Ovation made a limited number of these guitars, based upon their top-of-the-line round hole model 1869 Custom Legend. A technician at Kaman Music once told me that there may have only been "around 40" made. It is a stunning guitar, and quite fun to play.
The R869 included an internal, factory-installed Roland GK-2A-kit 13-pin MIDI synthesizer interface. I played mine live for several years, and then the interface died for no reason. So, !darn! I had to go out and buy a new Godin Multiac. heh heh
The two
arrow momentary switches are the synth btn1/btn2 duo. The M
switch is 'Mix:' up for discrete Synth or Acoustic output, down for mixed
sounds.
The S switch works when the M switch
is UP: down for synth output only, up for acoustic only.
The large knob is synth volume. Acoustic output is controlled by the gain pot on the adjacent preamp.
Roland hex pickup. This is a replacement pickup; the original wasn't quite as long overall, and didn't have the Roland logo on it. It looks slightly mis-aligned with the strings, 'cause it's temporarily held on with double-stick tape until I am finished diagnosing it.
In this series of Ovation roundholes, the rosette is clear plastic with the leaf design outline painted on the rear in black. There is a thin layer of abalone layered between the rosette and the soundboard, and the whole thing is glued on the surface of the soundboard. It looks quite impressive, but is prone to buzzing if it loosens. A bit of rubber cement on the backside fixes it.