By Misa Giroux
Known for their iconic, round-backed shape and unique construction, Ovation Guitars have had a home in New Hartford, Connecticut for nearly 60 years. The clever design was developed by Charles Kaman, an engineer and helicopter builder who founded Kaman Corporation, an aerospace company based in Bloomfield. Kaman was also an accomplished guitar player, and he realized he could use his engineering expertise to optimize the design of guitars.
Josh White Model Guitar. Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Gene C. Feldman. No known copyright restrictions.
Assembling a team of engineers, Kaman spent 18 months testing and researching the ideal guitar shape. For the fullest, richest sound, they concluded that a guitar’s back should be rounded (or “semi-parabolic”) rather than flat as they were traditionally built. Wood wasn’t ideal for this shape, however, so the team tested new materials – based on those they successfully used in their aerospace components – searching for a solution that would be both lightweight and resonant. They settled on a material they called Lyrachord: a fiberglass composite material that could be precision-molded to any shape or thickness. Thin but durable, Lyrachord does not warp, split, crack, or have tonal inconsistencies an organic material (like traditional wood) might.
Kaman kept the idea of using a wooden soundboard, but with another unique twist. Most acoustic guitars were constructed from two pieces of wood, often Sitka spruce, but the only Sitka spruce Kaman had around the factory was for helicopter blades. Two weren’t wide enough to cover a whole guitar body, so Kaman used three pieces instead. This combination created the standard Ovation guitar template: a wooden top with a rounded-bowl composite body.
Kaman’s unique design soon found its way into the hands of fingerpicking blues guitarist Josh White, who visited the factory and provided feedback during development. He became the first Ovation endorsee, receiving a custom model – likely the first signature guitar made for a Black musician – and performing at the Kaman Aircraft Corporation’s launch event “announcing their new Ovation Musical Instruments line of acoustical guitars,” held at Hotel America in Hartford on November 14, 1966. An article in The Music Trades describes a special performance:
Josh White, playing Ovation’s ‘Josh White’ model – declared to be the first guitar which the famous folk singer has ever endorsed – held the crowd spellbound. His thirty-minute performance brought forth every nuance of the instrument’s unique capability to render clear treble and deep resonant bass notes. Closing the show with a family ensemble with his two daughters, Mr. White brought down the house. It was one of the rare occasions when he and his children, though all professionals, have played as a group.
Ovation Musical Instruments Line Formal Announcement Invitation and Program. 1966. Ovation Tribute/Jerome Galopin.
New Hartford became the home for Ovation production in 1967, and by 1969 the company was receiving international recognition thanks to television exposure by country artist Glen Campbell, who became the brand’s primary endorser.
Into the 1970s and ’80s, Ovation remained innovative, experimenting with multiple offset sound holes and solid-body electric models. Considered the first company to use electronics to amplify acoustic instruments, Ovation appealed to guitarists looking to perform in live venues that required high volume, counting John Lennon, Jimmy Page, Melissa Etheridge, and Jim Croce among their many players.
While the company has been sold multiple times since 2007 and most Ovation guitars are now built overseas, certain models are still built in New Hartford today.
