Man, is this one sweet guitar! This is a GTX 35, made in about 1990 by Kaman in South Korea and distributed through Ovation. This particular example is in near mint condition, with the only marks on it a slight crack in the clear coat on the bass side of the neck joint and a hint of buckle rash on the back. The original owner never removed the protective plastic from the pickups or truss rod cover, so when we did, this almost 35 year old instrument shone like new. The Volume and Tone pots are clean (as is the switch), move freely and have no static or other noise. The frets have been crowned and leveled. The action is very quick, 5/64ths on the Low E, twelfth fret, and 1/16 on the High E. It might actually come down a bit further, but right now, there is no buzzing or fretting out, all up and down the neck. The scale length is 24 3/4”.
This sweetheart just sings! Patterned clearly after the Gibson ES-335, it has a fast action and some delightful pickups. It has a great bottom end on the neck pickup and plenty of brilliance and clarity on the bridge. The tone pots seems to have a somewhat limited functional range (they cut out to nothing at about 4), but what they have is very dynamic. The guitar has a laminated Mahogany body, with a Rosewood fretboard, tune-o-matic bridge and stop tailpiece. A Center Block ensures that feedback will not be an issue.
The finish is absolutely beautiful, a deep wine red set against gold hardware, my favorite combination next to a beautiful blonde set against a Caribbean sunset. There are no scratches on the top, an almost imperceptibly small amount of buckle rash on the back and the hardware looks brand new. This is as Near Mint as you are going to find. Everything about this guitar is absolutely stock and original with the exception of the cap-nut on the end of the pick guard bracket.
The guitar ships in its original, hardshell case, freshly strung with Ernie Ball Regular Slinkys.
Do yourself a favor and check out the video demo of this instrument. For the money, this is a lot more guitar than you are going to get out of anything new today, coming out of China or Indonesia. I would not hesitate to take this guitar onto the stage or into the studio. It is a classic rock design with a classic rock sound, capable of everything from jazz to blues to psychedelia.
Please be sure to check out and zoom in on the photographs as I have tried to capture this instrument from every angle.
This guitar is sold AS IS and is not returnable unless it arrives in a condition other than as described or photographed, here.
Price: $700.00 plus $125 shipping (Lower 48 USA, only)
For a video demo of this guitar, please follow this link to our YouTube Channel: