Ovation 1431 Ultra-GP

Basically has all the features of a Gibson Les Paul, but with a more comfortable body shape. Those two cutaways make a ton of difference. Dual humbuckers (Korean passive super distortion copies, I think,) two volume/two tone knobs, 3-position pickup switch. 22 fret neck, Grover tuners (probably not original.) This was made around 1984, assembled from Korean parts in the USA.

One of the key features on the Ultra-GP is the neck/body joint. It has what is called a "blended heel," basically meaning that the neck meets the body in a sweeping curve, that rather than sticking out like a conventional heel does, smoothly contours into the body. This makes upper fret access a breeze.

I'd give a Les Paul around a 6/10, so with the neck this will get an 8.

Most of the time, I play through small tube amps (Epiphone Valve Junior, old Magnatones,) with an overdrive pedal stuck in front of it. You can get the full range of Les Paul tones here- there is huge sustain because of the heavy and thick body, and the GP has a naturally thick clean tone that makes it easy to understand why its most famous user, Josh Homme, played it for the downtuned stoner rock of Kyuss.

Still there is a lot more to this guitar than what the man who has garnered it so much attention in recent years uses it for. On the treble pickup, you can get spanky clean tones that would be suitable for country, or especially really nice crunch blues sounds.

The bass pickup is extremely muddy with much distortion, however. When I play with high gain sounds, I generally roll back the volume a ways because chords become mushy masses of noise at full blast. That said, once you get used to the over-the-top bass of it, the generic stoner rock sound is right there.

When I purchased my GP, used, it obviously hadn't been kept up well. There is a medium-sized crack along one edge of the top, there was a trucks-and-skulls sticker smacked on there, and it was EXTREMELY dirty. Furthermore, before I got a chance to really play it at home, I had to truck it back from a high altitude (Montana) to my home in Oregon. When I pulled it out of its case upon arriving home, the action that i had enjoyed in the store went to crap, and it would not stay in tune.

After a good setup though, I began to understand some of the hype about this guitar. While it is a Les Paul clone, no doubt about it, it is a Les Paul clone with one of the easiest necks I've played. Its no Ibanez Wizard, but has a sort of medium-flat profile that really fits my hand well. Most everyone who I've had play this has reinforced that statement- its ridiculously playable. No wonder I play this guitar more than any of my others combined.

This Ovation Ultra GP has stood up to over 20 years of play admirably. It has its share of scars, but for my money plays as well as any new guitar I've tried recently. Live playing is no trouble, but I'm not about to smash my prize axe- I'm pretty damn careful with it. The finish is thick and not at all worn, and without question I would gig this without a backup.

There is one caveat. I have had ongoing problems with the strap buttons, because the original holes are stripped out. Some shims cured that problem.

Never dealt with them.

I've been playing for about 5 years, and also own a Yamaha AES 1500 archtop, and an Ibanez artcore. I have several acoustic guitars as well. If lost or stolen, I wouldn't buy it again, but only because they are impossible to find and ridiculously expensive. It was blind luck that I found mind. I knew what it was when I saw it, I wasn't shopping around or anything, just snapped it up.