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October 2005
Posts: 4081
Location: Utah | They could sell a lot more guitars if they put some thought into the retail experience. Yesterday I went to the local GC out of sheer boredom (spent the week on the couch after having a minor surgical tune-up). They had a pretty good selection of O's, from low end all the way up to some nice LXs. I even got to try out a contour bowl (C778LX?).
But, the setups all sucked. I've heard a lot of people say that they take their new O home and promptly take one shim out from under the saddle, which is what I did too.
And, the strings weren't all that nice. One of the two 6778LX's had strings that were so corroded and dirty it was a serious turn-off. I wouldn't even play it they were so dirty, partly out of fear of picking up a disease! Half of the others had noticably old looking or dead sounding strings.
If Ovation were to put just a little bit of effort into setups, like even just 5 minutes with a simple jig, and if they required the retailer to change out the strings every two weeks or once a month even, their guitars would really stand out.
Honestly, I wouldn't have bought any of the O's yesterday if I were a typical customer. I want a nice playing, good sounding, clean guitar. There were plenty of other choices in the same price range that offered better setups and were cleaner to look at.
Do your local dealers have O's that so poorly represent the product? |
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Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | Do you mean George Jefferson? |
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Posts: 9301
Location: south east Michigan | I know what you mean. I've seen the same thing with other brands. But I think what you ask is, for the most part, beyond the control of Ovation.
To the big box stores these assemblies of wood strings and lyracord becomes no more than a unit with a barcode. There is no magic, mojo, or promise in them. They are just something for the cattle to come in and put on their credit card. The sales staff probably has a little private giggle if they catch me enjoying the aroma of rosewood on a D-28.
Face it boys....we repesent the fanatical fringe. The nerds. The fan-boys. And we would not have it any other way. |
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January 2005
Posts: 640
Location: boulder | If i were really a nerd would i be posting on a guitar website in the middle of a weekend day? sticks and stones I say, besides the best dealers i have bought from are independents who actually know what they are selling. (i know that s tough when you don't live near one to try out guitars first.) But as far as adamas and ovations, the few dealers on the ofc can help with choices and the prices are way better then the chain stores. lastly, if the chain stores started selling their ovations quicker, then the factory would be even busier and that spells trouble (for me). I kind of like it the way it is-- great guitars at reasonable (mostly) prices.
lets play two today....peace mike |
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October 2005
Posts: 4081
Location: Utah | Slipkid, I agree that the guitars are just units to the bigbox outlets. My point is that Ovation could make their product shine by just putting a little bit of effort into that last .01% of the road that goes from raw materials to an actual sale.
Ovation has a great product, and they put a lot of effort into design and manufacture. Then they let the big box weenies undermine the product by having old dirty strings on the guitar!
It would seem that there is a lot of bang for the buck in Ovation enforcing a "clean new strings" policy. |
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September 2003
Posts: 9301
Location: south east Michigan | Mike... I agree that there are stores out there with the same passion for the instruments that we have. But I think you'll agree that they are few and far between. |
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April 2006
Posts: 848
Location: Munich, Germany | Ovation guitars sometimes come or came with D'addario EXP's, coated, and with this more durable and clean. Did they sell more guitars with using those strings? I don't think so!
And, as it comes to setup and action: Every Ovation or Adamas, that I bought brandnew was ready to play out of the case.
That doesn't mean, that they all pleased me exactly. But every player has his own preferences and wishes. Some want to have extra light strings, the others want mediums. Some want to play easy while sliding, some others want to strum or pick. The right action on your guitar depends from your needs. My Ovations have all different setups. Some have all the shims, some have no shim at all. Some have extra lights, some mediums. Different setups for different styles and needs.
How should the factory know, what my needs are.
So they go the easy way with lights and an alround setup.
And I bet, a lot, if not the most people on the board have their favorite strings, that they immediately replace with the strings on a brandnew guitar. Lucky, if they are into the 1818's. I am not. So the first thing that I do is ripping them of and restring the guitar. Which is, what I would do with nearly every string they would put on.
I have played wood-box guitars of all kind of brands in stores, but the Ovation factory setup came closest to my needs.
Regards, Kurt |
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July 2003
Posts: 1922
Location: Canton (Detroit), MI | FlySig, your point is well taken. The reason I bought my 2005 Collectors is that it had JUST come in to my local Guitar Center and it sounded MAGICAL with new strings. And I can tell you from personal experience that makes a HUGE difference in the sound of the contour bowl guitars.
The SECOND 2005-ES they got in (over a year ago) is STILL there....with the original strings, horrible as they are. They'll never sell it unless they give it away.....it sounds terrible.
(I THOUGHT they had sold it twice now....I saw it getting packed to go one day I was there...but it is still there)
Setup is a different question. I believe that the Mothership intentionally sets up action a little on the high side for "fat" sound in the shops(to make it sound the best possible). Most shops (certainly Guitar Center does NOT) don't bother touching it. Elderly is the only Ovation dealer I've been to that seems to check setup before putting instruments out for sale. Their Ovations consistently play and sound good.
I've bought two new Ovations from my local GC, my 2005-ES and a 1771LX, and both needed setup tweaking....in fact, the 1771LX was quite out-of-spec HIGH on action, and I tweaked it with custom shims to nominal.
Roger |
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Posts: 208
Location: Illinois | The almighty dollar. My guess... they could keep a guitar tech buzy 24/7... or rather 8/5 changing strings.
But... if it could sell more guitars... :confused: |
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January 2004
Posts: 1225
Location: Lake Hiawatha, New Jersey | This is a problem that will likely never go away. The "mom and pop" stores are quickly becoming a thing of the past. I've met a couple of really knowledgeable and nice people who work at GC. The problem is that, for every one of those, I've met five or six 18 year olds with hair down to their asses, who really need lessons in customer service, and in most cases, product knowledge. A shower would probably not hurt either, but that's another story. As for the so called "techs" that most of the big stores hire .... I'd be surprised if they knew how to change a string, let alone set up a guitar. |
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March 2005
Posts: 12761
Location: Boise, Idaho | I've suggested that GC hire me just to take care of their acoustic guitars. I like the way the new ones are set up when they come in, but people mess with them and they get out of tune. I have tuned many of them for them. Often the ones with the built in tuners have dead batteries.
I've found the same problems with the Taylors and Martins at the local GC, but not to the same extent. I know the salespeople, mostly kids, like the Taylors and Martins better and keep them tuned up at least. I think I'm the only one who ever tunes the Ovations. |
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Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | It really is a question of who has more wag, the tail or the dog? We know retailers will never hesitate to give it all they got. Do suppliers have the nads to stand up to it? Kayman in particular since this is the point of this thread. I can't answer that since I've been gone too long and my responce would probably be inaccurate due to lack of pertinant and recent information. |
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Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | I've never been in a GC. |
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July 2004
Posts: 766
Location: New Hampsha | I shopped the local GC when prowling for my NEB and found one with high action and dead strings for $950. The local guy also had one, correctly set up with live strings for $995. He got my business, and he has since done a neck adjustment for free. He gets my business.
But nobody stocks an Adamas. Never even seen one on a wall. |
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July 2006
Posts: 171
Location: Oregon | Actually I was at guitar center today. Only one of the ovations I tried was untuned. I picked it up- and put it right back down. So yeah I would expect that from anyone, it's a major turn off to the guitar.Unfortunatly I don't see how Ovation could enforce that in anyway. A loss for GC, not Ovation in my eyes. |
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August 2003
Posts: 4619
Location: SoCal | In this area, the only place I see new O's is at GC or GuitarTrader...however, at least for GC, they get the guitars months after becoming available. Haven't see an Adamas.
In June, GC had the 2006C and a 1127 reissue. Took them seven months when the 2004 30th Anniv CL came out...then, they sold five from July to December.
So, unless you want to wait months, goes back to the need to buy to try...hasn't been a problem, even though I have bought new sight unseen.
As to knowledge of the product, we have an advantage because most of the GC and GuitarTrader staff go up to NAMM and a couple of the guys have O's. |
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January 2006
Posts: 5881
Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | I find that GC is a good place to pick up some piece of small merchandise if you're in a hurry, and to just look at inventory, but the only guitar I ever purchased was a used ES-135 during a spontaneous stop one day while on vacation in Boston. The stuff hanging in the humidity room (primarily Taylor and Gibson) seems to be better cared for. Better deals on guitars can be found on this website and eBay. I was in the market for a few guitar stands one day and happened to discover a sale at GC on Fender's foldable units for both electric and acoustic. I purcashed 5 for about $7 apiece. They'll also match any bonafide advertised price on current inventory. |
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May 2005
Posts: 19
Location: Texas | I really don't think it is realistic to expect any retailer that has 400-500 guitars in stock to keep the strings fresh, and keep them all tuned. Especially when their policy is to encourage customers to play the guitars, as is the case with GC.
I will say this ... the GC that I frequent has a LARGE tuner on the wall in the acoustic room, so if you aren't comfortable tuning by ear, you can wal over, face the wall, and have a guitar tuned in 60 seconds or less. Also, I have never had a sales rep to hesitate to put on new strings if I was serious about buying the guitar. Obviously, they can't be expected to do that for tire kickers.
I would think that people here would be GC friendly, since NO ONE stocks more Ovations (in my experience) than Guitar Center ... and with a little good-natured negotiation, their prices can be VERY competitive. Now I do wish they would swallow their pride and do what it takes to get back Elixir, but that's a different story ... |
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March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | ". . since NO ONE stocks more Ovations . . than Guitar Center . ."
Unfortunately, the vast majority of those are Celebrities. |
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Ovation could sell a lot more guitars if ...
