“When we dared to be different”: Ovation revives the cult Viper guitar, once beloved by Jeff Buckley
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Credit: Ovation Guitars
Ovation is marking its 60th anniversary by reviving one of its most unique electric guitar designs, the Viper.
It was a concept that found a fan in Jeff Buckley. Now it's been brought into the present day.
Over the years, while guitar recipes have remained broadly conservative, there have been those who have vied to reinvent the wheel.
Ovation, spearheaded by aerospace engineer Charles Kaman, was one of them, first producing an acoustic with a roundback body, before creating a battle axe-shaped guitar that Ace Frehley used across Kiss' debut album in 1974.
The Viper was first released in the mid-'70s and now returns in two distinct versions, both of which are limited to 60 pieces, for obvious birthday-related reasons.
The new design "captures the spirit of the original", and has a lightweight, ergonomically-minded body at its core, with plenty of modern specs to boot.
Tonewoods and hardware specs differ between the models. The Viper IV-DTD-G features a basswood body with a maple veneer and a Babicz Fixed Six hardtail bridge. The Viper IV-1-G, on the other hand, features an alder body and a Babicz FCH-2 Point tremolo.
US-made Lace Sensor Hot Gold Dually humbuckers are bolstered with push-pull coil splits.
They're both 25.5" scale, and have bolt-on maple becks with Java rosewood fingerboards. Those, in turn, are capped with 24 frets and have Black Tusq nuts, with oil-sealed Ovation tuners on their headstocks.
"Ovation has always been at its strongest when we dared to be different," says Ovation's Product Manager, Thomas Neuhierl. "For our 60th birthday, we are bringing that courage back to the stage."
Colorway options are locked. The IV-DTD-G features a Blue Burst, while its snakey sibling is finished in a more natural-looking Honey Burst.
The two new Ovation Viper models – the Viper IV-DTD-G and Viper IV-1-G – come with a gig bag and cost €1,194 apiece (approx. $1,122).
See Ovation for more.
