Soon after the introduction of the original Balladeer in 1966, Ovation came out with their second model, the Deluxe Balladeer.  Basically a higher end version of the Balladeer, with inlaid floral rosette, diamond shaped inlay at the 12th fret and chrome Grover rotomatic tuners.  The word "Deluxe" was scripted down the center of the peghead.  The main features were carried over form the Balladeer including the deep shiny bowl,  5 point rosewood bridge and the eleven degree peghead angle.  The earliest versions of the Deluxe Balladeer, like the Balladeer, were fabricated with a spruce soundboard made up of three pieces, not the more typical two pieces.  Legend has it that the three piece tops came about due to the sharing of spruce planks with the Kaman helicopter company.  The examples of the Deluxe Balladeer shown bellow are a 1967 and 1968 model.  Both are in outstanding condition, including the original Gieb ('67) and Lifton ('68) cases.