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March 2004
Posts: 137
Location: Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire | There is an interesting article in Acoustic Guitar magazine March edition on Ren Ferguson who has had a career in building acoustic guitars for Gibson, Fender, Ovation and now Guild as owned by Cordoba in California. He discusses being sent to the New Hartford plant when Fender owned them to review their Ovation and Guild processes and adding his own expertise to the mix. Just an FYI given all the discussions on these two brands.
Gary |
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Joined:
December 2015
Posts: 287
Location: Katmandu | Sorry for reviving an old thread, but I'd really like to know more about Ren Ferguson's short time at Ovation's New Hartford factory. The Acoustic Letter videos (link) about his time with Gibson, Ovation, and then ultimately Guild, tell a story where he tried to help out the plant just before its impending shutdown. Does anyone know more about his time with Ovation and his influence?
Edited by leonardmccoy 2017-06-25 7:15 AM
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June 2002
Posts: 6197
Location: Phoenix AZ | I don't know about his involvement with Ovation which was on life support at the time, but I think he was instrumental in the Guild 60th anniversary guitar (at least he signed the labels) and that's one of the nicest Koa guitars I have ever seen. He might also have been involved in the Doyle Dykes models which (along with Orpheum's) were a fantastic swan song of NH Guilds, if you ask me.
That period of Guild production in NH was bittersweet to many, but wow what a bunch of great instruments. All 8 of my Guilds are NH era and they'll stand the test of time with anything else out there. I still own 6 of them and they get plenty of play time. |
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December 2003
Posts: 848
Location: Canada | He was mainly hired by Fender to set up a Guild "Custom Shop" with streamlined process for higher end guitars, and designed the Orpheum line which were built using materials and methods that were common during the 30s as an answer to the question "what may Guild guitars may have been like if the existed during the Golden Age of guitars". I have two of them (Jumbo and 12 string 000 slothead) and they Are quite nice. After Guild was sold to Cordoba Ren went along and became VP and was in charge of setting up the facility in Oxnard, where he also oversaw production of the first models. I think he left Guild about a year ago and now works for a German company named "Shadow Electronics" to set up a new facility for acoustic guitar production somewhere in China. |
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November 2011
Posts: 741
Location: Fort Worth, TX | d'ovation - 2017-06-25 6:03 PM
He was mainly hired by Fender to set up a Guild "Custom Shop" with streamlined process for higher end guitars, and designed the Orpheum line which were built using materials and methods that were common during the 30s as an answer to the question "what may Guild guitars may have been like if the existed during the Golden Age of guitars". I have two of them (Jumbo and 12 string 000 slothead) and they Are quite nice. After Guild was sold to Cordoba Ren went along and became VP and was in charge of setting up the facility in Oxnard, where he also oversaw production of the first models. I think he left Guild about a year ago and now works for a German company named "Shadow Electronics" to set up a new facility for acoustic guitar production somewhere in China.
I attend a jam every Friday night with a bunch of ancient cowboys playing old country music. The old boy I met who first invited me to it is a personal friend of Ren Ferguson. He first met him years ago when he took his 60's Gibson J45 with him on a Gibson factory tour. This old guy has also built acoustic guitars. When he met Ren he told him he made some improvements in acoustic guitar construction that had never been done before. Naturally Ren was curious and asked what it was. Leon told him he would need some compensation for the information. They made a deal and a few months later Leon received not one but two guitars Ren personally built for him and a letter of thanks from the Gibson factory. AT our last jam he said Ren called him the other day from China. He told him he is now working for a startup guitar company there and said the new factory is the most modern guitar plant in the world. He said he is designing guitars they will soon be turning out that will rival the best the US has to offer. He also said he will be building Leon a guitar with his name in pearl inlay on the fretboard and sending it to him. Some guys have all the luck. That will be 3 Ren Ferguson built guitars this old guy will have! I'm still trying to wrangle an invite to Leon's house to see the Ren guitars that are part of his 100+ acoustic guitar collection. He always tells me the problem will be finding them in the stacks and stacks of guitars throughout his house. Like I said, some guys have all the luck! |
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December 2001
Posts: 10582
Location: NJ | cool |
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Ovation and Guild Guitars