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Location: Taxed To Death State | Don't blame Fender. The Kaman's are the ones who cashed out and ran. Blame them. Fender saw a business opportunity and they couldn't make it work. It was failing when they bought it, Fender finished it off. |
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Location: Hot Springs, S.D. | OK. So I guess if I ever decide to retire and sell my music store, it'll be MY fault if whoever buys it decides to move it to Podunk, Kansas, stops carrying decent guitars, and stops advertising so the business fails completely. Uh-huh... |
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Location: Cicero, NY | Look into Fender's history of buying competitive brands and how & what they've done with them and you might reconsider that view, dan. Blaming the Kaman's is seriously misguided. |
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Location: Tennessee | danomyte - 2014-04-22 11:38 AM Don't blame Fender. The Kaman's are the ones who cashed out and ran. Blame them. Fender saw a business opportunity and they couldn't make it work. It was failing when they bought it, Fender finished it off. Your ignorance is astounding. |
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Location: SoCal | "The Kamans"? Uh, lets see, Bill left the company in 1996. Charlie died in, what, 2007? The board of directors unloaded the music division (KMC) quickly shortly after Charlie died.
I don't see where "the Kamans" had anything to do with it.
Please enlighten me Dan...... |
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Location: south east Michigan | Let's leave that be.
This is feeling kinda like a funeral.
Now's not the time. |
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Location: Taxed To Death State | Your comparing Apples to Oranges. Your analogy makes no sense. Fender is losing money on Ovation, why would they keep running a business in the red. I'm not thrilled about them closing the plant however it's previous owners weren't making money either. |
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Location: Steeler Nation, Hudson Valley Contingent | Brad Durasa - 2014-04-22 3:29 PM Let's leave that be. This is feeling kinda like a funeral. Now's not the time. Couldn't agree more. |
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Location: Hot Springs, S.D. | No, my analogy makes perfect sense. When Fender bought Ovation they stopped almost all USA production (Podunk, Kansas), they completely stopped marketing (No advertising), and the quality of the overseas guitars was pretty bad (Stopped carrying quality guitars).
And if Fender bought a company where "the previous owners weren't making money", just why do you think they bought it? Was it because they thought they could "revive" the brand? If they did, why did they move manufacture offshore, stop caring about the quality of the brand, and stop marketing the brand?
Could it be that their whole objective was to get their hands on Hamer so they could shut them down, because face it, Hamer made Fender electrics look like junk and they wanted to kill the competition?
Could it also be because they wanted to learn how to make Guild guitars so they could copy them, slap a goofy looking Fender headstock on them and try to compete in the acoustic market?
Buying Ovation was the means to achieve their end. Kill the competition. Get a monopoly on guitars. Become the Walmart of the guitar world. "We ain't good but we sure are cheap!" should be their motto. |
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Location: Taxed To Death State | Sorry guys, not trying to inflame emotions here. Bottom line.. big corporate America is about the bottom dollar whether we like it or not. Fender, Kaman, or any other big company, it's about making money. I guess at the end of the day we all need to make money and survive. |
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Location: Hot Springs, S.D. | Sorry Brad. Sorry Patch. But having worked there and loved it, it feels to me like someone just murdered a family member. And to hear someone like Danomyte not only dissing my family member but BLAMING this family member for their own murder really ticks me off. |
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Location: Flahdaw | danomyte - 2014-04-22 3:53 PM
not trying to inflame emotions here
...words fail me.... |
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Location: south east Michigan | CanterburyStrings - 2014-04-22 3:54 PM
Sorry Brad. Sorry Patch. But having worked there and loved it, it feels to me like someone just murdered a family member. And to hear someone like Danomyte not only dissing my family member but BLAMING this family member for their own murder really ticks me off.
I know.... I know |
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Location: Flahdaw | Then again, the US government WAS responsible for 9/11.... |
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Location: Atlanta, GA. | Harley-Davidson employees did it in the '80s. Cub Cadet employees also did it in 1981.
Buy the Ovation company from FMIC and run it the way it was before they took over.
It could be done. |
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Location: Hot Springs, S.D. | Nice idea, but I don't think 46 employees could come up with that kind of money. |
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Location: Nashville TN. | Just feeling empty at the news. |
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Location: Nashville TN. | I do not think they wanted Ovation, they want KMC product distribution... |
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Location: SoCal | darkbarguitar - 2014-04-22 1:04 PM
danomyte - 2014-04-22 3:53 PM
not trying to inflame emotions here
...words fail me....
A first.... |
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Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | <p>This news really makes me sad. All my Ovations/Adamas guitars are USA models, and I'm so glad I was able to order all the customs through Al. Thanks, Al, for making it happen. I now wonder how this will impact our lifetime warranties on these wonderful guitars? Without a Mothership, who's going to take care of us? It makes those OFC factory gatherings all the more special. What a sad day.</p>
Edited by ProfessorBB 2014-04-22 4:15 PM
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Location: Flahdaw | Someone should plan the "Gathering Of All Gatherings". We could rent out an entire resort. |
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Location: NJ | yeah, . . . until "the Excuses" started rolling-in . . . . |
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Location: Hot Springs, S.D. | Well, I had a customer come in a couple of months ago who had bought an O back in (I think he said) '76. He sent in the warrantee card at the time, and he still had the reciept. When he contacted them about repair they said they couldn't honor the warrantee on something that old. Don't know if everything the guy said was true (for example, if he really did send in the card and have the reciept), but if it WAS...maybe Fender doesn't understand or care about the meaning of the word, "lifetime". |
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Location: Hot Springs, S.D. | May I be the one to offer up the first excuse? If it ain't in the Black Hills, I ain't going! My excuse? The shop, my health, finances, and I am NOT getting on another damned airplane, ever again, unless they start making the seats more comfortable, serving real food, circulating they air more often, and STOP charging for baggage, blankets, pillows, etc. Oh, and if I have to take my shoes off for them one more time I promise I will wear plastic shoes for a week and not change my socks or bathe before getting in line. |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Wow! This is sad. 
I guess that I will be keeping all of my USO's.
(I just had a mental ouch about all of the cool Ovations that I have sold  )
And yes, we all know the Fender is an Musical Investment Corporation.
They buy company Names. They don't care about the actual instruments.
Leo is dead. FMIC's only interest is the Dollar. It is just an investment.
That excuse about the current market blah blah is just spoo.
Martin, Washburn, Gibson, and others have all stayed in business through wars and depressions.
If you WANTED to make guitars you could.
Sorry, I'm just Babbling.
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Fender to close New Hartford operations
