Written by: Jeremy Thorpe
Published: Pretoria News
Edition: Tuesday August 23 1977

“You have to pull strings to own a guitar like this one!”

PRETORIA music shop owner Mr Wilfied Stolze has for sale one of the most unique – and expensive – acoustic guitars in the country.

It is an Ovation Patriot – one of a special batch of 1 776 guitars built in commemoration of the American Bicentennial celebrations.

One of only three exported to South Africa this magnificent instrument sells for the princely sum of R995 – or the price of a deposit on some new cars.

Sound

For his money, the lucky customer gets an acoustic guitar which is claimed to have “the clearest, brightest, fullest sound around today.”

Other features the prospective owner can drool over are the 24 –carat gold tuning keys, mother –of- pearl inlay along the neck and a hand-stencilled design in the style of early American stencilled furniture.

When the 1776th guitar has been completed these stencils will be destroyed and this guitar never built again.

With the guitar comes a detailed owner’s manual and a document signed by the president of Ovation Instruments certifying that the guitar is No 865 of a special limited edition.