First time I played an Ovation, it belonged to a musician by the name of Tom Martell (anyone else ever heard of him?) in 1974. It had an amazing neck, and sounded pretty damn good. I considered buying one immediately, but didn't. Next time I played one was in the mid 90's. Didn't care for it at all, but the action was certainly nice.
I had heard a story, don't know if it is true or not, that Mandolin Bros. in Staten Island, NY, USA did a blindfold test with a number of great players. The way I heard it, the players were blindfolded and given a number of guitars. They rated them on playability and sound. Supposedly they chose a $500.00 Yamaha over the high end guitars that they played. Anyone know of this?