Ovation 1537 Custom Elite

Gold tuners, AAA Spruce top with deep bowl Ovation round body. Wood binding and tuning knobs. Everyone else has explained the details better than I ever could. More up to date electronics would be nice, but hey it is 20 years old.

Simple incredible. Deep, full and clear. True story. A year ago, I thought I wanted another guitar and had the money to buy what I wanted. I went into the "expensive room" of several guitar stores both big box and smaller private stores. After playing expensive Taylors, Martins and others, my wife said "Why would you want to pay more money for that?". She was right. Not that that others were bad or anything, just that the 1537 was that good.

Perfect. I bought it used over 10 years ago and the action is like playing an electric guitar all the way to the 12th fret. Very light and easy. Entire guitar looks and feels like first rate quality.

Never a problem. Play it twice weekly for church plus some home recording and other than an occassional dirty contact in the 1/4" plug (scratchy until cleaned) it has been flawless. Not even a broken string.

I called Ovation about a couple of things like strap locks hole rounding a little from a loose button and someday doing a full restoration. They sent me the parts no charge to fix the strap lock issue and responded like talking to a friend on sending it in.

Been playing for 20 years (guitar) and bass and horns since I was in Junior High (ain't talking how long that was). I have a full Mackie, EV PA system, and use a Barbetta Sona 23C for smaller stuff.

If lost or stolen, I would be sick and would try to replace it. The sound is incredible and the playability takes my very mediocre talents much higher than they are. As mentioned above, I have played this against expensive hardware (over $2000 range) and to me and my very picky spouse, they don't get alot better.

Made in 1983 at the Ovation shop in Connecticut, the 1537 Elite remains in 2005, a very elegant guitar. The top is solid quarter sawn AAA Sitka Spruce and ages both in sound and appearence beautifully. It has 22 sound holes, 11 on each shoulder dressed in epaulets of maple, black walnut and what I am guessing is teak and paduak. The binding is of like woods as well. Black walnut bridge and fretboard with triangular maple fret markers. The neck is a shallow v 5 piece with a kaman truss rod. 24k gold schaller machines.
This is a deep bowl lyrachord body with walnut volume and tone knobs. Under saddle piezo electronics mono/stereo outputs...in stereo stings 1,3,5 are dedicated to one channel and strings 2,4,6 to the other.

Balanced, rich warm tones and even unplugged will make your mother tell you to turn it down. This guitar has remarkable presence and projection. This guitar sound right at home with any high end Martin or Taylor...just make sure you play softly so the folks playing the Martins Taylors (and Gibsons) don't whine about not being heard....

Plugged in, playing flat, clean acoustic...This guitar out performs all of the above...

(Don't get me wrong I love Martin and Taylor guitars)

Action is low and fast (even with Medium gage strings) Fit and Finish- Perfect

I own two very early (maybe one of the very first) 1537s. Both are in beautiful shape after more than 20 years

Nothing but positive experiences with them.

This is a 1983 Elite with an early serial number. The guitar top is select AAA grade solid spruce. The fingerboard is resin impregnated walnut, with maple triangle markers. Multi-soundhole design with exotic wood epaulets. Multilayer wood binding on the body. Five piece mahogonay/maple neck. Stereo piezo pick-up with volume and tone controls that have rosewoood knobs. The tone actually works very well. The detail work is fantastic. Three layer veneer wood overlay on headstock that goes down the the neck, under the fingerboard. These guitars were made in Ovation's custom shop as wood-topped Adamas "prototypes." The quality shows in every aspect.

This is the best acoustic sound I have ever heard from a guitar. Loud, clear, balanced tone. I play mostly folk and rock and there is simply no guitar that I have ever owned or played that compares with this one. You would really have to go for a $2,000 plus Taylor to get this kind of sound. I play through a Crate CA125D and it is simply wonderful. Others have said that this guitar makes you sound better than you are and that is true. I use Elixir medium/lights (.012-.056) and the sound has real presence in lows, mids and highs.

I bought this guitar from eBay and it is over 20 years old. It has a few finish cracks/checks around the bridge, but the woood is intact. The action is 7/64th at the 12th fret and theres is still a shim under the saddle. The neck is dead straight. Beautiful wood everywhere. I cannot find any flaws in this guitar. The electronics work perfectly.

I'm not a pro, so I can't say for certain whether I would gig without a back-up, but this guitar appears to be a real workhorse that can go another 20 years or more. Nothing has worn out and from the loooks of the frets and fingerboard, this guitar was played quite a bit. Even so the frets have held up well. Everything is tight and solid.

I never dealt with Ovation, but from what I've heard they are great.

All you have to do to realize how incredible this guitar is, is to simply strum an open position chord. The vibrations go though the entire body and the neck and the sound just pours out of the soundholes. Utterly marvelous! If it were lost or stolen it would be a real heartbreak because these are becoming hard to find.

This guitar was made in 1983. It is not, as the title says, a Custom Elite. It is an Elite from the first year of production. Along with what the other reviewers have said, the only area in which they have been in error is on the fretboard. It is not rosewood. That was used in later years. The 1537's fretboard is made from black walnut, just like the Adamas guitars.
This is one beautiful instrument to look at.

I play a little of everything. On the guitar, I use Elixer mediums. Acoustically, the guitar is terrific. I've played it next to Taylors, Martins, you name it. The quality of the sound is there.
When I'm out, plugged in to a PA system, I play it through a Fishman Pro EQ II. The guitar only has volume / tone controls and the eq helps. But with this setup, the guitar has a full clean plugged in sound. It just doesn't get better. At home, I play through a Crate CA60. It's great thru that as well.

I bought the guitar used almost 10 years ago. It was perfect then, perfect now.

I've never had any problems. I put on larger strap buttons from Ovation, but that's it. I don't even think about needing a back up guitar.

The customer service folks at Ovation are great. I've got a number of Ovations and they have always been helpful.

I've played for 30 years and this is the guitar I was supposed to play. It's like magic to me. I only wish that I was a better player. The guitar makes me sound better than I am.
If something happened to this guitar, I'd watch ebay for another 1537.

This is a 1983 Elite 1537. Just a wonderfull guitar. Rosewood fretboard with maple inlay. Solid AAA spruce top. Leaf cluster sound holes. Two wooden knobs for volumn and tone. One of the nices look guitars I've ever seen. Great workmanship.

This guitar rings and sings. Plugged in or not, it just sounds fantastic. Feels good, plays easy. Rich bright sound with phosphor bronze strings.

Action is great. All features of this guitar are top notched. No flaws found. I LOVE THIS GUITAR

1983 and it still looks MINT. Everything has held up great on this guitar. Finish is holding up after almost 20 years. Just a beautiful guitar.

Haven't had to deal with them on this guitar. I had with another guitar and they were very helpful.

I've been playing since the early 1970's. I have a Gibson J-200 I bought in 1973 and this guitar puts it to shame. I own other Ovations and have been very happy with the sound and quality. If this guitar where stolen, I'ld hunt the SOB down to the ends of the earth to get it back!

This strikingly beautiful guitar is a 1983 model, SN 301180. The top is AAA Spruce in transparent amber finish, w/ two "winged areas" having 11 soundholes per side, made of 5 different exotic woods. The appearance is elegant, and the tone--using .10's phospher/bronze strings--is rich in resonance and clear as a bell! The fretboard is rosewood w/ inlaid maple triangular fretmarkers, complimenting the gorgeous top nicely, and has gold hardware. The gold tuners are from Kaman, parent company of Ovation, and have worked perfectly over nearly two decades of use. The simple, yet quite adequate electronics are found in two rosewood knobs, w/ the same maple "markers" as the fretboard. One knob controls the volume, and the other the tone: and yes, the tone knob really works, giving a cystal clear to warm blues sound. The heavy-duty case has been shipped overseas and back (with a custom made "boat tarp" cover, and shows some signs of age, but still protects the guitar handily. This is truly a "player's guitar" ready for performance in concert halls or camp meetings!

I play on this instrument in church, camp & youth meetings, at the State Penitentiary, and in small home groups. Whether plugged in, or not, with its deep bowl, it is the loudest guitar and sustains a note the best of any guitar I've ever played, or heard--bar none! I have used some nice Fender & Marshall solid-state amps over the years, and have just purchased a couple of bigger tube amps: a Mesa/Boogie Mark III head (85 watt Simul-class, 3 channels) w/ matching 2-12" Recto (vertical stack) speaker cabinet...wow! both the guitar and amp sound stellar in this combination! Also, just purchased a Marshall JTM60 tube combo (60 watt, w/ 2 channels)for practice sessions and in church settings...this guitar sounds great with a touch of chan. 2 gain, set about 3-4: the old hymns of the church "come alive" in this environment! Used with a stereo chorus pedal on slower songs, it's like a breath of Heaven tickling your ears.

This is a professional quality guitar, from start to finish. Every detail was hand-made in the custom shop with no expense spared as to fit and finish, and it shows. Even now, some 20 yrs. later, it still turns heads, and everyone wants to "give it a try!"

I've used this guitar in a multitude of contexts over the past 20 yrs., and it works "every time, all the time." Kind of difficult to replace the 9v battery inside the guitar body: a 4" circular piece in the fiberglas body must be removed and then you reach deep inside the cavity to snap it into place. A small price to pay for such an elegant instrument.

Never had reason to call them...this guitar is THAT GOOD.

If I were marooned on an island in the South Pacific, and could have only one guitar...this would be it, hands down. I don't even look at "updating" my acoustic guitar...why argue with perfection?