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| The news came out today that Bono are now on Fender's board of directors................do these two like Ovation and Admas ? |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | HERE
US Ovation and Adamas are gone.
The Edge and Bono have been added so Fender can boast that they are there...
while they continue to make crap in China... or the Better Crap in Indonesia.
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Location: Canada | U2 - another thing of the past, I liked them until about 30 years ago when they started to do pompous elevator music. |
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Location: Seacoast NH | merlin666 - 2014-05-29 9:49 PM U2 - another thing of the past, I liked them until about 30 years ago when they started to do pompous elevator music. I second that. Terrible electronic-based eleveator music at that...blah. |
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Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | Please don't anybody toss tomatoes in my direction, but I just took a tour of the Fender assembly plant in Corona, CA, including a personally guided tour through their custom shop. Having been through the Ovation and Hamer factory tours on two different occasions, I really couldn't see much difference between the two factories, other than the Fender plant was only making solid bodied or chambered guitars, like Hamer or Ovation with its VXT, and was about 100 times larger. Two thoughts kept coming to me . . . first, surely they could find a spot on the floor or in the admin building for the displaced workers from New Hartford (if they wanted or could afford to relocate), and second, where are they finding the buyers for all these guitars, knowing that there are just as many or more lower end similar models also coming from overseas? At one point, my tour guide told me to look up where I discovered they hang freshly painted guitars to dry for about two weeks. A quick calculation told me there were over 5,000 guitars hanging up there at that very moment. Who is buying all these guitars? What I enjoyed most was the historic film footage of the factory in 1959 taken by George Fullerton himself. Watching 1959 factory methods and processes, and the total lack of quality control by today's standards (i.e., the shirtless and maskless guy spraying a guitar with lacquer on a workbench), was fascinating. |
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Location: Jet City | Sorry Brad, bad day for your post...
*throws the first tomato* |
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Location: Tennessee | Bono is a founder and the managing durector of a venture capital fund that has billions in funds. What this tells me is that his firm, Elevate, bought in with a large equity investment and took the board seats as a result so their money gets spent in a way that increases the value of the company. In other words, they now have an ownership stake. This might be a very good thing for a Fender, and especially since Elevate's investments and holdings drive socially responsible philosophies and operations.
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Location: Texas | Prof...funny, I just toured Gibsons Memphis plant, where they make the hollow bodies...and I came away with the same thought...who the hell is buying all of these $2-3K+ guitars? It looked like most of them were 335's with quite a few BB King necks in the racks.... Said QC bandsawed about 6%. There were hundreds of 335 bodies in different states of production. |
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Location: Texas | BTW, the tour guy stated that daily production varied, but the average was 60 guitars a day. |
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Location: Jet City | stonebobbo - 2014-05-30 7:06 PM ...Elevate's investments and holdings drive socially responsible philosophies and operations. I thought I heard a story not long ago about how U2 or Bono, or whoever had moved their corporations out of Ireland for tax relief. All of this while preaching to various governments around the world, including Ireland, how they need to take better care of their people. Douchebag... makes a good Fender partner |
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Location: south east Michigan | boltonb - 2014-05-30 12:40 PM
Please don't anybody toss tomatoes in my direction, but I just took a tour of the Fender assembly .
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Who is buying all these guitars?
No tomatoes flying in from the mitten state. I'd take that tour in a heartbeat.
You have to wonder where all those guitars go. Not just the hundreds that you saw but think of all the other brands that have to be manufacturing to some kind of quantity. Then there's all those being pumped out of eastern Asia. Sorry.. but at 7, I've 'bout reached my personal limit. |
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Location: Flahdaw | Since guitars are rarely tossed out in the garbage, you really DO have to wonder where all these guitars are going. And I wonder what % of guitar owners can actually play them halfway decent?
I bet most guitars are the equivalent of living room sofas......paid a lot for them but rarely used. |
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Location: undisclosed | Many American made guitars go to the overseas market where they have high end appeal and some customers have deep pockets. A "real" USA from the land of Rock and Roll......works for Harley too.....
Edited by Cavalier 2014-05-31 9:38 AM
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Location: Canada | Cavalier - 2014-05-31 9:37 AM
Many American made guitars go to the overseas market where they have high end appeal and some customers have deep pockets. A "real" USA from the land of Rock and Roll......works for Harley too.....
Yes many thousands of nouveau riche in China and India who made millions making cheap crap to sell Americans, they are all blowing their fortunes now on European and American luxury goods. Talk about global re-distribution of wealth. |
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Location: Ontario Canada | i would buy a beat down, banged up, dragged through the mud, dropped from a building, run over by a truck (18 wheeler) kicked in the guts, dirty stinky old U.S.A. Ovation..... before i would ever buy a piece of crap fender!!!!  FENDER SUCKS!!! R.I.P. my old friend. |
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Location: NJ | this is still just sinking in for me |
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Location: south east Michigan | As connected as you were Al, it has to be a big loss. |
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Location: Steeler Nation, Hudson Valley Contingent | I started a new thread with an update from John Budny HERE. But here is the announcement for those following this thread: When I was at the factory at the end of May, John Budny mentioned that he hoped to have at least a little good news for us eventually. He also asked that I wait until this month to pester him about it. So pester I did.... For the first time in a while, we have some good news, not great, but definitely better than nothing. Their capabilities are much more limited than before as it is just John, Mike (repairs) and Sherwood (finishing), but the good news is that they are there right now setting up shop at the old factory and will be fully open for business hopefully by the end of July. First, here is John's reply to my first email today:
"We should be good to go by the end of the month. We are setting up the work shop now for repairs. Mike has his area almost complete and is working on some repairs but limited. Should be spraying in a couple weeks too. It is a work in progress and we won’t be able to do everything as in the past. Less top and neck replacements and more top and neck repairs."
Second, here are some quotes from a follow up email from John asking him to provide specifics: - "We are keeping a repair shop here for service and repairs on Ovation and other KMC fretted products."
- "We will be able to do most everything we did except replace necks or tops if they need to be built. We relied on manufacturing for these new parts but don’t have that now."
- "We have a spray booth and...a great finish guy."
NOW FOR THE CAVEAT! John made it plain that there is no telling how long this resource will be available. So I think it would be a good idea to make sure they can show enough demand to the powers-that-be to justify keeping them on board into the future. |
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Fender to close New Hartford operations
