Applause AA-21

I realy like this guitar and what my dad's reveiw is a bunch of crap. It ain't a martin but it's the best acoustic I got. It is a 21 fret all black probably made '04. No soup, salad or fish is going in my guitar.

It still has stock strings on it but I'm whining at my dad to give me new strings . some of his elixars or cleartones. I realy like the way it sounds, wich I think is great. It's better than the first act shoe box my dad bought me last year for my birthday.

I could not find any problems in it but I'm only 12. And this is definetly better than the shoe box. Besides, I got a hardshell case. I'll have to give it a 10 here. I'll rate my a 10.

I only got it a couple of days ago, but it has not broke yet. I think it'll last if I take care of it.

Not my department

I realy think it is worth ever penny I paid. Thanks dad.

I bought this to replace my older worn out vantage accoustic. Strictly for campfire purposes. No pickups or electronics. I like the bridge design in that there are no pegs. I kinda wonder why this didnt catch on with other manufacturers. The tuning keys are fairly good considering the low price. They stay in tune nicely and offer a fairly good turning ratio. It is a salad bowl type body, so not only can you paddle your boat, you can eat a salad too.:) The neck is better than other guitars I tried in this price range. The stock strings however were total garbage.

This being my first salad bowl type body i was kinda surprised at the sound. It is better than I expected. I did try it with my dean markley sound hole pickup through my tube amp and i was pleased. For campfire purposes this guitar will do just fine. Its not rich and full of all that name brand tone but it isnt total crap either, and i don't think i need my hearing checked. Again, for the price of 200 cdn dollars you get about 300 bucks worth of tone.

Again this is all reflected on the price, for 200 bucks...about 300 bucks worth of action. Nice high gloss black finish that leaves all those little handprints of my kids all over it...but i like that. I do find the plastic ring around the sound hole a bit cheesy however. For 200 bucks that i paid i am pleased. Its too bad only a very small portion of that 200 actually goes to the guys/girls who actually made it over in China.

This guitar will withstand the abuse of campfire jams, spilled beers. marshmellows,kids with sticky hands playing it, paddling a boat or eating salad out of it. One good feature is the strap button..it actually has one on the neck side of the body..wow. This thingo will be able to take many years of camping.

like all companys i am sure they will go out of their way to ensure my continued happiness with their product. I will probabby sit in on the next board meeting then we will all have dinner at my place.

over all its a good product for the money Compared to other guitars in the price range it is actually better than most. I bought it for the price..nothing else. And for the low price you actually get a medium quality guitar with better than average tone

Made in china, 21 fret, plastic bowl spruce top. You get the idea. It is just what I bought it for, a camping guitar I won't cry if it gets broke, falls in the river, stepped on, used as a net to land fish ect.....Now I can leave my Martin at home and quit worrying about it. I actually bought two of these in the same weekend one in new condition fron a pawnshop for $146.oo with a hardshell ovation case. I also bought one from music123 for $145.00 with a gigbag. I kept the pawnshop one and gigbag and gave the brand new one and hard shell case to my 11 year old son because it was black and that is his favorite color. I put pick guards on both and a John Pierce arm rest on the one I am using. Both will end up with bone saddle and nuts.

I play gospel and country on a Martin. So I am trying to be nice, but well you get what you pay for. That is why I have added the arm rest and am going to add the nut and saddles. The tone is kind of flat, but it will do for camping. I took the stock stings off and put John Pierce 600ls on. I am thinking when I do the nuts and saddles I am going to mediums to try and punch it up a bit. If you think this guitar sounds great I would make an appointment to get your ears checked.

The neck is bulky and the over all apearence and action are ...... $150.00 guitar. It looks ok,but cheap. For instance the hunk of plastic junk around the soundhole.

I assume it will be reliable, but I am not going to loose any sleep over it either. If the top caves in I'll have one big soup laddle.

I have no intentions of contacting them. I will experiment with the guitar I kept. Cut holes in it add pick ups whatever. If my son shows intrest I will get him a Martin DX1 someday.

Like I said if you bought one for camping it will do. If you are wanting a nice sounding guitar with good action hit the music stores and play a few. For an everyday player this isn't what you want.

Bought the AA21 (in black), made in China to replace an older applause model (AA14). The AA14 sounds great but it is starting to show its age, worn frets..etc. Features are fine for the price of the guitar. Stays in tune. I also own an Ovation Celebrity Deluxe which sounds great plugged in. However there are times when you just want to strum without hooking everything up and the entry level guitar I alread owned (AA14) sounds better than many higher priced models I've seen from other companies.

Now this is where the AA21 is a bit puzzling. By all outward appearances.. its simply an updated version of the older AA14. But the AA14 had a much deeper base projection than the newer AA21. At first I thought it may just be the strings, so I replaced the stock strings on the AA21 with the same brand used on my older AA14. It still does not project the deeper base tones of the older version. Not sure why, they appear to have the same bowl design and the tops. Back to back the difference is noticable.

Fit and finish is nice. The black has a very deep luster to it. The head however looks a lil cheap (looks like a flat black plastic). Over all thought.. its a looker!

If this holds up anything like my older AA14 model. There's nothing to worry about. They are very, very sturdy.

This is a bit difficult. I was hoping to get the same deep quality sound projection that I have with my original Applause AA14. I doesn't have it for some reason. The bottom end, while good.. does not compare to the older version I had hoped to replace with this newer version. For live performances I used my Ovation Celebrity Deluxe. I use this (the AA21) just for learning songs or when writing new ones. Over all the sound is good.. just not nearly as full bodied as the older version, which still leaves me wondering - why? Over all, I'd reccommend it. For the price it still can't be beat and if you don't own an older version to compare back to back tones, you'll be happy with this choice.

This guitar is your pretty basic acoustic guitar with no pickups or electronics which relies on it's deep bowl for it's sound that most shallow bowls don't offer, (unplugged anyway). The hardware seems to be good quality as I've had no complaints. Not a cut away body, but has a sturdy thin neck.

I mostly play acoustic myself and find that this guitar suits well for both pick and finger-picking styles. I get a warmer sound by strumming the strings near the sound hole and a crisper sound by strumming the strings near the bridge. I do sometimes get a slight buzz but I'm sure that is due the low action I usually play with. New strings usually do eliminate that problem though. Although some people criticize Ovation's round back tone, this guitar actually provides a great tone compared to other 'great-sounding-but-on-a-budget' guitars.

Since I bought this guitar used I honestly can't say how that action is out of the box. But if you like a low action like me, this guitar's neck is capable of handling a lower action. I like the thin neck which allows for a smoother playabilty. But since the guitar is not a cut-out style body, some of the higher frets after the 15th, are hard to get to. I bought the black finish with silver hardware and it looks sweet.

This guitar live up to Ovation's quality. I'm kind of a clumsy guitar player myself and this guitar has taken all the bumps, drops and falls it has gone through quite well. As far as storage and transportation, you can get away with a mere gig bag.

I bought it used and have no warranty but I have never had a problen in which I needed to have it repaired.

Overall this has to be a great budget priced guitar. I've owned and played other guitars in higher price ranges and this one easily compares. If anything were to ever happen to this guitar, I'm sure I would probably move on to something else but wouldn't hesitate to recomend this guitar to someone as a beginning or intermediate guitarist. For the price I paid and the quality I received, I think I got a hell of a bargain.

I bought my Applause AA21-M last Dec.2001 in one of music stores here
in Makati, Philippines.
It is a mahogany top, natural finish,
made in Korea.
Plain accoustic guitar.

It has a bright and loud sound. I have played a lot of guitars but this one you can immediately notice its character. As a player Im
still looking for something better and brighter sound.Well, where
can I find that guitar and how about the price.

You can find dried glue inside, well anyway im the only one who can notice it.

No guitar will last if you will not take care of it. This guitar ,just like any other guitar needs a little caring. Play good music out of it, if people will love you because of your music, surely they will take care of your guitar to.

I dont know if the store where I purchased this has a customer support, they did not asked me my warranty card nor asked me to fill it up.

You cant easily find good guitar if your budget is thin.
I think this guitar is good enough for its price.

The "AA-21" (probably stands for Applause Acoustic, 21 frets) is made in Korea and has 21 frets. Unlike the majority of Ovation/Applause guitars, it is a true acoustic, with no electronics. The top is laminated spruce, the neck is mahogony with a rosewood fretboard.

The back and sides are what Ovation calls "Lyramold," a fancy name for a high-quality plastic. This model has the "deep bowl" plastic. The plastic on the right side is textured so that the guitar doesn't slip off your leg so easily.

The tuners are chrome and of high quality for this price of guitar.

A couple of nice features: there's a strap button at the base of the neck. Also, the design of the bridge (made of walnut) dispenses with the need to use bridge pins. (Why other guitar manufacturers don't use this kind of bridge is beyond me.)

One feature sadly missing is a pickguard. Ovation would probably justify this by pointing-out that the top is covered with a thick gloss finish. But I'm not comfortable with no pickguard. I bought a generic, black, self-adhesive plastic pickguard and carved it out with an x-acto knife until it fit the soundhole.

My guitar is black and like the saying goes, black is beautiful. It certainly looks a lot nicer than the $200 guitar that it is. I'm not wild about the asymetical crown on top of the headstock, but the guitar is still a looker nonetheless. The lower bout is dreadnought size but the upper bout is relatively small, resulting in a very beautiful body.

Although the top is a high glass, the neck and headstock have a satin finish. To me, satin looks cheap on a guitar. I ended spraying the neck and headstock with Testor's Glosscoat, with mixed results.

The guitar doesn't come with a gig back but you can buy one specially made for this model, which I did. The gig bag is reasonably priced and I'm happy with its quality.

Some people diss the Ovation tone, but I think that the sound is both deep and bright, and loud and resonant. I've played my AA-21 in a coffeehouse and it filled the room beautifully.

The action came from the factory perfectly set up. (I can't say the same about the other three guitars that I bought new -- two Fenders and a Gibson.)

The neck is narrow for an acoustic, making this (and other Ovations) a good choice for someone used to playing an electric.

I'm disappointed that the joint where the white fretboard binding meets the neck is not perfectly flush with the neck. While not uncomfortable per se, it can be annoying. I ended up sanding down that joint. The joint is still not perfectly flush, but it's not bad. Any more sanding would take off the remaining black paint.

I was also disappointed that the neck was not glassy smooth. (Even some higher-end Ovations aren't much smoother.) I also ended up sanding down the neck with a very fine grade sandpaper, and then spraying it with Testor's Glosscoat, which cured the problem.

A hidden drawback to this guitar is that due to the round shape of the back, when you play standing up with a strap, the angle of the guitar slips when you try to do a barre chord.

With its plastic sides and back, this guitar is as bullet-proof as it gets. I've accidently whacked the sides a few times, with absolutely no dents, scratches or dings to show for it. I also banged the wood top, which just shrugged it off.

Well folks, this guitar comes highly recommended for its price point. If it were lost or stolen, I'd treat myself to a nicer guitar just to feel better. But I'd miss the AA-21. That a guitar of such high quality can be purchased so inexpensively is a miracle.

Made in 2000.

Purchased over the internet fom a dealer selling on ebay.
I recieved as a gift.

Model is black finish.
Chrome metal.
I belive Mahogany neck...

Round back body. This feature i am having to get used to as it tries to "roll" as i hold it. Relaxing with it doing this takes some getting used to, as it does this primarily standing, with a strap...sitting this is not a problem.

The neck style i elieve is standard, although at times it feels very narrow ( again as i learn to play this i trust will go away.)

This guitar sounds great to me and others who have experienced it, both playing and listening.
Tones continue cleanly and smoothly.
It is bright, clean and loud.

Steel strings transmit finger sliding and other misc. movements loudly, a quality i happen to like, others may not.

Finish on top is gloss, shows fingerprints like crazy, i have learned to live with this, neck is satin,with a "rub" between one set of frets.

The action feels high to me, as i am learning to play, i find this guitar fells more dificult in this regard.
i understand this can be revised, but for now i choose to learn as it is set up.

This guitar feels to me like a solid instrument that will take abuse if need be.

It has several methods of adjustment , the rod in the neck, the bridge adjustment that allow it to work well for a variety of players.

Customer has been none.
i have tried to find a hard caase for this instrument and have been told by my local dealer that this instrument is no longer produced, therefore the case i seek is no longer available....yet i was able to recieve an e-mail from Kaman music stating model number, and price i should expect to pay...they then directed me to my local dealer!!!!
( i found myself in spiral that got me nowhere....frustration).

my overall rating is 8.
while some of the support issues are rated very low, they have not detracted from the guitars ability to play or my enjoyment of it.

i find that all who know of guitars WANT to play it, are impressed by it and find it very impressive regardless of the cost.
right now it is a very forgiving instrument,

i am glad to own it....
and look forward to developing into a player that get all out of it that it has to offer.