Applause AE-32

i puchased my ae32 from a pawn shop for 120 dollars.i play it out every weekend and i feel its very good for the money.the single volume and tone piezo is kinda week but its functional.i use it for drop tuning with heavy guage strings.i admit there is much better guitars out there but you do get a lot of bang for the money.the neck is very comfortable.the only thing i would do to improve it is replace the tuning gears because i like a real tight gear and the ones on this guitar dont have a screw to tighten them up.i also think a pre amp would make up for the weakness of the pickup.

i play a mix of blues rock and country and i think it does fine.im between bands and im playing straight into the pa because im playing solo.i play at a very low volume and the guitar keeps its acoustic sound very well.the guitar sounds nice and full acoustical but when you give it more volume it starts to sound a little thin and tinny.i find the guitar comfortable to play and it sounds good to.the only thing i would do is improve the electronics and replace the tuning gears.

i purchased my guitar from a pawn shop as is.it played well and sounded good. the first three frets are starting to show some wear and tear but not to bad yet.everthing looked good for a lower end guitar with the exception of a ding here and there.im sure when it was new it gave someone a lot of good service.i like the fact i dont have to deal with tuning pegs.

the guitar is very good live.(except the pickup is a lttle weak)i will eventually put better tuning gears on it.the strap buttons are solid and i assume the guitar has a little age on it because the finish is a little worn but not bad.i think its a dependable work horse and i use it live every weekend.i cant use it without a back up because i use alternate tunings.i think its a good axe for its price range.

i have never been in touch with kamen musical instruments so i dont know.

the equipment i use is a fender american strat,fender deluxe power tele,early 80s mexican standard strat,ibenez ae10 fishman powered acoustic,1973 fender bassman 100 head with 4 12 cabinet and a carvin pa set up with audio tech mikes.

Dunno when this piece was done but my guess is late 80's in Korea. It has the deep-bowl roundback and a red sunburst spruce-top (my guess). It came with an original roundback-fit case. It has some kind of passive piezo-pu's which I dont use as they are pretty lousy - giving a very hard treble sound with no bass what so ever. But what the hey - it's the acoustic sound that makes this guitar great. It has a beautiful distinct sound and the roundback actually vibrates against your stomach while playing - its sensual :-)

The neck is thin and easy to play, even though it needs to be adjusted every second year - especially since I always use different strings every now and then - but thats easy to adjust - and well worth the effort.

So as for features - well nice neck - terrific body - a beautiful sound makes it a 10. The pu's though is a 2. But then again - it's better to capture the real acoustic sound with an external microphone - and that goes for all acoustic guitars IMHO ;-)

I play a lot of folk-songs and other stuff. The AE-32 has a nice warm sound when playing chords - it hasnt that much bass-sound which is good as it often becomes fuzzy - with this guitar you keep a bright full sound even though your hammering rythm... I dont play a lot of lead-stuff, but people I know do that and they choose the applause over Ovation because of the acoustics :-)

I bough it used so I have no idea about factory set-up. The only thing worth mentioning here (as above) is that the neck can be sensitive when changing string-gauges. But thats easy to adjust...
I wont mention the pu's again - who needs them anyway ;-0

This guitar has been going for 20 years or more - and it keeps on ticking. I've had no problem with cracks or anything - its as beautiful looking at as it is playing. Nothing wrong with the hard-ware - seems to be very sustainable. I can depend on it - I haven't bothered to get an extra steel stringed guitar. If I would it would be another roundback - most probably a new Applause (if I cant get hold of an 80's AE-36 in good condition)

Never had to deal with them - but Kaman is big company so I dont reckon there would be any problems... Kamans homepage dont have a lot of info - that could have been much better!

I've been playing guitar for almost 20 years now. I also play bass. I've got an Ep. Nighthawk, Rodriguez C-1/M Spanish guitar, this Applause (and I had a bunch of other guitars as well - ive owned like 20 guitras through the years acoustic and electric - cheap and expensive). I also have a J&D electro-acoustic bass and a Fender Jazz bass, a Yorkville 100 'W bass amp and a Behringer GX112 Blue Devil and some effects & stuff.

I've had this guitar for 7 years and was so happy to find it. I sold another AE-32 a couple of years prior to that and I was devastated. I tried different guitars for a long time but I never found 'the sound'. I dunno if it's the guitar or just my warped mind - but I'd rather choose another used Applause over a Martin or a Guild (Yes - I've played them) I was quite happy when I found another AE-32....

This is an update to my last review. So I've found out, Kaman Music is the company that owns Ovation. They're not a Korean company at all. The guy's name who started Ovation and Applause is Kaman. He was a former helicopter guy with a lot of experience using polymers and such and decided to try his hand back in the '60's at making a better acoustic guitar than what was available from wooden guitars. I think he did a terrific job. Anyway, Applause is just their low-end product. As far as I can tell, it was intended that way so they didn't actually find Applause as a knock-off company, like Epiphone is to Gibson. They just wanted a line that was more affordable. After all, I guess they knew that the people they would make their money from wouldn't be the rock stars, but us poor low-lifes who have to simply scrape by from week to week. If we can't buy'em, they can't sell'em. Hope this helps. You can find out more at their website.

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The Applause AE32 model was made in Korea and was based on the designs
of the Ovation Balladeer. I purchased the guitar in 1987. This model
was offered in both deep and super-shallow configurations and mine is
the deep bowl. The guitar is eqipped with an Ovation designed under-saddle peizo (passive)pickup with tone and volume control. The top of the guitar is made of spruce and the body is exactly the same U.S. made bowls as the U.S. made Ovations of that time. I love the bridge
on this guitar as it does away with annoying pegs. I'm suprised other
guitar makers have not picked up on this desing.

Typically bright Ovation sound with better projection unplugged than
a super-shallow bowl. Decent tone, although a little short on the low end. Sounds excellent plugged in with an extra (Fishman-pre-amp)for
more tone control. I an using a Yorkville Am100 acoustic amp with
this guitar and with the fishman-pre amp, most of the high end piezo
quacking can be eliminated. Over-all a good sounding guitar for it's price range.

The action is not quite as low as I would like, but then again I have
never had it adjusted. The original factory settings are still in place. I have to tune one string flat while playing regular chords
in the first five frets, but from 6 to 12 it has to be tuned back to
normal. I'm not sure if the neck or the intonation needs adjusting.
A crack developed on the spruce top finish about 8 years ago, but reading the other reviewers comments on this guitar, this may have been common. Wood and plastic just don't age the same way. Otherwise
it an attractive natural colour guitar- just the one crack.

I play this guitar in church a few times a month and I have been
playing it everywhere for 14 years. Ovations are very durable. I would never need a backup for this guitar. The finish (except for
the crack) has held up well. The strap buttons have never given me any problem (and it did come with two stap buttons). I can't give it
a 10 due to the crack in the finish.

I e-mailed Kaman music, asking for some information on this model
(as it is no longer in the Applause line-up), and the VP of marketing for B&J music (the Canadian division of Kaman music) responded in
a reasonable amount of time. Other-wise I have never had to deal with them. The guitar was built to last.

I have playing guitar for 25 years and I also own an El-Degus Tele,
a small Peavey Amp, and a Yorkville acoustic amp. Nothing expensive
but everything works.I use a Korg AG1 for effects, (like I said, nothing too expensive.) If the guitar was lost or stolen, I would
probably upgrade to an Ovation, Taylor, Seagull, or Simon & Patrick, after I take out a second mortgage on my home.
The best feature of the guitar is it's durability with the sound
a close second. I wish the guitar had built in pre-amp to avoid extra cables , although the Fishman does the job. Over-all this guitar has provided an excellent value in terms of durability and the family resemblance to Ovation features, at the fraction of the cost of an Ovation.

This is the Korean version of Ovation. I've had it for about six years and I bought it used from a guy who also bought it used, so I have no idea what the year model is. This one is a mid-depth round back jumbo with an under saddle transducer. It's got 20 frets, no cut-away, with a rosewood fretboard and diamond inlays. The headstock isn't the traditional Ovation style, so this may be before they acquired Kaman Music. I don't know that much about Ovation history, so this may not be accurate, either. It doesn't have an on-board preamp that I can tell. I play it straight though a line matching transformer into a P.A. snake with no problems. It doesn't have a mutli-band EQ as is popular on today's acoustic-electrics. Just simple volume and tone knobs. It has a passive under-saddle transducer, standard sound hole, and 3-on-a-side sealed tuning machines. It also has strap buttons on the body so you don't have to mess with regular accoustic straps that go around the headstock and send you to "out-of-tune" land. Also, the bridge has integrated string anchors for steel strings so you don't have to fool with bridge pins, either. It also came with a hardshell case.

I originally bought this guitar to play around the house so I wouldn't have to go through the trouble of hooking up my electric gear everytime I wanted to play for a few minutes. I've used it semi-regularly over the past year for my church. I mainly play contemporary Christian stuff with it and it suits me fine. It's very quiet, I never really have a problem with feedback, and the tone is great. It's very bright, probably due to the under-saddle, but it's still got a full, rich tone. I have used it through a GFX-8 into a Marshall when my Strat (primary guitar) broke a string. This sounds crazy, but it worked out great. I even played it using a distortion setting and with the other instuments in the band, nobody could tell the difference from my Strat, except that I was holding an acoustic guitar! The sound man wasn't amused.

I bought it used, so I don't know about factory set up. I haven't really found any flaws. It was in great shape when I bought it and still is except one thing. For the last six months or so, the finish has started to produce cracks. Not the little spider webs, but long, running cracks. This guitar hasn't been abused or neglected. It's always been stored in the case. It's activity has picked up in the last year, but I still have no idea why it's doing this and nobody I've talked to so far knows, either. It doesn't seem to hurt the sound, so I'll keep playing it.

I've used this guitar on several occasions without a backup. For strings, I use Elixor 10-53's, but any lighter and it tends to go through strings pretty quickly.

Never dealt with them.

Even though this guitar sounds great straight into the snake, a good preamp with at least a three band EQ would help. I think a reasonable quality acoustic multi-effects processor, like the Zoom 504 with an expression pedal added, played in stereo through a pair of acoustic amps would provide practically anything a musician would want from this or any other like guitar. Overall, it's a great acoustic-electric.