Here's one he already wrote.

Ovation Guitar Factory in CT to Close

About 43 years ago I was looking for my first guitar. For me it was the blend of tradition and innovation that attracted me to Ovation. The bowl design was not just to be different, it offered improved sound, reliability and durability. With that bowl tucked up by me ribcage I could feel the guitar work. I've never played a wood backed guitar that would do that.

Ovation has been called the "working mans guitar". Always a good value for the dollar, always able to take a knock or two that would send a wood box guitar to the junk pile.

With modest care, an Ovation could last you a lifetime.
That's why I still have that first guitar. The one I learned to play Stairway To Heaven on.... the one I went camping with... the one I lugged around from party to party.... the one that plays and sounds just as good today.

For a long time that's all the guitar I needed. Then I found other Ovations. Now I have (I think) seven of them..... and they are all very, very different from each other. Different sound hole inovations and the invention of the carbon fiber top made each design have it's own unique voice.

The people....
I've been to the factory three times. Between I think 2004 and 2008 Ovation hosted an annual tour of the factory. We were treated like kings. They fed us, set up a place to play, and answered even the most geekiest question with a straight face.

The factory tours gathered people from all over the world. Austraila, France, Germany, England, Scotland. And still, all these years later the friendships have remained and we get together when ever we can.

If I may get geeky for a moment... My ol' Ovation is one of my oldest of worldly posessions. And also the one that carries some of the most personal of memories.  I have enough Ovations to last me my lifetime and my son will have them for years after that. Though nothing lasts forever, it's sad  to see something like this go away.

Brad Durasa
Algonac, Michigan

I'm Miles-Kevin Baron.  The co-founder of this joint and amoung other things known for the largest collection of Ovation SolidBody guitars.  That may not be a true statement anymore as I'm down to about 30 guitars, but at the collections peak....  well lets just say well over 100 and leave it at that.

This link to my collection needs to be updated, but it's a good glimpse into the journey. http://www.baronaudio.com/collection/

And for my story.... 

In 1975 I bought my first Ovation, a Medallion, from Dick Rivers's of River's Music, Inc. in Connecticut. He later introduced me to the Viper, Preacher and Deacon guitars and Ovation amplification and although I did not buy my first electric Ovation from him, he kept me in strings and accessories through the early part of my Navy career that started in 1978. While stationed in Pensacola Florida, I decided to get plugged-in. And although I had played Deacon's and Preachers a few times, run thru a Rockman of course, I brought home a Viper instead due to budget. I still have this guitar, although it had many mods over the years, and currently has a Kahler tremolo and a Carvin M22 in the bridge.

I relied on that Viper for over 12 years. It wasn't until I was living in Virginia in the early 90's that I started "aggressively" collecting Ovation solid-body guitars. Roaming around Fairfax, Virginia one day, I found 5 solid-bodies at once at the "Cash Store Pawn and Bait Shop," and picked them up at a really good price. All of a sudden, I had 6 Ovation guitars. Although I do not recall the exact models, they were mixed between Vipers, Preachers, and a Preacher Deluxe. I knew about the Breadwinner and Deacon models, so I figured that I had one model of almost every electric guitar Ovation made. Like most people I didn't even realize they made this many models at the time. Based on price and some research into availability, I started collecting. The focus of my collection was to acquire one of every model guitar in every configuration produced. I would not count color in my definition of configuration, just body style, pickups, bridges and hardware. Well today, over 100 guitars later I am close to achieving that goal. I constantly see and hear about Ovation solid-body and Storm series guitars that were produced that few people know about. But I believe that I am only missing ONE model, A Typhoon (single pickup) Bass, from my collection. I would also like to acquire both the 6 and 12 string versions of the "Bluebird" series.

In the process of acquiring instruments and while searching for parts and accessories via  the phone and Internet, I met Kim Keller and "Mary" of Kaman Music. When I finally exhausted Kim and Mary with questions, they pointed me in the direction of Alexander Pepiak of Lost Art/Vintage Instruments.   Besides buying, selling and trading instruments with Al (and becoming a great friend), he introduced me to the wonder that is eBay and re-introduced me to Guitar Shows (and his mom's pies and cookies) and several additions to my Ovation collection. Along the way, thanks to the Internet, I met Analog Mike who managed to uncover some great Ovation amplification specimens for me. Steve Lutz, introduced me to the "Storm" series guitars along with much of the print material I use for reference. Sam Stathakis has provided some of the more "rare" production models and lots of spare parts to keep up with maintenance on my collection. Bill Kaman has provided me with some of the most interesting and unique instruments in my collection, helped me fill in the historical "blanks," and uncovered some of the technical mysteries of these
great guitars. Some pretty entertaining anecdotes too. And finally, a deep formal bow to the regular contributors of the Ovation Fan Club who keep me entertained, and who unknowingly motivated me by their enthusiasm to actually get to work and put this site together.
  
I would also like to mention Lisa. "Behind every man, is a woman that......" A woman, who when we drive into the driveway to find eleven guitar boxes delivered from UPS, just quietly helps me unpack them, and nods intently as I go on and on, about the history and uniqueness of each one and explain what a bargain it was.

Well that's my story. I now have nearly 100 solid-body and Storm series Ovations and several other
guitars in my collection. Most are in excellent condition, and are as they were sold from the factory without any modifications.
    
"How many solid-bodies could there be?" just take a look around this site. You might be surprised to know that I have very few duplicates! Yes, there were a ton of Ovation solid-bodies made, and I don't mean a bunch of the same model in different colors. As stated earlier I do not consider a different color of the same model to be a different model, except in the couple of rare cases where a model was released in a specific color for a specific person or event like the Blue Breadwinner's or Bluebird Viper's for Glenn Campbell.

Here is insight into how a "collection" of 6 guitars grows to over 100 guitars. Consider the most popular of the Ovation solid-bodies, "The Breadwinner" or "the Axe"  as it was sometimes called. It was the first electric guitar to employ active electronics successfully. It came in two pickup configurations, the details of which are contained in the appropriate section of this site. But wait, there was also the Deacon, the Limited and a 12 String Deacon. There's 5 guitars right there, and we've just begun. Also, the earlier Breadwinner had what became the standard brass bridge but had plastic saddles. So this brings us to 6 very different looking and sounding models of the "Axe" looking guitar.
   
Another example is the simple "Viper" or the "poor man's Les Paul" as it was sometimes referred too.
There was the standard Viper, then later the Viper III. There were three different bridge styles used on the Viper, and Viper III, bringing the total number of Viper models to 6. There was also a Viper bass made and a Viper 12-String, but these were just Prototype models never released.

Apply this same basic trend to Preachers and the Storm Series. Add in, the Ultra GS's and Ultra GP, UKII, and PF22 and it adds up quickly.
    
Now I mentioned that I started out with the goal of acquiring "one of every model guitar  in every configuration," but that has since changed. There were several guitars that fall into the categories of custom guitars, prototypes, and those that I call semi-production guitars. Semi-production guitars are ones like the Blue Breadwinners that were made primarily for Glen Campbell or the twelve "Bluebird" Viper style guitars (six 6-string guitars and four 12 string guitars) also made for Glen. In this category of semi-production were a group of guitars that were probably the best solid-body guitars ever made by Ovation, the set-neck PF-22 guitars. Although several (maybe 20) of these guitars were produced, they were never officially a "production run," but I digress.

Well if you've read this far, you should get some sort of award.

More recently I got more and more into the Acoustics.  I own a 12-String Pacemaker and my trusty Medallion still and a Custom that Alex Pepiak made happen.    Around these parts there are TWO series/short runs of Adamas guitars made specifically to Alex's specs.   We refer to them as OFC 1 and OFC II.  OFC I is the best of the best of the old world.  I call it a revisit rather than a reproduction as it was a group of I believe 12 made to the specs of the Orginal Prototype Adamas referred to as the Slothead.   I owned an OFC I for a while, but it just wasn't my style and through a trade here and there swapped it for an OFC II.   The OFC II is special to me for several reasons with the most important being that it was #1 of the run.  And while that's cool enough, that means that it was the "prototype" if you will of the next I believe seven or eight that were made.  Alex made sure this one was perfect before the #2, #3 etc.. were built.  So because it was Al's, and he spec'd it out, that makes it even more special to me.  It's the best of the best.  It's essnetially a 2080 Adamas with a handlaid bowl and custom electronics.  The absolute top of what Ovation stands for in design and technology. 

Feel free to contact me with any questions you may have.  These forums, or rather the people who post here,  are a testiment to the instrument and the vision of Ovation.   Al is a MUCH better writer than I am, as I'm more the tech guy of this operation.  We both could tell stories for days.  The folks at the Factory welcomed the Ovation Fan Club with open arms and went so far and above what any other Corporation would do with a group of enthusiasts that it boggles my mind to think about it.   

If we don't get a chance to chat, there are a few topics that you need to ask about from whomever you do talk to.

In no particular order..

• Screen Door
• Trebuchet
• Llama
• Coconuts
• String Tubes 

Good morning Mike,

I'm coming into this thread way too late to contribute to your article as I was teaching last night and had no time to put even a fraction of a story down.

I could give you nearly thirty years of my personal ride with Ovations. I still own the first USA Ovation that I bought back in 1987, a 12-string Custom Balladeer that has been with me through the best and worst of times. But most of those stories would sound similar to what others have already written.

If you don't mind, I would rather talk about the last 7 years or so. I had been a member of the OFC for about a year when I realized one of my guitars (I had three...maybe four back then.) needed some minor repairs, and members here unanimously advised me to contact Kim Keller or John Budny at the New Hartford Factory. I left a message and Kim happened to be the one who returned my call.

It was one of the most pleasant guitar discussions I've had to this very day. We talked of all kinds of things that had nothing to do with my repair at all. And upon discovering that I lived less than two hours away, Kim invited me to drop my instrument off if I would prefer that to shipping it.

Bear in mind, that when I bought my first Ovation way back when, I was given the current catalog at the time which had numerous pictures of the factory, but one particular picture of a certain, obvious loading dock always stuck with me. And when Kim said to come on over, I suddenly developed a substantially less-than-sensical reason to see that loading dock for myself.

You would think that such a little pilgrimage would comprise a story in and of itself, and be assured that it does, but it was actually one of the topics Kim and I discussed that day that literally changed the way I would spend COUNTLESS hours into the future from that point. You see, I had been dabbling in learning to play mandolin (An Ovation of course.), and off-handedly mentioned that it would be interesting to play one of the rare mandocellos Ovation built at the time. I lamented however, that I would never be able to afford one. Kim simply suggested that I find a beat up Ovation Elite with a super shallow bowl, model 1868 if you are interested, and have them put a new neck and bridge on it. So what are the odds that I would almost immediately trip across just such a used guitar?

My Ovation 1868 Elite

Now I am a social worker by profession, and hence money will always be something I have to watch very closely. I played the Elite for about a year until I could contact Kim again and arrange for the conversion. In the end, thanks to Kim, I not only had a beautiful, one-of-a-kind, custom mandocello, I also had begun to develop a personal relationship with him and John Budny that would lead to a deserved reputation I seem to have developed for buying busted Ovations and having the factory and their incredible craftsman transform them into custom guitars that cost a fraction of what it would have cost to buy them new.

My Custom MM-868 Mandocello with fan bracing, burst finish, and maple/padauk/ivoroid binding.

And oh yes, I found the loading dock.....

As Kim became more and more involved with the Guild line, I spent more time working through John Budny to realize several (or more) design ideas ever since that time. I presently own 21 Ovation/Adamas instruments, both production and custom, that can easily hold their own against the best designs of any manufacturer. And please bear in mind that I am not an Ovation purist by any stretch, having owned and played high-quality guitars from a variety of distinguished builders.

However, I cannot help but think that none of those companies would return a phone call about cleaning up a guitar finish and end up suggesting that I convert a used instrument into a custom piece at repair-shop prices. Much less allow me to do it over and over again! Thanks to John and Kim, I own some outstanding instruments that I would have NEVER been able to afford otherwise.

Finally, in the last two years, with the encouragement of this fan club and the unbelievable cooperation of John and Kim and the workers at the factory, I have had the privilege of producing OFC calendars with pictures submitted by the membership here and supplemented by pictures I was permitted to take there. Before all of this news broke, I was getting an announcement ready that the production of 2015's calendar was about to happen. I was also thinking ahead to what I could do when Ovation/Adamas celebrated its 50th anniversary just a few short years from now. Now, as can be easily imagined, my many ideas for the publication have been thrown back into the wash as I struggle with how best to proceed.

Thanks to Ovation and Adamas guitars, and the many workers at the factory in New Hartford, and ESPECIALLY John Budny and Kim Keller, I have been given opportunities to not only make music, a true gift in and of itself, but to expand my creativity to produce graphic art, to write various styles of prose, to teach myself how to take decent photographs, and of course to bring into being some truly stellar musical instruments built to design specifications of my choosing. These are things that someone at my income level simply would NEVER be able to bring to pass unless someone helps you and gives you the chance. Honestly, who knew this social worker and part-time college teacher could help design guitars? Certainly not me. And I am forever grateful for being encouraged to find out that I could.

THAT is the kind of impact the people at the Ovation Factory in New Hartford, Connecticut had on me. Now Mike, take that kind of life-altering influence and multiply it by the countless others who have similar, personal stories to tell. I wish them all, the artisans of New Hartford and the people with all the stories, "Godspeed!"

And I simply cannot say it well enough, but I'll try again, and probably not for the last time......

Thanks guys........

John Budny and Kim Keller