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Joined:
February 2004
Posts: 1634
Location: Warren,Pa. | I've been thinking some about my past trips to the Mother Ship...such good times. I've been thinking about my loyalty to Ovations even though I secretly lust after some all-wood guitars (alas, I'm not a man of means and must be content with 2 or 3 guitars.)
Then along comes Fender. Then a corporate decision to move Tacoma and Guild to New Hartford. It all sounds sensable. Things change. That's OK.
Here's the thing on my mind: I like Tacomas. I like Guilds even more. It'll be fun to see all this going on in the fall. But the whole "brand" thing gets a little blurry.
Samick will make anything a buyer specs...all under the same roof. It doesn't matter what name is on the guitar; you pick a price point, you pick features...they'll build them for you. From Fender's perspective I suppose the same thing is going on (though with limitations).
It's sort of how I used to feel about globalization 10 or 15 years ago as opposed to the way I feel now. I used to think badly of "those foreigners" who took away US jobs. The corporations creating the jobs didn't care, but I did. Now I just sort of feel like it's OK...that over the next 50 years or so it'll all level out and everybody on the globe will have the same living standard. It's hard on us now, but it's inevitable and it'll all be OK in the end.
So some dynamics will change (they've changed already). It won't be this underdog, plastic, almost niche-market guitar brand. It'll be a different set of specs being ordered to satisfy a segment of the market.
Maybe it's always really been that way, but it didn't FEEL that way to me. And it's starting to feel that way now.
John <>{ |
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Joined:
March 2007
Posts: 843
Location: CA | Guitar building ain't what it used to be. With the march of technology, a quality guitar maker can churn out bushels of very similar sounding and looking guitars in a fraction of the time it used to take individual luthiers or even, say, Martin factory people to do a handful of H-28s, all of which sounded a bit different.
The pro's of the new paradigm are lots of beautiful, new, quality guitars in all price ranges. The cons — the only one I can think of is the knowledge that a new 'brand name' guitar is more of a clone than an instrument inbibed with a bit of the souls who lovingly built it. But if they sound the same, who's really gonna care. And you'll always be able to throw lots of money at Fender, Ovation or whoever to hand-build you a custom.
What I can't believe is that enough guitars actually SELL to make these big mergers and reorganizations possible. I mean, everybody needs cars, and most people think they need computers. But in the big picture, how many friggin guitar players can there be? |
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Joined:
May 2003
Posts: 4389
Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | My musing is that'll be a fun tour. I can't wait! |
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Joined:
October 2003
Posts: 134
Location: Lakewood, Ohio | With the new Rock star guitar computer games, Im thinking guitars will be selling at least in the near future. Play the virtual guitar game, move on to a real guitar. |
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Joined:
April 2006
Posts: 2491
Location: Copenhagen Denmark | Chick -Magnet...Dude -Magnet...it`s psychological , ..holding/plinking a guitar , staring into the distance , gives an " Aura " , ...Ovation guitars have a smell of " Engineering " , FENDER has allways been about engineering , Leo Fender was a Radio -Man , I guess they want to preserve that engineering thing , I`ve allways said : " When in doubt , Buy Fender "...their stuff is Good , I mean that , anyone who has/is using one can testify to that.... :)
Vic |
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Joined:
July 2003
Posts: 3111
Location: Nashville TN. | It will be fun to see. |
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February 2008
Posts: 8
Location: Hollywood, FL | I hate that computer rock star game. Makes me dizzy. |
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Joined:
August 2002
Posts: 8307
Location: Tennessee | Five Brands. All well established with historical significance and longevity, even if Tacoma is a relative newcomer to the party. It'd be cool to see the old mill become recognized as a true boutique house -- full of talented designers and luthiers. The best of what America can offer.
I don't think guitar hero games will have any more impact on the number of people buying guitars than Grand Theft Auto had on joyrides and cop killings. I've watched my son and others play Guitar Hero on PS3. They're not pretending to play guitar, they are trying to beat the game. Simple as that. Then again, I can be simple minded. |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 10583
Location: NJ | funny I never saw anything that indicated tacoma is coming to New hartford just guild |
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Joined:
January 2005
Posts: 4903
Location: Phoenix AZ | Press release says:
"Select Tacoma brand guitar models will soon follow in the transition."
Dave |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 10583
Location: NJ | I guess time will tell..... |
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Joined:
January 2008
Posts: 58
Location: west | alpep - Tacoma moving to NH is pretty old news actually.
Tacoma moving |
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Joined:
July 2002
Posts: 280
Location: Waterloo, IL | Maybe by the time of the next tour I can either have some vacation time to stop in, or maybe I will be able to get a truck load going that way and I can stop in for the weekend. Only time will tell, but I can always hope! :) |
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Ponderings on 4 guitar brands under 1 roof
