In addition to founding an aerospace and music company, he founded the Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation with his late wife Roberta. The charity breeds and trains guide dogs for the blind at the company’s Bloomfield, Conn. headquarters. Kaman is survived by sons C. William Kaman II and Steven Kaman, daughter Cathleen Kaman Wood, three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

On its Facebook page, Ovation Guitars wrote: “He was truly a unique individual and his love for music changed the way we all knew the acoustic guitar. Our blessings go out to his family and friends as they find peace in their loss. May we all rise to give him, our founding father, our greatest standing ovation.”

We are proud to announce the arrival of the new Ovation iDea! This is the latest and greatest guitar to hit the market and singers and songwriters will, no doubt, rejoice. Never has there been a guitar like the iDea which makes this one of the most anticipated Guitar releases we have ever been a part of. The official release date is 11-1-08 and the street price will be $599. We are now taking pre-orders and all orders will be shipped November 1st. There is a very limited supply to start off with so make sure to order now. 

When the Ovation guitar was introduced in 1966, recording studios occupied entire buildings. Now, an entire recording studio is built into an Ovation guitar! The new Ovation iDea is the first and only guitar of its kind, featuring a built-in MP3 recorder/player. The digital recorder is part of the on-board Ovation preamp. The patented technology makes possible a list of features never before available on any guitar – acoustic or electric.

Songwriters have always desired a simple and convenient way to record song ideas, hooks, melodies and lyrics. With the iDea, players who write on guitar will have an instantly accessible high-quality digital recorder with them wherever they go. The simple and direct recording control makes it easy to record entire songs or fragments, even vocals and commentary.

The iDea can record from the guitar alone, simultaneously from the guitar and built-in microphone, and from an auxiliary input. Any audio signal fed into the auxiliary input is converted to an MP3 file and stored in the iDea memory. Record guitar and voice simultaneously, any song idea, licks, hooks and rhythms, on the MP3 recorder with up to 100 minutes of storage. Playback either through headphones or a guitar amplifier and change playback tempo without changing pitch, also upload songs to recording software to edit and expand on your computer.

The iDea is also a learning tool, with audio lessons pre-installed in the memory. Additional lessons from iDea educational partner, WorkshopLive.com, will be available via download. Guitarists who enjoy jamming will find a tireless band mate in the iDea. Several “Jam Tracks” are pre-installed in the instrument, and others are available online. You also have the ability to download solos from MP3 sources, slow them down and learn note-for-note. WorkshopLive.com has amassed an online catalog of 2,500+ music lessons and 15,000 instructional videos and have teamed up with Ovation to help iDea customers get started down the songwriting path.

Downloading files from a computer or the Internet is easy via USB. Files in the iDea can be moved, renamed, deleted and rearranged right on the computer desktop. Mixes from recording software, rhythm tracks, even songs the player wants to learn can be downloaded and played either through the guitar output or headphones.

The iDea OPi-1 pre-amp can also be ordered individually and inserted into newer model Ovation acoustic/electric models.

This review of the Ovation LX Series 6778LX acoustic electric guitar is brought to you by Steven Vee and ZoZoMusic.com. Don’t forget to check out Steven’s latest CD!

This review of the Ovation 2078T Elite Series acoustic electric guitar is brought to you by Steven Vee and ZoZoMusic.com. Steven Vee is a 43 year old father of two and 20 year Air Force veteran who knows how to rock! Upon retirement, Steven began pursuing his passion in music by writing and performing original material in various clubs around New Braunfels, San Marcos, and San Antonio. He quickly developed a loyal following of fans attracted to his unique blend of rock, blues, country and jazz. He has mulitiple self-produced CD’s that have created a legion of listeners. Don’t forget to check out his newest CD “Smoother Than Whiskey”. From the opening title track, you’ll find rocking grooves, sultry slide guitar, heartfelt lyrical content, outstanding guitar work and soothing vocal harmonies. We, at ZoZo Music, would like to thank Steven Vee for his contributions.