Charles Kaman, still an avid guitar player, became interested in making guitars. In the early 1960s, however, financial problems from the failure of their commercial flight division forced them to expand into new markets, such as entertainment and leisure. The Kaman Corporation soon diversified, branching into nuclear weapons testing, commercial helicopter flight, development and testing of chemicals, and helicopter bearings production. Eventually, he founded a helicopter design company, Kaman Aircraft, in 1945.
Kaman, an amateur guitarist from an early age, worked on helicopter design as an aerodynamicist at United. A mid-1970s Kaman Ovation Custom Balladeer 1612-4 acoustic electric guitar, next to a luteįounder Charles Kaman (1919–2011) developed the first prototypes of the Ovation guitar in 1965–1966.
