If you’ve been following my guitar saga, I did end up ordering my dream guitar to replace my deceased [and ancient] folk guitar–an Ovation Celebrity CC059 acoustic-electric. It arrived Wednesday, spent a day getting checked out by Chuck (CKuz Guitars, my excellent local expert), and is an almost constant distraction from the work I should be doing.

Fortunately, I’ve been getting a lot of work done lately (probably because I have an extraordinary number of deadlines to hit), and I’ve been compensating with breaks to play the Ovation and to read S.C.P.D.: The Case of the Claw by Keith R.A. DeCandido, which is really distracting.

The most amazing thing about the guitar is the built-in tuner–I bought my last guitar in the ’80s. I still remember how cool it was to shift from a pitch pipe to an electronic tuner (and yes, I can tune without an electronic aid!).

Today I tried out the Ovation plugged for the first time, just to see what it sounded like. Very different from my Gibson–a much cleaner sound. I really like it, although non-amped is just fine for the most part.

ovation celebrity cc059 acoustic-electic guitar

My finger dexterity is slowly coming back (bar chords very slowly), but I’m getting there.

I had played someone’s Ovation back in High School? College? and loved the round back, and the experience stuck with me. The super-shallow body of this model is a really good fit for me, and is really comfortable to play. Not sure it’s the right guitar for everyone–but I’m super happy with my choice.

Why did I stop playing again?