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  • June 22, 2006 at 9:04 pm #23336
    glw
    Participant

    I decided that I didn’t really need three Stratocasters, so have given in to a friend who was wanting to buy my Antigua re-issue. (Yes, really!) I decided to replace it with an acoustic and after some intense research into what kind of acoustic I made my mind up that I wanted an Ovation.

    Well, today I got my Ovation, and she is indeed a beauty. It’s a Korean-built Ovation Celebrity model; I’m not rich enough to afford one of the American-built jobbies.

    #http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v118/turquoisemoleeater/guitars/ovation01.jpg

    Anyway, it sounds fab, and I was really surprised at the volume that it pumps out when played acoustically. I was expecting it might be quite quiet like other electro-acoustics I’ve played in the past.

    After a while I noticed that something was rattling about inside the guitar. After some gentle shaking, I was able to get the offending object to fall through one of the 15 soundholes (count them!). It was – as I had suspected – a packet of silica gel. (For those who don’t know, it’s a dessicant, which absorbs moisture).

    Now, here’s my question: Silica gel inside acoustic guitars – a good thing or a bad thing? In the past I’ve heard both opinions expressed. Should I leave it in there, or should I chuck it out?

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    • June 29, 2006 at 8:00 pm #73095
      glw
      Participant

      Oh dear… custard… celery… two of my most hated foodstuffs. Excuse me whilst I hurl.

    • June 29, 2006 at 7:55 pm #73052
      lee_UK
      Participant

      Rhubarb crumble and custard, now im gonna have to make some of that, i think rhubarb is out of season though, maybe a stick of celery will do it.

    • June 29, 2006 at 8:58 am #73097
      1bassleft
      Participant

      You could put the bag in the oven near to the rhubarb crumble. Like Lee says, don’t eat it (the silica gel, your crumble may be OK). If you do lend the guitar to someone who sucks badly, it might absorb some spittle.

    • June 29, 2006 at 12:52 am #73060
      lee_UK
      Participant

      Tin of custard?

    • June 27, 2006 at 10:07 pm #73093
      glw
      Participant

      Well, that’s tonight’s dinner plans well and truly ruined.

      I suppose I’ll have to stop by at Sainsbury’s on the way home and get something else.

    • June 27, 2006 at 8:57 pm #73103
      lee_UK
      Participant

      But DONT eat it.

    • June 27, 2006 at 9:45 am #73054
      1bassleft
      Participant

      To answer your original Q, the silica gel bag is a complete waste of time (even for shipping, never mind actual owning and playing) so go ahead and throw it.

    • June 24, 2006 at 9:13 pm #73053
      glw
      Participant

      Yeah, I noticed the slipping off the lap thing too. The trick is to have it on a strap, even for sitting down.

      As for stage amplification, I’ve not ventured that far yet! I’ve just been playing it around the house. It might be an electro-acoustic but it is easily loud enough to be considered an acoustic in its own right.

    • June 24, 2006 at 8:41 pm #73079
      lee_UK
      Participant

      I think it was a good choice, i like Ovations, and yours looks very nice too, i like that wood veneer around the sound hole.
      I used to have a ‘Made under License’ Applause, which is the cheaper end of Ovation, I did notice the plastic bowl back coming away from the body, probaby a bad glue join, and as everyone who ever played one will know, they tend to slip off your lap when you play them, at least the full depth boddied ones do.
      But i think they sound very nice, mine went in part-ex on some garden fence panels i was having installed. The bloke took off £40 for it, i think he had a very good deal.
      What amplification do you use on stage with it glw? straight in the PA?

    • June 24, 2006 at 4:07 am #73068
      glw
      Participant

      I really liked that guitar. I just like the guitar in my avatar more, and the Antigua didn’t get a look in.

    • June 23, 2006 at 11:13 pm #73082
      lee_UK
      Participant

      I can of course understand why the Antigua was in mint condition, and virtualy unplayed, most of the originals that come on the market are in that condition too, bought in a moment of madness in ’79, and then left under the bed for 25 years 😆

    • June 23, 2006 at 9:34 pm #73091
      glw
      Participant

      I liked the Angitua guitar but I virtually never played it. It was just doing nothing and is in nearly mint condition. You would hardly know anyone had played it. As I said, I don’t really need three Strats.

      The other two, btw, are the plexiglass Sanox Sound Creator jobbie, and the Feline Holy Panther. The Antigua Strat looked rather conservative next to those two.

    • June 23, 2006 at 8:25 pm #73059
      lee_UK
      Participant

      More important than the silica gel is the fact you have turned in your Antigua!! does this mean your expulsion from the Antigua international appreciation society for lonley guitarists guitar forum?, and your Antigua colours being stripped from you by the Big Mod on this Forum, erm Mike ?
      I knew you would ditch it in the end, and the love affair would be over before the end of the summer, but i think you would ditch it so soon. 😆

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