Hillman Guitar No. 10
Ovation Legend 1619-4
Serial No. 049142
www.hillmanweb.com/hillgt10.html
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TALES OF THE LEGENDIn the mid-'70s we obtained an Ovation dealership and the sales people offered us a good introductory special on this Ovation Legend. In many ways it is a great guitar -- great tone and projection from its deep roundback . . . very elaborate abalone inlays . . . fine flat-top lines . . . a great molded case -- but over the years it has developed a few serious flaws. The electronics are controlled by only a volume control, with no control over tone. As a result the sound is often quite unusable without major exterior EQ adjustment. Possibly one reason this model was sold off so cheaply when we purchased it was that the wood wasn't properly cured. The truss rod in the neck, for many years, had to be adjusted with each change of season. In recent years the spruce top has developed a major crack down the middle from the bridge to the tail pin.
Despite some of these flaws, we've used it as our main acoustic on many of our live shows, weddings, recording sessions, etc. It was featured prominently on the cover - and sound - of our Hillman Express ~ Track 15 ~ Vol. 6 album. Although we had almost always used electrics for our TV work, it seemed appropriate to press the Ovation into play for the 1980 CCMA Big Country Show at the Winnipeg Centennial Auditorium. We were asked to do two original songs and were backed by a full orchestra. We chose two of our singles recordings: the uptempo Cajun Stomp and our top ten release -- the duet ballad, One Night Stand. The concert was quite long and featured most of the top Canadian Country stars of the time. Appropriately, we were introduced by Nashville's George Hamilton IV, who was familiar with us through the reputation and trail of destruction we left along the English Workingman Club circuit in the '70s as he worked many of the same clubs. It was a good show for us as we were introduced as having just won the Manitoba Entertainers of the Year Award, the crowd seemed to be with us, and we got to rub shoulders with Canada’s top country performers on that one -- and the Ovation stayed in tune. The tape footage was broken into two separate shows that were shown many times on CBC network television -- shown everywhere but in our hometown Brandon, where the programmer at the local station opted to show a movie each time. The guys working at the station let us in to watch one of the shows off the network feed and we have a copy on Sony U-Matic 3/4" tape.
The producer of the CBC show seemed impressed with our act and later called us to do a major country music gala in Toronto in conjunction with the Grey Cup festivities. Unfortunately, it was on short notice and we were already booked to play for a best friend's wedding that weekend. This and the demands from my day job, teaching high school, and caring for two-year-old Ja-On, made for a very difficult decision: we declined. The road not taken . . . . where would it have led?
I ramble... but everytime I gaze at one of the members of my guitar family, certain thoughts seem to flood over me . . . these are just some of the memories that the Ovation brings back. Many more such tales shall surface in other parts of our Musical Odyssey pages.
