard and bridge

- Scale 643 mm, nut width 42,8 mm

- CP-100 Slimline Pickup

- OP-4CT Preamp with tuner

- Selected precious wood top (quilted, burled, flamed or spalted maple, Koa)

- Scalloped, quartersawn X-Bracing

- Mid-depth Lyrachord® Body

- Nato neck, Ovangkol fingerboard and bridge

- Scale 643 mm, nut width 42,8 mm

- CP-100 Slimline Pickup

- OP-4CT Preamp with tuner

Click here to discover all the guitars from Celebrity Series.

Pro Series

- Solid wood tops

- Different kind of bracings

- Mid-depth, deep and deep contour bowls

- Five-part mahogany/maple necks

- Rosewood, ebony, walnut fingerboards and bridges

- OCP-1 or OCP-2000 Pickups

- OP-Pro or OP-Pro-Studio or K-21CT preamps

Ovation Guitars with nylon strings feature a slightly arched fingerboard and a slimmer neck width (48 mm at the nut) than traditional classical guitars. These characteristics offer a level of playing comfort closer to that of folk or electric guitars. These guitars are recommended for players familiar with steel-string guitars but who like the nylon string sound and Latin American music styles.

Click here to discover all the guitars from Pro Series.

Adamas guitars