Storm

The Storms
Ovation were already in the business of developing and marketing their innovative bowl back guitars when in 1967 they decided to introduce a line of semi-solidbody guitars. These were archtop thin-bodies instruments, similar to Gibson’s ES-335/355 series, and called the Electric Storm. Although the guitars were built in the US by Ovation only the necks were make by them. The bodies came from the German Framus factory and most of the hardware – tuners, pickup and tailpieces – were supplied by Schaller. On early models the bodies were imported finished but these did not come up to Ovations high standards so they began applying the finishes themselves.
Model		Produced	Colours	Price $
Tornado	Standard	1968/73	Sunburst Green Red Nutmeg Natural	249
Tornado vibrato	Standard	1968/73	Sunburst Green Red Nutmeg Natural	299
Thunderhead	DeLuxe	1968/72	Red Nutmeg Sunburst	449
Thunderhead vibrato	DeLuxe	1968/72	Red Nutmeg Sunburst	499
Hurricane	12 String	1968/69	Sunburst Red	399
Typhoon 1		1968/69	Sunburst Red	299
Typhoon 2		1968/70		349
Typhoon 3		1969/72
Typhoon 4		1971/72		299
Typhoon 5		1971/72		299
Eclipse	Budget	1971/73	Black	219
As with all Ovation electrics it is difficult to date production dates precisely. “The History of Ovation Guitars”, states that production started in 1968 and ceased two years later but there were enough parts in stock to continue assembly and sale until 1972. Serial number are not chronological (seem to be non-logical) so it is difficult to date individual instruments. As a general rule, 1968- 1972, with Tornados and Eclipses lingering on a little longer.