Comments on: Let’s Give Up A Hand for Lumpy Gravy (Vintage 1979 Ovation Magnum II Bass Guitar)

By: Barabbas

Barabbas — Thu, 26 Mar 2020 05:26:56 +0000

I´not even a bass-player but for some reason I´m attracted to bass-guitars for the look of them. I think this is a beautiful design, didn´t the guy in Tool use one some years ago?

By: Randy Tankersley

Randy Tankersley — Fri, 27 Sep 2019 18:08:19 +0000

I have a magnum 2 bass that the equalizer got damaged from flight in an airplane shipping and to this day cant find replacement parts. Please contact me if you have parts for sale. I am the original proud owner of a fantastic bass.

By: Randy Tankersley

Randy Tankersley — Fri, 27 Sep 2019 18:06:50 +0000

I have a magnum 2 bass that the equalizer got damaged from flight in a airplane shipping and to this day cant find replacement parts. Please contact me if you have parts for sale. I am the original proud owner of a fantastic bass

By: Tom McNally

Tom McNally — Wed, 20 Feb 2019 17:40:26 +0000

Hello, Eastwood Custom Shop?? If you revived this design I would buy a left hand model in a heartbeat!

By: Bill Gibson

Bill Gibson — Sun, 16 Dec 2018 22:46:11 +0000

I’m currently on my second Magnum I – the first was stolen way back in ’85, and it took me until 2011 to locate another one (not many of them made it to Australia, I’m guessing). Found one on a local music store’s webpage, but when I went in to check it out, they told me Jack White had bought it last time he was in town…eventually had to get one shipped from the US at considerable expense. It was worth every cent! Got a Breadwinner I’ve had since ’88, too. Love my Ovation solids!

By: Mike Sturgill

Mike Sturgill — Fri, 24 Aug 2018 06:04:01 +0000

I don’t think they are ugly! I think they are rad. Never had one but I have two Ivation UK-ii’s Which have been my main guitars for twenty years.

Cheers

By: JezG

JezG — Sat, 19 May 2018 12:44:47 +0000

Saw Jah Wobble last night, he was playing one.
He sat down quite a lot.

By: John Huteson

John Huteson — Fri, 13 Apr 2018 04:49:25 +0000

I bought the Magnum II in 1985 and it was stolen in ‘87. While at a repair shop the note I left inside had my name and address stating “if you have this guitar. It was stolen, please return”. And after 30 years, it was returned back to me. The EQ was damaged but everything still works !
I never gave up looking. It’s a beast on stage and would never give it up. Great bass !!

By: Kleo

Kleo — Thu, 12 Apr 2018 01:43:50 +0000

If anyone is interested in purchasing this bass from an original and well taken care a 9.8/10 Ovation Magnum 1978 please contact kleo44@live.ca

I’m getting to old to play would rather see it go to someone that will play it like it deserves !

Cheers

By: Rich

Rich — Thu, 10 Aug 2017 15:17:49 +0000

In 1979, when I was in high school, I went bass guitar shopping. The salesman at one store was hell-bent on selling me one of these. I think he told me Ross Valory was playing one. I thought I’d humor him and try it. It was ugly as sin, played OK and sounded… not great. I handed it back to him pretty quickly and left. Ended up buying a clean used 1975 Jazz Bass (maple neck, black markers) in chocolate brown out of the classifieds for $350. Good choice, I think.

By: Anne

Anne — Wed, 10 Feb 2016 03:29:24 +0000

Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth use to play an Ovation Magnum!!! I can’t remember if her’s was a ’78 or ’79?

By: Tequila Shelvin

Tequila Shelvin — Sun, 04 Oct 2015 23:03:28 +0000

I have an Ovation Magnum II for sale in good condition; not sure what year. It was my father’s who left it for me. If interested, please contact me via email at tlcshelvin@gmail.com. Only serious inquiries…

By: Shea

Shea — Mon, 25 Aug 2014 03:10:57 +0000

I owned one of these. It was great, but it was a mixed bag of good features and bad ones, with one special weird one. The good: besides the overall excellent quality of the instrument, the neck pickup had separate coils under each string, so those trim pots allowed you to adjust the volume for each string to compensate for boomy E’s or over-zingy G’. The bad: 1) Only 20 frets, should have been 24; 2) The bridge kind of sucked, it would have been better if it was solidly fixed to the body. The weird: this is the best part: if you pulled off the back cover, and touched the circuit board underneath… you would pick up radio signals through the bass!

By: Ray Schoch

Ray Schoch — Sun, 24 Aug 2014 21:30:12 +0000

Didn’t know Ovation was closing their Hartford plant. That’s too bad. I’ve never had an Ovation solid body, but I do have 3 of their acoustic-electrics – a “super-shallow” T357 “Tangent,” a deep contour-body 2071 “Ultra,” and a “mid-depth” body “Celebrity Plus.” They each have a different preamp, with slightly different features. As acoustics, the first sounds thin, the second is pretty “boom-y,” and the third sounds really good, at least to my untutored ear. Anyway, I have all three body depths, and I like the mid-depth best for acoustic sound. Plugged in, they’re all good, though the “Ultra” remains a little bass-heavy with its deep body, but I can dial that down with the preamp’s built-in EQ. The Tangent and the Ultra are discontinued, but I’m not sure about the Celebrity Plus. They’re all rock-solid, and stay in tune at least as well as my Strat and my Eastwood Bighorn.

By: wil

wil — Sun, 24 Aug 2014 16:56:13 +0000

Fasinating that conversation would dwell on the “Looks” of the Ovations when in fact most of the eastwood/airline guitars are as ugly as ugly gets…just sayin’

By: rick morris

rick morris — Sun, 24 Aug 2014 15:57:36 +0000

slim pickins was an actor, not a country western singing star.

By: Beelzebub Binky

Beelzebub Binky — Mon, 12 May 2014 03:12:52 +0000

Didn’t the amazing Jah Wobble use this bass?

By: Tim Porterfield

Tim Porterfield — Thu, 08 May 2014 18:08:09 +0000

…and in light of recent news of Ovation’s New Hartford CT plant closing June 2014, the article was especially sentimental for me. My father worked for KAMAN (the helicopter division) for 30 years, and I was fortunate to have worked at the Ovation plant during summers when I went to college. I will always be a fan of Ovation and their out-of-the-box (pun intended) thinking.

By: Scott Whittlesey

Scott Whittlesey — Thu, 08 May 2014 15:48:24 +0000

I bought a Magnum II in1980 and still have it. A funky feature not mentioned in the article was a lever-operated mute, which, when fully engaged, would raise the pitch of all 4 strings!

I worked at Kaman Music and remember the fellow that was, I think, the head of R&D for Ovation basses. He insisted that basses should be “big and heavy” – and this was when Stanley Clarke & Alembic were popularizing basses that were small & light! I never understood his reasoning. That being said, despite the odd design features and ugly appearance, it’s a darned good bass – very loud and punchy with that 3-band active EQ.

For those who haven’t heard, Fender is closing down the Ovation factory in New Hartford, CT, where their high-end guitars were still being made. A sad end of an era.

By: Peter M.

Peter M. — Thu, 08 May 2014 15:47:49 +0000

I’ve always been fascinated by these basses as well. Too bad they never made lefties. Kelly Groucutt of ELO played one for a while, and if you can mange to dig up a copy of the DVD, Urgh! A Music War, you can spot at least 2 bands playing one! (Magazine, for one : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYCpqffkmqY) Actually, I think all the bands just borrowed the same bass, LOL).