I BOUGHT a cheap USED Ovation SIGHT UNSEEN from Guitar Center! (Unboxing & First Impressions)

Oh, it's exactly what I wanted

When I was a teenager, I had an applause by ovation, and I unfortunately had to sell it

And ever since then, I have wanted to actually get a real ovation with the off center holes

And it was about time for me to do so. Because I've actually been playing guitar on stage a little bit more, as I am now on a worship team

And I needed a guitar that could be plugged in because I don't have one at the moment. I really need it

I was setting a budget for myself around $300 and I found my dream guitar and that is a used

Ovation CC257 and Deluxe. So basically this is that off center kind of with leafy style kind of guitar

It's actually now called the Elite. However, this is the previous version. I believe they were made in like the 80s and 90s

So this is a used guitar and I'm really excited to open it up. As you can see, this is actually a Taylor logo on it

That is because this is bought used. Obviously these are no longer in production

However, I'm just a huge fan of used guitars and guitars that already have an existing history

I just really like that. Let me tell you really quick about the experience, and I think that's actually probably why you're on this video

to see what it's like to buy a used guitar site on the scene from guitar center.com

I actually found the guitar on musicians friend.com, and I called the guitar center that it was at

Guitar Center and Musician's Friend are actually under the same umbrella. They're the same company

However, I called the guitar center that was at, you know, just kind of verify condition

I was also trying to get an idea if it was a shallow bowl or not because I didn't really want to

depth or anything wider because they're a little bit more difficult to play and I really wanted to

super shallow because this is going to be primarily a stage guitar and it is just a much easier guitar to

play it plays more like an electric than an acoustic and that's kind of what i was going because i

wanted that for my stage guitar so i called them and i verified condition they verified everything

they let me know there's a slight bow up towards the body on the neck they even played it on the

phone for me and showed me there was no buzzing or anything like that so i was super impressed by

their customer service so i went ahead and placed the order with my own money so i could see

see what the experiences like, and so I could finally have this guitar for myself. So I actually placed this order on Tuesday of last week, and it showed up today, which is a

Monday. So it actually showed up in less than a week, which I was super impressed with

It did ship the same day from the guitar center that it was purchased, and they let me know

that it was going to come with a case, which is super awesome. The box showed up today. In the box is actually in fantastic condition

Looks like the shipping company took really, really good care of it, which is nice to know, so I'm hoping the inside is actually a really good condition as well

So we going to go ahead and dig into that right now I going to open it up I have not seen this guitar yet and I super stoked because this is a guitar I wanted ever since I was a teenager And so it a really big deal for me I am hoping this is exactly what I want So we going to be opening this up and checking for a couple different things We going to be checking for condition number one We going to be checking if it a super shallow body And then of course if it comes with like a gig bag or I hoping maybe a hard case we see

So I may come with an electric guitar case, but it would be amazing if it came with an ovation specific hard case

So we'll kind of see at $300. I'm not super hopeful that it comes with a hard case

But hey, who knows what happens? That said, let's open it up and let's see what kind of condition and let's verify all of those things

First up, knife. Sorry for that kind of close up

This is just kind of how I have to film. All right, so far so good. It's got good packaging here

Hey, hey, I see a hard case. More packaging. Poor packaging. They obviously don't want this to move around in transit

Oh, my goodness. Hey. as an ovation specific hard case I honestly was not expecting that that is awesome so the case

does have a little bit of pitting it looks like on it is kind of dirty obviously it is an older

ovation so I'm gonna assume this was probably a purchase new with this case however you can

kind of see kind of the little bit of rust and pitting a little bit there however considering

I wasn't expecting a hard case that can get cleaned up pretty easily maybe we'll do a video about

that. So I'm gonna lay it down on the floor here and open it up. So I'm really hoping this is a super

shallow and it's not a mid-depth. If it is mid-depth, I've never actually played a mid-depth. I've

only played the really, really deep ones. So we'll see. Moment of truth. It's exactly what I wanted

So as you can see, these have those off-center sound holes. And I really wanted that. And as you can see here, it is the super shallow

Wow. So I'm super stoked about this. So this is a really nice guitar

So it is made in Korea, which I have heard is actually a really good thing. I guess the ones that

came out of Korea are really high quality. Woo! I'm excited. So I don't see really any blemishes on the body. Wow

So my old ovation actually had some cracking right here, and so I'm excited that it doesn't seem to show any cracking on the back of the neck

Let's go ahead and look down the neck. He is right. There is ever so slightly a little bit of a bend down there

So doesn seem like there any buzzing other than a little bit here and there

That's, I don't think, the neck causing that. So this is 300 bucks

I got an ovation, essentially an elite, and a super shallow, exactly what I wanted

It came with a hard case, which I was not expecting. I really did not think

I would bet, I don't even know how much those are worth, probably 100, 200 bucks on their own

Not to mention it looks like it's an original which is really cool and Really nice condition ovation wow. Okay, so first impressions

This is exactly what I wanted like this makes me so happy. I have been wanting this guitar ever since I was a teenager

This really is exactly what I wanted. So this is the ruby red color. They come in a bunch of different colors. I didn't necessarily want the ruby red

This is actually the same color of the ovation or the applause that I had before. I was kind of hoping actually actually

to get a little bit more natural finish. However, this was kind of the best guitar for the price

especially around that $300 price point. They did test this for the electronics, so I do think

that does work. I should be able to test that out this week. I actually don't have an amp at home

I truly am an acoustic guitarist. I don't have an amp. And wow. Yeah, look, it's got like gold

finish all the way through. Let me see gold finish on the knobs. I actually film with my phone

and my guitar tuner is on there, so I'm going to go ahead and pull that off. I'm going to tune the guitar really quick. I'm gonna play it for you guys and let you see what you think about the sound

Alright, and I am back. I did get a chance to tune the guitar and I'm really excited. This is a really

nice guitar. So let's go ahead and play it for you. So one downside to this is playing on your lap is a little

bit more difficult. You have to kind of prop up your leg a little bit. Otherwise it likes a cell lip out

from underneath of you. This is what people kind of consider to be almost the electric guitar of

acoustic guitars. That's kind of what I mean. So it is much thinner than normal guitars

So let's go ahead and play it. I'll show you what it sounds like. the That is a much bigger sound than I was expecting

It's been a long time since I played one of these. My old ovation I had to sell because I needed the money

However, I'm super stoked to finally have a real ovation to replace it

And I remember feeling like the, at least the applause version, didn't have a very big sound

It definitely has a bigger sound than I was expecting, and that I remember, it might come down to the different sound hole design as well

It's really nice. It's really nice. If you've never played an ovation, I highly recommend giving them a chance

They do get kind of a bad rap just because they're very different guitar than most people

are used to. However, this one is just, I'm super impressed. This guitar right here was made in, I'm going to look it up

I want to get the serial number or maybe even call the manufacturer to see exactly what year

this was made. However, these were made up until I think it was 1995, if I remember right, the CC-257

But I am excited to see what kind of the history of this guitar is, how old it is, and that kind of stuff

So that is really exciting. So I am going to follow up this video later on with a full review of this guitar just to show you guys exactly what it is, all the different features of it and that kind of stuff

Once I've had a chance to play it longer and maybe play it on stage and make sure all the electronics are exactly what I think they are

So make sure to subscribe to the channel and hit that little bell so that you're notified when the review of this does go up

I am really excited about this one and I'm going to let you guys know everything

about it and what kind of the ownership experience of an ovation is like. So actually I wanted to jump

back to guitar center as well. So I am super impressed by their customer service. The people at the

store were super, super helpful. Shipping is awesome. They seem to really, really care about the

packaging. Adding in that hard case is amazing. I was not expecting that. And so for $300, this

you really can't beat it. So they're used inventory is really, really great. So I actually

reached out to them and I joined their affiliate program so that I can link over to you guys

and let you guys also search for a used guitar or a new guitar on their website

I was not an affiliate of theirs when I ordered it, but just based off of everything I've had

I really, really wanted to be able to send you guys over to them. So the link is down in the description, or you can also find it in the top comment

If you guys wanted to shop for a guitar like this one for you, as you can tell, this is a really nice guitar

and you can find one for yourself on there, and it can be done

You can call them, which is nice because a lot of places don't have eyes on their inventory like they do

And that just was a really cool experience to be able to fully actually be able to understand if this is a good guitar before I ever purchased it

So, link down the description in the top comment. Also, like this video. It helps me out with algorithm

And stay tuned for the full review. And I am super excited. I'm going to be playing this guitar

See ya