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| I think the point I was making is Fender is more interested in Fender than they are in Ovation. Still, you're right. They have something great in their laps and they'd rather spend their time building up their own brand. Still, I guess we could wish. |
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Location: Michigan | i am concerned that will fender ever make the decision to eliminate the adamas and ovation brand guitars and end an era of great guitars? GWB |
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| guitarwannabee - 2013-05-29 11:44 PM
i am concerned that will fender ever make the decision to eliminate the adamas and ovation brand guitars and end an era of great guitars? GWB
That's my concern as well. |
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Location: Upper Left USA | Well, China owns our bacon now... what's next? |
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Location: Jet City | MWoody - 2013-05-30 12:33 PM Well, China owns our bacon now... what's next? eggs? |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | I just received a newsletter from Premier Guitar...
It includes a Looong video from Fender.
This is where they pretend that Fender has a great tradition of building Acoustic guitars in their Custom Shop at New Hartford. (rather that a tradition of making really crappy acoustic guitars)
marketing spoo is just amazing.
But I will admit, if you combine the talents of all the companies that FMIC has bought you should be able to make a decent guitar. Or at least a Guild with a "Fender" sticker on it. 
Here's the Video
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Location: Jet City | technically, that shop DOES have a great tradition of building acoustics, it's just now Fender owns it.
I guess I don't understand this entire thread. Yeah, I love Ovation guitars and I wish they would stay around, but I don't think myself or the rest of the OFC regulars can keep the company afloat with our purchases.
Face it, due to several different things like marketing or lack thereof, cheapening the Ovation brand with Celebrities saying Ovation on them, woodbacked snobbery, etc., people just DO NOT BUY high end Ovations. The general perception is they're cheap sounding pieces of plastic. Now we all know that's not the case, but at this point I believe the damage has been done.
I remember working a sales gig for a company and when I was new they would give me lists of previous customers to get your feet wet. I was excited at first, thinking how easy. They already know us, it's not even like a cold call, right? WRONG! It was twice as hard as a cold call. Many of these customers left because of a poor rep/service, bad experience, etc. Trying to win these people back was next to impossible. I would rather start from scratch and not have to overcome preconceived notions.
I don't know that slapping "Fender" on the headstock is any more or less of a challenge as it has been to sell high end Ovations, but at least they're trying something new and keeping all of our friends working over there at the factory. I'd much rather that then Fender using New Hartford as a tax write-off, selling the building and equipment off to the highest bidders, leaving a history of great guitar building in this wonderful place full of wonderfull people to die.
In my opinion, Ovation isn't dying, it's dead. Enjoy the ones that were built. The only way I could ever see it renewed is if someone who really cared came back in and put their heart and soul into it, cuz that's what Ovation needs again, that heart and soul. There's probably only one guy on the planet that could resurrect this division of Kaman, the guy who has it in his blood literally, but that ain't gonna happen.
I'll always be a fan of Ovation, but I've accepted the fact that someday people will probably assume our 'OFC' stands for Ovation/Fender Club. |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | damon67 - 2013-05-30 3:02 PM
In my opinion, Ovation isn't dying, it's dead. Enjoy the ones that were built. So True...
Personally, I was surprised at the amount of trouble goes into making a woodbox.
Ovations are simpler (Thanx Charlie). Design a top, attach a bowl to it.
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Location: Rego Park, NY, | MWoody - 2013-05-30 2:33 PM
Well, China owns our bacon now... what's next?
Egg xactly!!
Edited by Phil Wong 2013-05-30 5:33 PM
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Location: Tennessee | Well, call me a PollyAnna but I personally think the Fender folk are generally very smart people. Especially the ones making decisions of this magnitude and investing the money it takes. They know what they have with Ovation from a brand perspective, and it is not trivial. I've heard repeatedly from people at NAMM that Fender intends to revive Ovation, and that they are spending lots of R&D money studying what they can do with Ovation. Sometimes you have to let things go dormant for a while in order to re-launch something that recaptures the attention of the world. VW did it with the Beetle after the market turned away (with people complaining they were being made in Brazil and Mexico) and all the naysayers were calling the original Beetles crap and the true fans were bemoaning the dying of the brand.
My bet is on Fender relaunching a new, improved Ovation better positioned to re-establish it's place in the market. When that happens, not many around here are going to be happy because they will NOT be your father's Ovation, but I'll bet Fender plans on making Ovation a dominant force in USA-made mid-priced acoustic guitars once again. Just like VW did with the New Beetle in its market.
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Location: Orlando, FL | I hope you're right bobbo. That would be a best case scenario. |
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Location: NH | I thought that was a fascinating video. I know there are a lot of factory tours on the internet, but I really enjoyed the interaction with the operators. Call me a "traditionalist" but I just can't can't get used to seeing a strat headstock on an acoustic guitar.
I hope bobbo's right, but my experience has been when a manufacturer goes quiet about a brand there's usually a reason for it. And it usually isn't good. It's a feel good analogy comparing Ovation to Volkswagon, but I think Ovation falls shy of the mark when comparing Ovation to such a long standing global icon such as VW. Look at what Philips did in the 80's with alot of their brands. How about that? Maybe the "improved positioning" will be adding the Fender logo to the Ovation headstock. Or a stratocaster neck to a custom elite.
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Just like VW did with the New Beetle in its market.
First, the "New Beetle" is NOT a Beetle.
If it don't have an air-cooled rear engine it isn't a beetle.
But I guess if you wait until the next generation of buyers who have never seen the original...
Maybe the "improved positioning" will be adding the Fender logo to the Ovation headstock.
Or a stratocaster neck to a custom elite.
The first would be sad... The second would be fugly.
But if you wait long enough and put it in the hands of some tween idol...
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Location: Atlanta, GA. | With a limited run of only 150 of this model they are obviously just testing the waters. |
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Location: New Bern, NC | I recently put my 2006 Custom Elite 2078 LX in the hands of a die-hard Fender player (electric) who also plays acoustic. He was very impressed, as I expected. I told him most non-Ovation, wood box snobs are often pleasantly surprised when they actually play an Ovation. He said, "That's because so many are crap and not a 'real Ovation' like this [2078 LX]." Says it all, doesn't it?
Edited by MeredithI 2013-06-01 1:27 PM
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Location: Sydney, Australia | I think that Fender are thinking about Ovation. If they were going to shut it down, they would have closed the Mothership some time ago. Seems to me they've gone out of their way to keep it open, which leaves hope for a new marketing/development push. |
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| I would have bet on them killing Ovation, but American O still lingers on in a coma-like status. How long after they bought Tacoma did the kill Tacoma guitars? Tacoma made some sweet acoustics. |
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| Englishplayer brings up an extremely relevant comparison. Historically, Fender bought (Guild) Westerly and shut it down and made a (foster) home in Corona for Guild. Later Fender bought Tacoma, moved Guild in, and then killed the native (Tacoma) brand... On the surface, this appears similar to KMC/Ovation.
BUT, there is a very big difference between Tacoma and Ovation... Tacoma was not a profitable or even particularly well-established brand.
Many of you have touched on the two salient points here:
1. Whatever keeps New Hartford building guitars in the US is good; and
2. If Fender can find a profitable market for Ovation, they'll get behind it.
Regarding 1... No one is more sensitive to off-shoring of jobs than our friends in New Hartford. They will do everything they can, including building small runs of acoustic guitars with Strat headstocks, to keep the jobs in the US.
Regarding 2... Ovations may never be made in any volume in the US again, but don't count the brand out. Fender may be a corporate beast, but as someone already pointed out the Ovation brand is unique and has deep history. I'm sure I don't have to tell any of you that.  You may be surprised down the road as to how they apply resources to nurture the brand. We are seeing it with Guild, and maybe we'll see it with Ovation (soon).
For those who haven't been following along, Fender has created what they call their "acoustic custom shop" in New Hartford... Fender brought on Ren Fergusen (of Gibson luthier fame) over a year ago and has practically given him carte blanche there to experiment and create new models. It's not a volume thing, but it's keeping some of our friends busily employed. Keep your fingers crossed.
Edited by Chazmo 2013-06-03 6:52 PM
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Location: Fort Worth, TX | Guitsome - 2013-05-30 8:02 PM
Call me a "traditionalist" but I just can't can't get used to seeing a strat headstock on an acoustic guitar.
This is the wrong forum to bring this up and I apologize in advance. However, have you seen the Martin Merle Travis model? I watched a video from his son playing one. He said Paul Bigsby created it for Merle's D28 and he explained how it came about at Merle's suggestion. It predated the Fender same exact headstock which Leo Fender is accused of copying. Interesting guitar history trivia. Martin did a reissue run of 100 pieces of that guitar awhile back
http://www.bigsby.com/vibe/about/history/
http://www.martinguitar.com/guitars/item/565-d-28m-merle-travis.htm...
Edited by DaveKell 2013-06-04 5:22 AM
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Location: Michigan | that neck stock where have i seen that before ??? GWB
http://www.fender.com/series/artist-design/elvis-kingman/?utm_sourc...
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Location: Nashville TN. |
FENDER KINGMAN USA CUSTOM SHOP FLAME MAPLE ACOUSTIC/ELECTRIC LMT EDITION simply stunning sound. |
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Location: Nashville TN. | Guitsome - 2013-05-30 8:02 PM
I thought that was a fascinating video. I know there are a lot of factory tours on the internet, but I really enjoyed the interaction with the operators. Call me a "traditionalist" but I just can't can't get used to seeing a strat headstock on an acoustic guitar.
I hope bobbo's right, but my experience has been when a manufacturer goes quiet about a brand there's usually a reason for it. And it usually isn't good. It's a feel good analogy comparing Ovation to Volkswagon, but I think Ovation falls shy of the mark when comparing Ovation to such a long standing global icon such as VW. Look at what Philips did in the 80's with alot of their brands. How about that? Maybe the "improved positioning" will be adding the Fender logo to the Ovation headstock. Or a stratocaster neck to a custom elite.
In 1960s there a lot pro playing Fender Acoustic like George Jones, Johnny Cash, Buck Owens, Tex Ritter, Ray Davies, the list goes on and on.
I have beat 1969 Fender Malibu its best playing acoustic I have ever seen. I found the feel helping the creativity. |
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Location: Michigan | pez was it this one .GWB
http://www.fender.com/acoustics/dreadnought/pro-custom-kingman-c-an... |
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| With $3500 to spend on a guitar, would anyone go with a Fender Custom shop guitar? Anyone? |
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is this where fender is going at the old ovation factory
