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Joined:
April 2011
Posts: 119
Location: NH | As the Kid professes his loss of traction with the OFC, that thread has taken several turns in direction. A lot has been said, and a lot has been edited. (Hmmm….)
Dispersions of the board going the way of O guitars were made, as were comments relative to boring new models, quality of imports versus domestics, approaching brand extinction and even the intentional eviscerating of the brand. My immediate emotional reaction was to agree with most of the comments. But then I started to wonder…
I couldn’t understand why those sentiments were so emotionally prevailing; or why a company would have any intentional desire to drive a brand into the ground. Of course they wouldn’t. In fact, it seems to be the opposite. They committed resources to redo the website, logo, bowls, necks, etc. But, why would they want to make an excellent product “inferior”?
It has often been said here that Ovation was intended to be the “working man’s guitar”. I think it still is. And frankly it’s even more cost effective. “Yeah, but they don’t have near the sound of my USO” or “They’re essentially disposable guitars”. Hello, McFly?!
Look around. We live in a disposable society. If it breaks, you toss it in the trash and get another one. Another brand new one. Look at how much a lot of you spend on USO’s. And if something happens to them, you send them back to Mother for repair. Some of you even send them back for a face lift. Yeah, the work is un-parralleled, but it ain’t cheap either. You easily could have bought a new AX or TX.
“But there’s no comparison in sound!”. Maybe not. But I don’t think the upcoming generation of music consumers care one bit about sound quality as some of us may. After all the vast majority of them are listening to compressed MP3 formats on their iFruits or smart phones either thru earbuds or 1” docking station speakers. How good does the sound really need to be? It’s good enough for them to enjoy it.
So this brings me back to today’s Ovations. I don’t think Fender is marketing their product to many of us. They’re trying to usher in the new generation of player. Need evidence? Look at the DJ Ashba collection and the Nikki Sixx axes. And if the Ovation brand is going to be around after we leave this earth, that’s exactly what they need to be doing. Is it going to work? Who knows. Ovation is never going to be a leading brand, but they might be able maintain a certain niche in the market. Perhaps the working man’s guitar.
Now, do I like it? Heck no! My personal preference is towards the US made O’s. I’ve been fortunate to obtain a couple of USO’s that I find esthetically pleasing and sound great to my ears. I also like the fact that I own a small piece of Americana. If they “go the way of the dinosaur” that will be unfortunate. But it certainly won’t be intentional, and I certainly won’t be wringing my hands over it.
Just my 2 cents.
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Joined:
December 2004
Posts: 1673
Location: SoCal | Arthur just posted links (in another thread) to a couple videos of how Ovation was.
It's the economy and who's buying new guitars. I am hoping that the quality and sound of the offshore O's keep the Brand alive throughout the world.
I would like to see the USO's go the boutique direction with hand-laid bowls, new technology, and innovations. | |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 7233
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | I agree 100% there Guitsome. Just the amount they spent on the website and the recent design contest, along with last years "road show" is evidence to me they are far from done. They are appealing to the audience of today. The majority of instruments being sold are either extremely high-end or extremely low end of the price scale. That's the industry profile now. If you want a Made In Usa O, order it. They'll build it, but you'll pay for it. Else order what's made.
You are so right about the sound quality as well. I'm in the process of designing a recording studio. It's a hard line to draw figuring out equipment for a studio that clients won't laugh at when they walk in the door, along with the fact that the mixes better sound good on YouTube or at the very least through earbuds.
I haven't seen a high-end audio system in anyone's house in many years. Most people, including myself, do not even own a system dedicated to music. The majority of my listening is headphones, PC speakers or the car. When the studio is up, I'll have that, but not really a typical scenario.
Manufacturing and retail go in waves. You have to meet the markets needs, and I think they are doing that and will likely continue.
Miles | |
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Joined:
August 2003
Posts: 4619
Location: SoCal | Fender will have the same problem that Ovation had over the past 5-10 years. The prior success of Ovation caused most of the problem.
Ovation built durable, excellent sounding guitars (acoustic and a/e)...a whole bunch of them. Even if a few cracks, etc., easy to repair. Need more help, we have THE excellent customer service by John and Ken.
The primary guitar in the stores has been an off-shore Celeb with Ovation on the headstock for less than $500. Not a great acoustic but good plugged in. Brand confusion as to an U.S. Ovation and an off-shore Celebrity as most guitar store offerings were Celeb's.
Many of the earliest guitars are still around in excellent condition. Look at some other companies, few that survived 30-40 years. Even a 1537 is 29 years old.
When Ovation was pre-Fender, there were past posts where we discussed buying an older O v. one of the new issues. Many of the members had never bought a new U.S. Ovation in the last 10 years. Yet, many of the posters had bought a number of "pre-owned".
Good example is at 2012 NAMM when I was asked about the GC reissue...I commented positively but said I had one of the original.
Now that Fender is only doing custom or limited runs of O's and A's, the used market will be the primary source of another O or A guitar. In fact, several Ovation senior staff said at NAMM that the prices of the earlier (pre-Fender) O's and A's will see good increases over the next several years.
Bottom line...new U.S. Ovations and Adamas are a "tough sell". And, there is no incentive for Fender to bring back the two U.S. lines or to develop it further.
Off-shore will continue to be off-shore with similar quality as before. Not the same as a U.S. O or A. This is a degrade to the reputation of the Ovation and Adamas line. Yes, I would expect Adamas to be off-shore in the future. | |
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Joined:
August 2005
Posts: 3736
Location: Sunshine State, Australia | My Folklore is coming up to 40 years old and you'd be hard pressed to find any structural or cosmetic faults with it.
And it's got such a thick, rich, even sound I'd put it up against any Martin or Adamas.
I doubt anything out of SE Asia will be able to make such a claim in 2050. | |
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Joined:
December 2006
Posts: 6995
Location: Jet City | I'll just hafta find a new brand I s'pose though I may do one more on a custom order. Could be that won't be an option anymore either by the time I have the $ to do it. I have a couple dozen guitars with about half of 'em being Ovations. Every single guitar in this house was built right here in the good ol' USofA, and aside from the possibility of something well made from Japan, I don't plan on changing that. My collection of instruments has only improved over time, so I don't see anything coming outta Ovation from Asia that will keep that trend going.
FWIW, my last 2 Ovation purchases were brand new guitars. An Adamas from Al, and a C2078LX from the place that sponsored the Road Show here locally (my second USA O from them). I did have plans on the next being a new contoured Folklore with the tortoise rosette/binding, but well... They were hard enough to find when they were actually still in production.
It is what it is. I guess my next new brand to covet will be a wood box builder.
So long new Ovations, and thanks for the past 30 years (this year is my 30th anniversary as an O player). It was great playin' you while it lasted. I'll just give more love to the ones already hanging on my wall. | |
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Joined:
May 2006
Posts: 4232
Location: Steeler Nation, Hudson Valley Contingent | I arranged my next two (maybe three) projects with John Budny just this past week. That gives me about 4 months to raise the funds to pay for them. I'll be climbing back on my trading horse soon enough and eventually a fair amount of cash will make its way to New Hartford. | |
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Joined:
August 2003
Posts: 4619
Location: SoCal | As far as wood boxes, since Fender, I have primarily focused on Takamine. Did buy three new Ovation 2009 Collectors in addition to #50 of the original Adamas 1687 slotheads.
From Takamine:
Prior owner: New Yorker, EF75 (Brazilian rosewood).
New: TVN360SC, 45th Anniv (NOS), three LTD2010's, LTD2011.
Takamine: outstanding guitars, outstanding value. In addition, Dave's great website www.TakamineForum.com (bunch of OFC'ers are there). As well as Mike Makure's great support, the product manager for Takamine.
Did get a couple of pre-owned Martins from OFC'ers: 12-str D12-45 and a HD-28VS (vintage slothead). | |
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Joined:
August 2003
Posts: 4619
Location: SoCal | I might add that an advantage of buying Takamine is that I can continue to work with Al (LostArtVintage), my 'go-to guy' and primary dealer. | |
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What's with Fender?