1973 Ovation Deacon- Redd Volkaert Project Mahoghany

So, the first picture proves that I'm a big fan of Redd Volkaert's and it was a great pleasure to meet him at the Fletcher Guitar Show a few months ago. What my smile is hiding is the fact that while one may be fanboying, you might miss a couple of things on a guitar that come to be important later on. So let's take a trip down that rabbit hole...

I bought this guitar from Redd and was so busy taking pictures and telling him how much I liked his playing, I barely looked at it. He was selling a couple of guitars and amps and this Ovation case caught my eye. I gave it a very quick once over and we got to dickering on the price. He fought a valiant battle- hell, I thought he was from Texas, but he's Canadian so his gentlemanly ways must have thrown me off. In any event, I purchased the guitar, got my picture with him and headed back to the hacienda.

The first thing I noticed when getting my haul home was that this is not the original case for a Deacon. Maybe it looks more like a Viper or Preacher case, but it ain't no Deacon case. Miraculously, this guitar does fit well enough to close and latch the case, so this is the case that it will ship in.

Secondly, whomever buys this guitar has got some electronics work to do and you are purchasing it as a project. The volume pot turns, but does not control the volume. When you plug the guitar in, it's on and that's the end of that. It's just on. The tone control works fine, as does the three-way toggle switch. Speaking of toggle switches, the lower one is missing. I didn't think to look for holes in the pickguard when I was buying this guitar, but when detailing it back at the Elkcave, it quickly became apparent that there was some toggle switch missing in action going on. So there's that, too.

Finally, the battery and battery circuit has been removed. Why, I don't know, but maybe 'ol Redd decided to raw dog it and stick with the guitar in passive mode, so that is how it is currently set up.

Now to the good stuff: The guitar plays and sounds great. The action is low and the neck is good and straight, with no buzzing problems. Toss in a TS-9 and you have yourself a real howling wolf while, when dialing it back and playing clean, the guitar is warm and features a full, nice tone.

It's a project Deacon, folks and it comes from a storied guitar player who's lived decades on the professional music scene. Next time I see Redd, maybe I'll ask him to tell me the story of how this Deacon was kidnapped by Haitian cannibals and almost sacrificed to the Mauna Loa Gods. At least I'll know what happened to it. Please take a look at the photos, let us know if you have any questions and as always, we thank you for stopping by!