Ovation Magnum II saving ...

[DobriDiv]

I found this old lady in friends shed. I bought it to save it and back it in life (I am builder of musical instruments). By the way I was searching for it for a long time. Story goes this way: First owner broke headstock ..and gave it to another guy to fix it. That guy decided to build new neck from ash wood...and destroyed old neck while trying to remove fingerboard and pull out trussroad. He also broke fingerbord acros the lineof 2nd and 3rd fret. So he destroed original neck. After bad results with making new neck, he sold guitar to my friend many years ago.... Through the years my friend desambled rest...and lost most.... some were destroed like pickups...or he sold some parts.... I didnt know for all of those actions... Week ago I find out for this story, went to friend and asked if something survived. This photos present survived parts.... including fingerboard (damaged as described but repairable) trusroad is also saved.
So I am here to ask for help in repairing this baby. I can make most parts ... Have same wood as original was, for neck. Graphite central stripe which goes all the way through the neck I can not find here in my country...but maybe I can use abony wood wich is black color too.
If someone have this guitar maybe cen help me with some measurements....
I need size of pickups.. cause I can wound them and make them same as original but I need dimensions. Also dimensions of pickups frame are needed.
If anyone can help I will be very thankful.

Alek

Photo 1 : Condition I found it.

Photo2,3,4 : After cleaning

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[CDoogz]

NICE. I always loved the Magnum body shape and all the neat knobs

 

[Zebra]

Even the layout of that circuit board is so elegant and cool. Good work so far

 

[DobriDiv]

I plan to build pickups... but if anybody have these for sale ...just let me know....

Also I am interested where to find graphite for neck.

 

[jimmyb]

Nice

 

[dje31]

That they created a printed circuit board in the shape of the control cavity in the early 70s is impressive. That couldn't have been cheap or trivial.

Given how far that MFG technology has come in several decades, in spite of that I doubt many MFRs would do the same today.

 

[two fingers]

Those things were/are so freaking cool. Best of luck with it.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

Was it just a graphite stiffener " skunk stripe" in the neck back, or a full graphite neck? I vaguely remember these basses, can't find a photo of the back of neck. If it's just a carbon graphite stiffener, they are available through Stewmac and others. Good luck with it, cool project.
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[DobriDiv]

Yes I found those from stewmac...but they are not long enough cause it goes all the way through neck and headstock...... Longest in their store are 60cm.... for this neck I need at least 80cm..

See photos:

 

[abarson]

Such a unique instrument! So glad to see you want to try and bring it back to life.

I'm sure you've already seen the owner's manual, which has some good illustrations of the pickups.
Ovation Magnum Bass Owner's Manual
Neck pickup has individual coils and trim adjustment for each string.
Bridge pickup looks like a split humbucking design.

DragonPlate appears to have a wide selection of carbon fiber strips: I've not done business with them.
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It looks like a lot of material was hacked out of the body just after the neck pickup. I hope you find a way to repair that. Good luck!

 

[cdef]

Magnums have two carbon graphite strips under the fretboard in addition to the one along the back of the neck.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

Damn, those were ahead of their time. Is there a traditional trussrod, or was it just the graphite bar stock?

 

[abarson]

Two way truss rod as well.

 

[DobriDiv]

Mine has one way traditional trus road with bronze screw nut...

I have all info...manuals... pages ..photos ..downloaded to my PC...Also have pickup details... wire diameter...number of windings... But pickup pfhisical dimensions I could not find.... width , height , length... bobine diameter and height....

Those infos I need !!!
Same for bridge pickup...

I wish to make identical pickups and I am able to do that... just to find mising dimensions.... Photo of neck pickup PCB from botom side also needed.

 

[Tom0Blam0]

Sub'd. I love these things! Are you going to make the headstock like the original?

 

[SirMjac28]

Great project you could make it a hybrid using parts from one of these from Eastwood Guitars.

 

[jimmyb]

If u happen to come across an extra string mute assembly, I've been searching for one for years for this black beauty magnum 1 I restored a couple yrs ago

 

[abarson]

The neck pickup is covered by a US Patent: US4188849.pdf

It doesn't have dimensions but there's lots of construction detail.
As far as dimensions go, I think you could work backwards from the pickup cavity size, and then use the patent drawing to get a comparable sense of scale. You can assume standard sized screws, bolts, etc. which might also help in your reverse engineering.
Start with the 3 mounting holes, and then scale the patent drawing to match. This would at least get you in the ballpark for the other items.

It doesn't appear that Ovation took out a patent on the bridge pickup, however the Magnum piezo bridge does: US4135426.pdf

 

[DobriDiv]

Thank you..I already have that patent page.... I had same idea for getting dimensions... but I hope some owners can measure it for me... I just wondering is patent drawing same proportions like real pickup... or just drew by hand for illustration...

The thing I must know preciously is bobin diameter and height....

Also a bit more anathomy of bridge pickup...

 

[Killer Canary]

Were those fairly pricy back in their day?
I had no idea that they had so many unusual features.