Mr. HUSKIE
Editors Note: As we grow older there are many things
to ponder. What if the H-43 Huskie had never been designed and built? How would
our lives have proceeded? One thing is certain; a wonderful and exciting part
of our lives would have been missed. I want to thank former H-43 Pilot Jack
Weatherford for bringing this great story to my attention.
Steve
The ROAD NOT TAKEN
In a way, the Ovation story
(to use Robert Frost’s famous metaphor) is one of roads not taken. Of course,
as the philosopher, Hegel, so neatly noted long ago, the paths tend to join up
again, and the resulting synthesis works out fine in the end. It certainly
worked that way for Charlie Kaman, whose choice of paths ultimately led to the
synthesis (in more ways than one!) of Ovation guitars.
Ovation guitars are the brainchild of Charles H. Kaman (rhymes with command),
born in 1918, the son of a construction crew foreman. At 12 or 13, Kaman began
playing an old Stella acoustic guitar, later switching to a Martin C-7. Guitar
playing became one of Charles’ passions.
Another passion involved the physical sciences. Kaman subsequently attended the
University of Washington, D.C., studying aeronautical
engineering, and his guitar fix was supplied by playing clubs with a little
jazz combo in his spare time.
Then, one weekend his combo got the biggest gig of its career – opening for
Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra. Charlie was hot that night, and Dorsey took
notice. In one of those rare coincidences, Dorsey’s guitar player had just
quit, and the next day Kaman was offered the job. Which path does the son of a
construction foreman pursue? The uncertain, fleeting glory of
the entertainment industry, or the unknown possibilities of putting craft in
the air?
Dorsey’s orchestra left town without Charles Kaman.
Aviation and
After graduating, Kaman got a job developing the
Sikorsky helicopter. Ironically, his assignment involved transmission of
vibration from the wood rotor blades to the body. Kaman helped come up with a
solution that combined wood with a new synthetic plastic material that provided
insulation. However, management was not interested in his ideas.
Ideas in hand, in 1945 Kaman launched out on his own and started the Kaman
Corporation. For two decades he built a successful business in military
helicopters. Business thrived until, as the Vietnam war
was heating up, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara cancelled an order for
250 helicopters. Diversification was in order.
Diversification
Kaman was experienced in making items of wood, metal, and high-tech material
requiring high tolerances. He considered expanding the business into everything
from surfboards to sailboats, candy packaging machines to Winnebagos,
but these industries were all well-established and well-financed.
This is where the roads came back together. Kaman continued to play guitar
during his building of the helicopter business. He kept his guitars hanging on
the wall, instead of in the case, so he could grab one if he felt like playing.
As a result he ended up with lots of cracked backs, including one on a favorite
Martin. Charles traveled down to
Kaman realized how he could put his skills to another use.
Martin and Harmony
Kaman’s helicopter blades were made of
A second offer was refused, but the idea didn’t die. Shortly thereafter, Kaman
visited the Harmony factory in
Guitars
Back at the blade factory was a worker who played violin. Kaman pulled him out of chopper
blades, and together they set up a guitar making operation.
The problem that had led to Martin and the idea of making guitars in the first
place also led Kaman to the idea of using synthetic materials in guitars. He
realized he could use a composite fiberglass to “improve” two aspects of guitar
construction. He could solve the problem of cracking due to wood shrinkage
caused by changes in heat and humidity, and he could improve vibration
transmission from the back because fiberglass actually resonates at frequencies
similar to many woods, but is more efficient (wood actually absorbs some of the
instrument’s vibrations).
Kaman and his technicians began by building traditional square-backed guitars,
but by the sixth prototype were using oscilloscopes to develop the now familiar
bowl-backed shape, its spherical shape being self-reinforcing, thus eliminating
the need for bracing. After some experimentation, the carved, round-crowned
Ovation three-and-three headstock was developed. The modern Ovation guitar with
a Lyracord back was born.
Byrdland
Kaman began producing
guitars in 1966, and Charles went on the road to promote his new creation. His
first stop was a visit to his old stomping grounds, Washington, D.C., where he
showed his guitar to jazz guitar great Charlie Byrd. Byrd was impressed and
felt the guitar – which was quite loud – had considerable potential. He later
remarked that the guitar “deserved an ovation,” thus providing the guitars with
a name.
“The problem was that Kaman’s guitar was a steel-string and I played classical,”
Byrd said. “He said we would make me a classical.”
Byrd recommended Kaman show his guitar to folk singer Josh White, who was
performing in town at the time. Kaman promptly did so, and for White, it was
love at first strum. He enthusiastically agreed to have an Ovation guitar made
to his specs, and became the first Ovation endorser, in ’66 and brought his
entire family to
In ’67, Ovation relocated to New Hartford, Connecticut. Ovation guitars
progressed slowly. While they created a lot of buzz, the new idea was, by and
large, viewed skeptically. Until 1969, Ovation guitars struggled.
Thunderstorms
Searching for something to give them a boost, in July
’68, Ovation introduced its first electric guitars – the Electric Storm series.
Two models were available initially, the Thunderhead and the Tornado. The Thunderhead
guitars would be offered until June of ’72, with several model designation
changes along the way.
By The Time You Get to
Were its fate left to the Electric Storms, Ovation may
never have made it out of the ’60s. However, the breakthrough occurred when the
company picked up the endorsement of pop star Glen Campbell, who began his
career as a session guitarist and folk singer, at one point touring behind
Ricky Nelson. In ’65 he was a member of the Beach Boys, but by the late ’60s he
had broken through to be an enormously popular balladeer with country-tinged
hits like “By the Time I Get to
“I liked the ruggedness of the guitar, which was good for on the road,” said
Shortly thereafter, in ’69
More information on Ovation can be obtained from Walter Carter’s book, The
History of the Ovation Guitar (Hal Leonard, ’96), although solid-body
electrics are not the primary focus, and some inconsistencies exist between the
text and the model tables (when in doubt, the text seems to be more reliable).
Except for using Carter’s book to confirm some dates and a few details, most of
the information presented here was gathered independently prior to publication
of that book.
This article originally appeared in VG’s April. ’00 issue. All copyrights are by
the author Michael Wright and Vintage Guitar magazine
(www.vguitar.com ). Unauthorized
replication or use is strictly prohibited.
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