|
The Ovation guitar
company, and the nature of the Ovation guitar's synthetic back are directly
attributed to founder Charles H. Kaman's experiments in helicopter aviation.
Kaman, who began playing guitar back in high school, trained in the field of
aeronautics and graduated from the Catholic University in Washington, D.C.
His first job in 1940 was with a division of United Aircraft, home of
aircraft inventor Igor Sikorsky. In 1945, Kaman formed the Kaman Aircraft
Corporation to pursue his helicopter-related inventions.
As the company began to grow, the decision was made around 1957 to diversify
into manufacturing products in different fields. Kaman initially made
overtures to the Martin company, as well as exploring both Harmony and Ludwig
drums. Finally, the decision was made to start fresh. Due to research in
vibrations and resonances in the materials used to build helicopter blades,
guitar development began in 1964 with employees John Ringso
and Jim Rickard. In fact, it was Rickard's pre-war Martin D-45 that was used
as the "test standard." In 1967, the Ovation company name was
chosen, incorporated, and settled into its "new facilities" in New
Hartford, Connecticut. The first model named that year was the Balladeer.
Ovation guitars were debuted at the 1967 NAMM show. Early players and
endorsers included Josh White, Charlie Byrd, and Glen Campbell. Piezo pickup
equipped models were introduced in 1972, as well as other models. During the
early 1970s, Kaman Music (Ovation's parent company) acquired the well-known
music distributors Coast, and also part of the Takamine guitar company. By
1975, Ovation decided to release an entry level instrument, and the original
Applause/Medallion/Matrix designs were first built in the U.S. before
production moved into Korea.
In 1986, Kaman's oldest son became president of Kaman Music. Charles William
Bill Kaman II had begun working in the Ovation factory at age 14. After
graduating college in 1974, Bill was made Director of Development at the
Moosup, Connecticut plant. A noted Travis Bean guitar collector (see Kaman's
Travis Bean history later in this book), Bill Kaman remained active in the
research and development aspect of model design. Kaman helped design the
Viper III, and the UK II solid bodies.
Bill Kaman gathered all branches of the company under one roof as the Kaman
Music Corporation (KMC) in 1986. As the Ovation branch was now concentrating
on acoustic and acoustic/electric models, the corporation bought the
independent Hamer company in 1988 as the means to re-enter the solid body
guitar market. In 2007, Ovation returned from nearly twenty years in electric
hiatus with the VXT Hybrid model. This guitar has both acoustic and electric
capabilities with two exposed humbucker pickups and a Fishman bridge pickup.
In late 2007, the Fender Musical Instrument Corporation (FMIC) acquired Kaman
Music, which included Ovation. In 2008, Kaman Music changed the name of their
company to KMC Music. On January 31, 2011 Charles Kaman passed away at the
age of 91. In June 2014, Fender closed the Ovation factory in Connecticut
leaving only overseas production of Ovation guitars. Source: Walter Carter, The
History of the Ovation Guitar.
|