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Location: NJ | For Immediate Release
Press Release - 3rd August 2018
Legacy Guitar Brand Retools for the Future
Ovation suspends U.S. operations in an effort to modernize manufacturing
(08/03/2018 – Oxnard, CA) Drum Workshop Inc., owner of the 50 plus year, storied brand, recently announced plans to update most of its current models. Much of the comprehensive strategy is said to focus on a review of existing models and price points with the long term goal of laying groundwork for a future that offers diehard Ovation fans a value proposition consistent with past models, while delivering stand-out instruments to a new generation of guitar enthusiasts.
“Ovation has always been predicated on innovation, advancement, sound quality, ease of use and playability. Although the market segment has changed quite a bit since Ovation launched in the 70’s, that still holds true today. It’s parallel to the DW Drums philosophy and we need to make sure we are abiding by the legacy that Charlie Kaman created over 50 years ago.”, said newly-appointed Ovation Brand Coordinator, William Robinson.
The brand will launch a revised website and pricing in August and has plans to step-up specifications and features on import and U.S. made product in the coming year. Meanwhile, Ovation’s New Hartford, CT facility will cease operations to clear the way for the brand’s new direction. Existing U.S. inventory will continue to be sold during the transition process.
Drum Workshop President and C.E.O., Chris Lombardi added, “We really want these guitars to be embraced by a new audience, while in keeping with what Ovation means to so many people around the world. We hear from guitarists that tell us Ovation was their first guitar and they still play it today. That means it made a substantial impact on the industry and we want to keep that feeling alive. It’s what makes Ovation so special.”
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ABOUT OVATION GUITARS
Founded in 1965, Ovation Guitars is an American manufacturer of acoustic-electric guitars, basses, mandolins and ukuleles. Known for their distinctive parabolic-shaped, composite backs, multi-wood epaulets and integrated electronics, Ovation guitars have been played by such legendary artists as Glen Campbell, Melissa Etheridge, Mick Jagger, John Lennon, Richie Sambora, Jimmy Page and Kevin Cronin among others. For more information, visit www.ovationguitars.com
ABOUT DRUM WORKSHOP INC.
Founded in 1972, Drum Workshop, Inc. is a family-owned and operated musical instrument company best known for designing and manufacturing award-winning drums, pedals, hardware and accessories under the DW® and PDP® banners. In 2014, the company expanded to include other iconic American instrument brands including Gretsch® Drums, Latin Percussion®, and Ovation® Guitars. DW’s wide range of products is endorsed by many of the world’s top artists including: Neil Peart, Phil Collins, Chad Smith, Sheila E., Melissa Etheridge, Richie Sambora, Mick Fleetwood, Taylor Hawkins and Dave Grohl among others. Drum Workshop, Inc. is headquartered in Oxnard, California. For more information visit www.dwdrums.com Follow us on Facebook and Twitter
Media Contacts:
Ovation Publicity Contact: David Phillips, david@armarketing.co.uk
To download a high resolution picture please click the image below:
Dave Phillips
Drum Workshop PR
Office Tel +44 (0) 1604 881095
www.armarketing.co.uk
www.dwdrums.com A&R MARKETING
A&R Marketing Limited, PO BOX 929, Brixworth, Northants, NN7 9AQ.
Registered in England & Wales with number 5521620.
This message was sent to alpep@aol.com; We hope you found it relevant. However, if you'd rather not receive future e-mails from us, please visit the opt-out link by clicking here |
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Location: Yokohama, Japan | Thanks for keeping us abreast of the latest news Mr. Pepiak! |
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Location: When?? | Say.. is that a spot of blue sky I see opening in the clouds? Sounds like an interesting autumn ahead! Thank you for the info, Al. |
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Location: Katmandu | That's a bummer. :/ |
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Location: Nashville TN. | damn 2nd time.... sucks! |
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Location: 6 String Ranch | update most of its current models
Much of the comprehensive strategy is said to focus on a review of existing models and price points with the long term goal of laying groundwork for a future that offers diehard Ovation fans a value proposition consistent with past models, while delivering stand-out instruments to a new generation of guitar enthusiasts.
Some of the best Marketing Rhetoric I've heard i a loooong time. |
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Location: NW Indiana | I'm sure we all feel the death throes, and it's especially painful after such a promising USA re-start by DW. But there are lots of fine products made in Asia, and it sounds like the new Ovation will combine Asian economics with the successes of the past. My thoughts go to the employees at the MS who will once again be shunned by the machine. |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Thank You Dave Phillips...
But couldn't you have an American tell us that we are screwed?
We hear from guitarists that tell us Ovation was their first guitar and they still play it today. And there is always eBay, Reverb, and Craigslist.
And the OFC. 
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Location: When?? | Wait... am I missing something here?? I guess I am.. and I don't know about y'all, but the end of New Hartford became very clearly apparent quite some time ago. Is this a good thing? Of course it's not. We have all loved the MS for decades.. but its transitional demise is as much of a life reality as a dearly loved, though dying family member. DW cannot survive there. NO ONE can. Drums aren't exactly producing profits of golden bevy any better than guitars are these days, and one would't expect a company with a drop of survival sense to continue attempting to milk two half-dry cows 3,000 miles apart. 21st century economics completely suck, and it isn't going to change.. it isn't.. and if the survival, at all, of USA-made Ovation products eventually requires taking shape elsewhere it is far better than total death. I, for one, refuse to toss the baby out with the bath water, and today's announcement brings at least a splinter of hope in something I had written off as already dead and gone.
Edited by Love O Fair 2018-08-03 11:21 PM
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Location: Always beautiful canyon country of Utah | My meager collection will keep me beyond happy till the day I die!! Hopefully with one in my arms and in the middle of a song! |
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Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | I've been thinking about this announcement. As much as I hate to see it go, at least for the foreseeable future, if Ovation is to have a chance to bring back USA models, it really can't be in Connecticut. The state is ranked one of the worst in the Nation to have a business. Highly regulated, a high cost of labor, etc. |
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Location: Katmandu | I really wanted a new New Hartford Ovation last year. Hence, I inquired in earnest with two separate major EU-based dealers about a lefty Glen Campbell 1627GC-4 commission. The price I got quoted was so absurd (USD 3,360) that I went ahead and custom-ordered a lefty Everly Brothers acoustic with Gibson instead. Being an Ovation fan is one thing, and Ovation guitars really are great performers, but that price was just ridiculous for a mid-depth, relatively bare-bones Ovation, especially if you already have a deep-bowl A-braced Ovation at home that out performs pretty much any guitar you throw at it and she's doesn't even have to try very hard.
Edited by leonardmccoy 2018-08-04 12:27 AM
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Location: When?? | @Mr. Ovation - >>>if Ovation is to have a chance to bring back USA models, it really can't be in Connecticut<<<
I am guessing (guessing) that any future USA-made Ovations will come out of DW's home plant in Oxnard, CA. Consolidation under one roof could greatly increase the company's logistical efficiency, as well as to save on top-heavy facility overhead, a grand expense that could very well be the ultimate deciding margin in continuing with USA-made product. |
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Location: Frozen Tundra of Minnesota | I am not sure that I understand what this means....
"a future that offers diehard Ovation fans a value proposition consistent with past models, "
decipher please???
Beal - 2018-08-03 6:56 PM
update most of its current models
Much of the comprehensive strategy is said to focus on a review of existing models and price points with the long term goal of laying groundwork for a future that offers diehard Ovation fans a value proposition consistent with past models, while delivering stand-out instruments to a new generation of guitar enthusiasts.
Some of the best Marketing Rhetoric I've heard i a loooong time. |
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Location: Colorado | If you are a guitar manufacturer, it seems to me you have to SELL guitars. Just an observation, but it seemed like there were not a lot of USA models being sold. Al and Damon not withstanding, I have not seen music stores purchasing Ovations to sell to musicians - mom and pops, or the larger ones. Long ago I let go of the "it has to be a USA instrument" to be a great instrument - just look at the number of Takamines in the professional market, as well as the intermediate, and the beginner markets. I hope Ovation hangs around, I really hope I see a good market penetration, but they gotta get someone who gets the products in the stores. Damon and Al, I will still use you guys, that is what good relationships are about. Not sure what the relationship between corporate and the stores that sell the instruments is like. We know the quality of the people and the instruments, I am guessing and hoping DW wants to make and sell a lot of these. I am staying tuned. |
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Location: Indiana | After years of seeing only import O's in the store, the 2 GC's in the Nashville area actually had some USA DW's in stock. But they had the damn things up on the highest hangers. You had to flag down a sales person with a 10 foot ladder to sample them! Stupid. In an ideal world, there should have at least one Adamas ground level in the high end rooms. People do impulse buy in this town and often those guitars end up on major tours and recording sessions. |
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Location: Colorado | Great point JS |
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Location: Texas | Who desires and can afford a 1600.00-3000k Ovation guitar? Not the majority of Americans. Not the majority of the kids that play guitar or want to play guitar. Not the folks already playing guitar on weekend and evening gigs. It is us. The folks who bought the 70's balladeers and then got hooked on the sound and hooked others on the sound and found the Ovations that worked for us. If Ovation cannot hook today's kids, then all they have is us. And sorry, DW, we have our Ovations. The customer base they targeted has no reason to buy a new Ovation and if they did, it is one and done. That isn't how Ovation remained viable. It was one, then another, then another... which has created another marketing problem.... there are so many excellent Ovations out there on the secondary market at a fraction of the cost of a new one. Ovation popped up when acoustics were not cool...until cool artists set aside their strats and les pauls and started playing them. The times are different, the metrics are different, the economics are different. Actually, the acoustic landscape is extremely popular and it just may be that the Ovation customer base is saturated and has contracted to a point that cannot support the homegrown brand. |
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Location: Indiana | You may very well be right, Jay. But back to my point above, as long as they're hung like forbidden fruit... and the Adamas line treated like only a chance opportunity to hold one in your hands, we'll never know how many they could sell. I do realize living in a music town isn't representative of the market at large, but getting these guitars in the hands of visible artists could only be helpful. There are a lot of younger gen folks in the drivers seat here now. And they are not necessarily bound by the engrained predgedices of older players. I believe some could have been brought onboard. Guess it's a moot point now. Preaching to the choir.
Edited by Jonmark Stone 2018-08-05 10:58 AM
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Location: Texas | Jonmark, Back when Ovation ruled, you could walk into any "music store" and maybe there were two rows of guitars and in Amarillo, there were always 1/2 dozen O models represented in each store. Mom and/or Pop knew the way to sell a guitar was to let the customer play it.
Guitar Center, imo, has always placed the better guitars on the 2nd story hangers. No wonder they are circling the drain with 1B in debt. |
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Location: When?? | @Jay - >>>Guitar Center, imo, has always placed the better guitars on the 2nd story hangers. No wonder they are circling the drain with 1B in debt.<<<
I was in GC a few weeks back. Picked up a Mitchell on the bottom rack for a quick strum in passing. The fret ends extended SO far out of the neck that you would literally slice your lower fingers open in the first 60 seconds. When I mentioned it to the sales rep, his reply was "Yeah, Guitar Center now owns Mitchell, and we've been hearing about those fret issues for some time now." Basically as if to say, 'Yeah, so what?'. I told him I would buy one next time I was in the market for hacksaw blades, then headed over to the string rack to pic up some D'Add EJ 16s. Very commonly stocked string. Nope. Sold out. And they wonder why their company is on the slide. |
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Location: NJ | Ovation could sell ever adamas guitar they could build |
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Location: Texas | Al, are the margins not high enough to support that being the American side of Ovation? |
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Location: Flahdaw | Yeah, I thought I read that they make almost NO profit on the Adamas line? |
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Location: Indiana | Worth every penny. Finest. Wish more players had the opportunity to actually PLAY one.
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Location: Indiana | At the expense of over-posting... I'm at the stage of my career where I'm down to a handful of small house concerts and songwriter festivals a year. The festivals... we have scheduled/paid shows every night. Then we players get together for informal guitar "pulls" that go well into sunrise, just for ourselves... to get reacquainted and play new stuff for each other.
So many times through the years, I've handed my Adamas over to a wood-box player only to end up playing their Martin's and Taylor's for the rest of the night. They won't give mine back. Never played anything like it before. Sad. |
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| I had a funny feeling that when DW took over Ovation, it would spiral down the hill. I am glad I got my Glen Campbell from the winter Namm Show 2 years ago from Bill Xavier, he was really pushing Ovation products at the show, but unfortunately the dealers would stop for a moment and look at he guitars, than walk away. I was ecstatic when I saw that Glen Campbell guitar. I wish I would have gotten one of the Blue Birds, but DW put a hefty price tag on them and I just couldn't justify paying that kind of money for that guitar that wasn't exactly like Glen's original one. I am hoping DW will have Ovations at the winter 2019 Namm Show and show them off proudly! I really do love my Ovations and I have my original ones that I bought back in the 70's, due to seeing David Cassidy and Glen Campbell playing them on TV. |
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Location: New York, NY | OK, so I find the announcement both troubling and confusing.
Will the New Hartford, CT facility reopen?
Will there be a US facility elsewhere?
Will the current US models be discontinued?
The sad thing is that I checked the revised Ovation website and was somewhat encouraged.
Unfortunately, the Adamas line appears to be gone.
However, the good news is that they are now up to 13 American models: 6 LX Custom Elite, 6 LX Custom Legend, and 1 new American SX Main Street ($1700). So again, will these be discontinued?
http://www.ovationguitars.com/guitars-six-strings
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Location: New York, NY | More confusion: Sweetwater has two "American Limited" models, which aren't on the Ovation website.
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/manufacturer/Ovation/high2low
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Location: Texas | I think everyone agreed that Ovation could have done a better job with their website. |
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Location: When?? | We all know about New Hartford, and the countless names and talent that have passed through the doors there.. and it makes me wonder about the place in Korea where they make some of the new Ovations today. I see some pretty nice MIK Ovations on Sweetwater-type sites.. and many are not cheap in price either. So who are the guys there today? Heck, maybe they have an old character brick building, too, and a crew of seasoned guys with decades of guitar crafting in there showing the new guys how it's done. Or not. Maybe it's a crappy tin building off some street in the industrial section of Seoul full of production workers who are just happy to have a fan blowing on them. I dunno. Does anyone here know the story and history on this?? |
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Location: NJ | well the last set of doublenecks did not impress me at all.....
there are issues with some other guitars also.
IMHO the tops on the exotic woods guitars are way too thick....I was shocked by how thick they were.
they are beautiful and sound great plugged in...but ultimately it is a ply top |
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Location: NJ | there is a difference between craftsmen and contractors.
craftsmen build as an artform
contractors build to the specification |
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Location: When?? | And, sadly enough, there are many craftsmen these days who end up getting stuck working for contractors. |
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Location: New York, NY | jay - 2018-09-03 4:13 PM
I think everyone agreed that Ovation could have done a better job with their website.
At least they got rid of the spinning guitars.  |
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Official announcement