I went to guitar Center here in Denver and was looking at and liking an Ovation CS257, but the salesperson was telling me that it is too dry in Colorado for Ovation guitars that they have a reputation for cracking. He wanted to sell me a Martin, is he just trying to upsell me or are Ovation guitars really that temper-mental?
No, he just wants to sell you a more expensive guitar. It looks good on his Commission Statement.
If you like the Ovation, then get it; and buy a guitar case humidifier.
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I would think that the (solid wood) top on any guitar would have a similar chance of humidity related damage.
And, of course, the back and sides of the Ovation are not going to be affected by the humidity at all.
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Hahahahaha.....nice one. I own several Ovations and Adamas guitars and they have no problems at all. It gets really humid in Virginia in the summer and bone dry in the winter.
Denver is really horribly dry.
My face and lips are cracking since I moved here from Dallas.
Also, I need to drink more water here. :?
So, I guess any solid top will suffer without a humidifier here whether Ovation or Martin or Yammies.
I just looked at the average RH of Denver and it doesn't swing that much. If a guitar is acclimated it won't crack. If it feels dry to you, stick a humidifier in.
But Ovation cracking when other guitars won't? I'm afraid I have to call BS.
Run away screaming! Surely there are other guitar stores in Denver that will treat you right. Buy the guitar that you want. The solid front, back and sides on a more expensive guitar are going to be more prone to cracking. If you go that way, buy or make a soundhole humidifier. I'm in the desert and I'm very careful about keeping my better guitar and mando humidified. I don't even worry about the cheaper ones and they've never cracked. If you want to be cautious, humidify whatever you get.
Renee
Up here we go sub zero F for weeks at a time. The heat runs constantly and our world is freeze dried. Come this July we will hit the 90's on occasion with humidity near 90%. I have never heard of an issue with an Ovation guitar. Maybe it is the elevation. :lol:
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Here in arid Colorado Springs, my wife's Tacoma DM-9 solid-top acoustic changes tuning dramatically if left alone too long. We keep a soundhole humidifier in it. No cracks after three years here. My mandolin, made from slices of old piano soundboards, also is suffering a bit from the dry air -- but no cracks there, either; just tuning issues. My plywood acoustics fluctuate somewhat, but not like the Tacoma. On the Front Range, I highly recommend some humidity control for any guitar you really care about. And take any generalization about any brand with many grains of salt. Most are BS.
"You can't write a chord ugly enough to say what you want to say sometimes, so you have to rely on a giraffe filled with whipped cream." - Frank Zappa
I too imagine that the salesperson was trying to upsell you to a more expensive guitar.
However, I wonder if the combination of plastic back/sides and wood top would lead to more cracking? I could see it as a theoretical possibility but I don't know if it happens in practice or not. The wood top will expand or contract with changes in humidity but the plastic back / sides won't. That might cause cracking.
If that's a possibility (and I don't know that it is) then any all wood guitar would get around the issue and not just an expensive Martin.
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