Ovation brings the Viper electric guitar back in two 60-piece editions
The 1970s solid-body returns with Lace Sensor humbuckers, coil splitting and a choice of hardtail or tremolo hardware.
Credit: Ovation (via source)
Ovation has revived the Viper, returning to solid-body electrics with two limited editions of a model first introduced in the mid-1970s. The Viper IV-1-G and Viper IV-DTD-G are capped at 60 instruments each, tying the run to the company’s 60th anniversary.
Both versions use a 25.5-inch scale, a bolt-on maple neck, Java rosewood fingerboard and 24 frets. Their USA-made Lace Sensor Hot Gold Dually humbuckers feed a master volume, master tone with push-pull coil split and a three-way selector. Ovation also includes a Viper gig bag with each guitar.
The split comes in the body and bridge. The IV-1-G has an alder body and Babicz FCH-2 Point full-contact tremolo, while the IV-DTD-G pairs a basswood body and maple veneer with a Babicz Fixed 6 hardtail. Ovation lists both at a €1,194 suggested retail price on its European site; no verified US-store price was published on the pages checked.
The original Viper is one of the less obvious branches of Ovation history, overshadowed by the round-back acoustics that defined the brand. Bringing it back as a compact anniversary run gives players a genuinely different catalog option rather than another finish update: familiar full-scale construction, modern switching and two sharply separated bridge choices in a body shape that has been absent for years.
Credit: Ovation (via source)
Why it matters
Ovation’s return to solid-body electrics revives a distinctive 1970s design, and the combined 120-instrument run makes this more than a routine catalog refresh.
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