Gibson Chet Atkins CE vs Ovation 1658 Legend Custom 12-String
The Gibson Chet Atkins CE and the Ovation 1658 Legend Custom 12-String are both classical guitars. The Ovation 1658 Legend Custom 12-String leans transparent and bright.
cited
Blended from circuit-archetype lineage, dynamic feel, tone-signal overlap and tone-vector distance — the tone vector itself is derived from editorial description text, not a measured acoustic signal, so this reflects how similarly the catalog copy describes the two, not a lab measurement. Shown only within a gear class, and only where there's enough evidence to be meaningful.38% — somewhat different
Gibson Chet Atkins CE
Unknown brand · classical guitar
Ovation 1658 Legend Custom 12-String
Ovation · classical guitar
cited
Citation/mention fame — how often this gear is cited across artist rigs and gear discussion.$1499via Reverb
The Gibson Chet Atkins CE solves the nylon-string feedback problem by removing the soundbox: the body is solid mahogany with small chambers rather than a hollow resonating cavity, and the sound comes from an under-saddle transducer instead of a microphone. It plays like an electric with a nylon-string neck width, and can be run at stage volume where a real classical guitar would howl.
The Ovation 1658 Legend Custom is a 12-string acoustic-electric guitar built on Ovation's distinctive roundback bowl body, a departure from traditional flat-back acoustic construction that gives the instrument a brighter, more projecting voice along with a deep cutaway for upper-fret access. As a Legend Custom variant, it carries premium appointments beyond the standard Legend line, and the 12-string configuration adds the characteristic shimmering, chorus-like doubled string tone associated with 12-strings, layered onto Ovation's already distinctive acoustic-electric platform. Ovation built its reputation on this composite bowl-body design specifically to address feedback and projection issues that plagued traditional acoustic-electric guitars on loud stages.
cited
Genres this gear is documented as being used in.- Folk
- Electronic
- transparent
- bright