The first Ovation guitar was developed in 1966 by Charles Kaman, an aeronautical engineer and successful industrialist. Born in 1919, his interest in the guitar developed at a young age, and as a teenager he often played gigs with bands in the Washington D.C. area where he grew up. He received his bachelors degree in aeronautical engineering from the Catholic University of America in Washington, and then worked on helicopter design as an aerodynamacist at United. Eventually he founded his own helicopter design company, the Kaman Corporation, in 1943.

The Kaman Corporation soon became involved in many aspects of science however, branching off into nuclear weapons testing, commercial helicopter flight, the development and testing of chemicals, and helicopter bearings production. This highly successful company now brings in over half a billion dollars annually.

However, much of this success must also be attributed to the company's decision to produce musical instruments. In the early 1960's, financial problems due to the failure of their commercial flight division forced them to consider expanding into new markets, such as entertainment and leisure. Coincidentally, Charles Kaman, still an avid guitar player, needed to have his Martin guitar repaired due to a warped neck. When he brought the guitar into the C.F. Martin Company to have it fixed, the president of the company, Fred Martin, offered him a tour through his guitar factory.

Upon touring the factory, Kaman observed with suprise that the guitars were being manufactured with hammers and animal glue. Having worked with extremely advanced woodworking equipment in his years as a helicopter engineer, he instantly saw a means for improvement. He offered Martin the chance to sell his company, which was the top producer of guitars at the time, and Martin refused. A short while later he offered again with the statement that he planned on entering the field with superior technology if he was again refused. Martin turned him down once again, and the Ovation guitar company was born.

Armed with years of design experience, Kaman at once set about creating a guitar that would not only be of a better quality in terms of structure but also in terms of sound. He designed it with a rounded-bowl back to improve the flow of sound through the guitar and developed a new top bracing system that was more durable. Kaman broke even more with tradition by building the guitar with both synthetic materials, such as fiberglass, and with natural woods such as sitka spruce. His theory was that by adding synthetic materials he would achieve a better quality and consistency of sound. The success of Ovation Guitars proved the traditional belief, that only guitars made solely out of the finest woods were good, to be wrong.

Charles Kaman also created one of the first successful electric-acoustic guitars, and the solid-body guitar soon evolved as a result. Kaman's fusion of synthetic materials and an aerodynamic shape produced an instrument that revolutionized the guitar industry as well as changed the face of music.