Carmine wrote:
Back around 1980 when Neal Schon and Ross Valory were endorsing Ovation guitars, a right handed buddy of mine got an Ovation Magnum II bass with the built in graphic EQ. I always thought from a design /features/ tech angle it was very cool in its own unique way- and it sounded pretty good too, but as Frenchy said, it wasn't the kind of thing you could just fling around... Anyway, some of you may find this entertaining....
Remember Eastwood's attempt to create a Magnum "tribute version" back in 2011? The production run was brief- and according to the old page on the Eastwood site, they only made 24 Lefties- so when an old B stocker popped up a couple years ago, I had to go for it...
I was pleasantly surprised that the build quality and neck were actually quite decent- but it looked like a collection of parts bin pieces, and of course the mudbucker pickup and electronics sounded nothing like an actual Magnum (one of these days it might be fun to stumble across a beat Magnum on the cheap and transplant electronics and hardware). In the interim I wanted it to look and sound better so I made a few mods- including replacing the mudbucker with a Guild BS-1 Bi-Sonic Single Coil pickup (which btw is also what Serek Basses here in Chicago is using- https://youtu.be/GuDtKF8qyNY) for much warmer and cleaner low mids ; an SBK 3 band active preamp w/ vol/blend (to emulate the 3 band active sliders in the Magnum II) replacing the standard 2 vol/2 tone/ 3 way switch; a Hipshot Brass A-Style Bridge, and a brass nut (also replaced the knobs and all those fugly silver screws w/ black ones).
It's now fun to play, sounds great, and can come reasonably close to capturing the tones of a original Magnum, as well as do its own thing. And it weighs a lot less.
Remember Eastwood's attempt to create a Magnum "tribute version" back in 2011? The production run was brief- and according to the old page on the Eastwood site, they only made 24 Lefties- so when an old B stocker popped up a couple years ago, I had to go for it...
I was pleasantly surprised that the build quality and neck were actually quite decent- but it looked like a collection of parts bin pieces, and of course the mudbucker pickup and electronics sounded nothing like an actual Magnum (one of these days it might be fun to stumble across a beat Magnum on the cheap and transplant electronics and hardware). In the interim I wanted it to look and sound better so I made a few mods- including replacing the mudbucker with a Guild BS-1 Bi-Sonic Single Coil pickup (which btw is also what Serek Basses here in Chicago is using- https://youtu.be/GuDtKF8qyNY) for much warmer and cleaner low mids ; an SBK 3 band active preamp w/ vol/blend (to emulate the 3 band active sliders in the Magnum II) replacing the standard 2 vol/2 tone/ 3 way switch; a Hipshot Brass A-Style Bridge, and a brass nut (also replaced the knobs and all those fugly silver screws w/ black ones).
It's now fun to play, sounds great, and can come reasonably close to capturing the tones of a original Magnum, as well as do its own thing. And it weighs a lot less.
Nice mods, Carmine. I remember when these came out and thought about buying one, but ultimately I passed due to Eastwood's corner cutting. (I have the same feeling about their take on the Amped EAB-1, which I own, hoping I could swap out the neck for a real Ampeg scroll neck someday). I figured if I could find a real Ovation neck someday I might consider building one closer to the real deal using righty vintage parts wherever possible.
for modding up with T-40 stuff (front row). But the pickup positions on a Foundation are definitely closer together and shifted back toward the bridge, compared to a T-40... not sure what the overall impact of that would be?