Would love assistance identifying my Frankenstein Guitar's parts

[Monsoon1]

Originally Posted by furyisgeorge

I have been scouring sites like Reverb and can't find anything that matches the pickguard shadow or the bridge but I do have some important updates!

First, it's a solid top which is great and it's got a pretty unique (and not totally horrible) sound to it.

The strap buttons are definitely added after the fact and are off-center. The busted wood inside also shows consistent grain patterns, which make it look like I'm rocking solid sides as well!

Also, while digging around inside, I found several things of interest. Someone has signed their name all over this guitar (twice inside, once on the back, once on the headstock and once, scratched into the back of the headstock). I've done some research on the name and haven't found anything interesting. I'm not sure if it's appropriate or not to post the name, but I'm pretty sure that the man is dead (which matches the story of the seller). a tiny scrap of paper that matches the left-over label and has 3-4 symbols on it. They appear to be Japanese. My Google translate app thinks it says "Ltd. L" which isn't super helpful but I think it's get us the Country of Origin for the body. I'll post a pic when I get home from work. I can't see any identifying marks inside the body but I haven't tried with a mirror yet. I'll pick one up on the way home.

I had a similar thought (that it might be an ovation headstock) but the tuner keys on ovations aren't lined up horizontally (at least, not with the images that I've seen) and the keys are definitely horizontally level on this guitar. My current working theory is that it's a flying-v style headstock from some knock-off brand.

Originally Posted by Bill Yellow

I'd say no way that was ever an Ovation headstock. The tuners (complete with their white plastic bushings) look to be in line with each other on each side, whereas O's have them further from the nut on the treble side.

ah but they did, my fine friends. The Ovation 1627VL-4 had a symmetrical key alignment.

[Monsoon1]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ovation-1627...p2047675.l2557

[Bill Yellow]

OK, I stand corrected. Although I still say Ovation never *used* to make headstocks like that. This VL model seems to be a fairly recent Korean model that supposedly harks back to the early Balladeer/Legend models, but actually all looks kind of wrong if you are familiar with the originals.