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| darkbarguitar - 2013-05-23 3:55 PM
I would like to see the sales figures. Just how many CHEAP Ovation imports are they selling in the US, and what is the total net profit from those sales. Chances are, if I was CEO, I would say "let's just drop the product in the US."
This is the right way to run a business, but I don't think it's how music businesses should be ran. I realize that is a pipe dream... |
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Location: Cork, Ireland | Why care? From my point of view they are fairly good guitars that can be got for good prices used. I will probably never be in the market to pay a 4-figure sum for a guitar. If you like 'em, buy/play 'em. |
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Location: Chicago | Brand loyalty, I guess. Like allegiance to a team. Why care? If you don't get it, it's not worth explaining. |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | paulramon1992 - 2013-05-23 3:18 PM
darkbarguitar - 2013-05-23 3:55 PM
I would like to see the sales figures. Just how many CHEAP Ovation imports are they selling in the US, and what is the total net profit from those sales. Chances are, if I was CEO, I would say "let's just drop the product in the US."
This is the right way to run a business, but I don't think it's how music businesses should be ran. I realize that is a pipe dream... 
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | From my personal experience, y'all need to take your guitars on on the street corner.
I don't know what the stuck-up people at those open-mic things say...
But every day people say "Cool, Ovation" "Wow, that is an Awesome guitar" and such things.
In the past Five Years there may have been a couple of people that said something bad about Ovations...
I can count them on one hand, and they might have been joking.
So I ain't gonna care what other people say.
There is something satisfying about playing a guitar that few others have.
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Location: Fort Worth, TX | arthurseery - 2013-06-01 5:22 PM
There is something satisfying about playing a guitar that few others have.
For me they're more of an addiction. Since I was a kid and first saw my hero Glenn playing one on tv they have been the reason I cruise pawn shops and stop into music stores, for hopefully an Ovation experience. Owning one is a touchstone to a simpler, happier time in my life. I've had Martins, Gibson Hummingbirds, teles, vintage Gibsons and who knows what all else. No other guitar ever speaks to me at the emotional level an O always does. You'd think that since watching the Beatles on Ed Sullivan got me started on guitar a week later and eventually on bass I'd have owned Gretschs and Hofners. An O is what I always have to come back to. The only other manufactured thing that has an equal place in my life is the 60's split front windshield VW buses. I practically lived in one in my early 20's and still regularly check out a website that deals exclusively with selling them. It's at the top of my bucket list to own another one, but the last one I sold for $300 would go for $30,000 now so it's gonna take a major windfall to ever land another one in my driveway. Anytime I spot one on the road I'm momentarily transformed back into a 20 something until it is out of sight. Same with an O except they make me feel even younger. When something gets into your soul it's a part of you, an important and relevant part. The VW buses routinely got me harassed by Indiana rednecks ( the worst ones) who wanted to beat me up for long hair and a hippie bus. The O's I've constantly had to explain were NOT plastic. Both of these things ultimately make me very happy and like Old Man I don't care what others say about them. Chances are I'd find something ridiculous in the lives of the bashers they wouldn't be able to fathom my dislike for. Charlie Kaman changed the world and he revolutionized mine with the only guitar I could ever revere. I'm currently without one because we've had a lot of expenses for a second one of our kids' wedding taking place later today. Even on a disability income I'll eventually track down the next one the Universe has destined me to have. My new hand built OM will suffice until then and I basically got it free because of an arrangement I have with the builder to market and sell his guitars for him. Whatever I get beyond compensating him for materials investment is mine to keep since he sells me the guitars first with payment due after I have sold them. I'm fairly certain I'm not the only one in here whose soul is partly composed of a love for these guitars, and it's a very satisfying condition to have. |
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Location: Sunshine State, Australia | legend74 - 2013-06-02 8:07 AM If you don't get it, it's not worth explaining. Good one! |
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Location: Sunshine State, Australia | Hey Dave. Find the 'Enter' button on your keyboard and have a play around with it. See what it does...
Edited by muzza 2013-06-02 6:48 AM
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Location: Fort Worth, TX | Ok
ay... giv
in
g it a sh
ot now.
Nope, don
't lik
e where
thi
s is go
ing!
LOL
Edited by DaveKell 2013-06-02 3:02 PM
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Location: Michigan | Funny how this all goes. I was playing in church recently and the sound tech who is a music major at a big ten school (guitar performance) looked at my 1114 folklore and shook his head and said he really hated silk steel strings. I told him I really liked the way it balanced the tone on the guitar and then he told me that is why he did not like ovations because they sounded too tinny. Funning thing is the tone on the 1114 blows the Taylors in the group away. Some people just don't listen....
Edited by twistedlim 2013-06-02 3:46 PM
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Location: sitting at my computer | twistedlim - Some people just don't listen.... Yeah well, ya can lead a horse to water but ya can't make it think. Some folks don't 'listen' with their ears before 'judging' with their eyes. --------------- Pret ty fun ny Da ve. Kee p prac ticing! 
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Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | I like what OMA said in this thread and some others, but bottom line... I think Ovation has to some extent outlived it's usefulness.
The workingmans guitar, high quality at an affordable price is something that can no longer be sustained. It's that simple. They were GIVING AWAY the Adamas guitars for years, charging a FRACTION of what it cost to build them because the import line was so profitable it allowed them to keep the USA line affordable.
I think THAT was their undoing... There are TWO landmark Ovations in the For Sale section of this site. And there they sit. Ovation is not seen as a "high end" guitar by the masses, because based on their price point, they don't have ANY high end guitars. There's never been a $10K or $12K guitar to my knowledge in their catalog. I'm not sure there has ever been a $4K guitar in their catalog, maybe as MSRP
In Musicans Friend there are some Private Reserve Ovations in the $3K range... that's nice (sarcastic) if you search "Acoustic Guitar" and set the sort to highest price first... Gibson, Fender, Martin and Breedlove all have more expensive guitars listed. There are certainly even Taylors in that and higher price range.
In fact, you can't even select "Ovation" from the brands list anymore you have to search Ovation from the general site search. An Adamas and two Koa Elites show up for $3,849. The TOP OF THE LINE Adamas at under $4K... They obviously aren't as good as all the other brands. I know it's hard to read, but perception is EVERYTHING.
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Location: Canada | This is a depressing thread. I don't even like trying any boxy guitars because they are so uncomfortable. |
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Location: Minnesota | I was listening to a coffee house player the other night. I asked him what kind of guitar he had....he said a taylor...you get what you pay for.
The reason I asked is because I thought by the sound, it had to be a real cheapie! It didn't sound near as nice as any of my guitars. I told him
I had an Adamas and he didn't even know what it was. Frankly, my old legend sounds 10 times better! It's sad to see most of the ovations being made overseas. Though, I bet even some of them could take on that little taylor of his. |
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Location: Orlando, FL | mileskb - 2013-06-03 3:07 AM
... There are TWO landmark Ovations in the For Sale section of this site. And there they sit.
Miles, I think that's due to the economy more than their perceived value, especially in this group. Four or five years ago when something cool was posted here for sale it rarely went to ebay. In fact, I remember guitars I would have jumped at, sold before I realized they were for sale. I really don't know anyone who's buying guitars like they used to.
If I was even close to having the cash to buy the OFC2 now, I'd start selling other guitars to come up with the rest. Unfortunately, it's way out of my league these days.
I do agree with your assessment that the general guitar playing public doesn't value Adamas and Ovation guitars over many "name brands" that aren't nearly as good.
Edited by Designzilla 2013-06-03 12:47 PM
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Location: Miami | Yes, perception does count for a lot. My first exposure to an Ovation was in 1986, when another guy and I played solo at a dinner for clients. I had a Knocked up old Yammy and he had this wonderful instrument that kinda looked like how my Yammy might have been had it gone to heaven for a divine makeover! It was an Ovation; I'm not sure whether it was a Legend or a Balladeer, but my tongue was nearly on the floor ...
The second time was when I was living in Segovia, Spain, in the late 80s, and I hooked up with a Spanish guy who also played guitar. He had an Ovation Classic nylon string. Again, it seemed to me that these instruments were acoustic guitars taken to the next level of aesthetics and sound, and I knew I'd buy one eventually.
When I finally did get one in the mid 90s it was a deep-bowl non-cutaway Elite, and I considered it my first big name high-end guitar. By this time, I'd owned a British handmade 000 and a German Lakewood dread. But this Elite was thrilling in a way that the other two were not. I didn't know so much about models and such, but as far as I was concerned, Ovation was up there alongside Martin and Gibson, except that Ovation made instruments that seemed to have a luxury and elegance that surpassed that of the old wooden boxes. It was only years later, when I took up the guitar again in 2007, that I realized from guitar forums like AGF that Ovations were derided and spoken of in the same breath as cheap imports.
But whatever they say, first impressions count for a lot, and Ovations, I think, will always carry a mark of distinction in my imagination and memory that nearly all other makes, great and small, cannot quite match. |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | Like many of us, I was out of the guitar picture for 20 years or so. When I started in the 70s, Ovation was the hot guitar. The old school people then still went with Martin, but no one had heard of Taylor. Martin had a foreign brand called Sigma that was considered a good guitar if you couldn't afford a real Martin. I was fortunate to have a fiancee with a job, so we scraped together enought to buy the cheapest USA Ovation we could get, my Matrix. A soon to be relative had a Legend, which I envied, but he never looked down on my poor Matrix.
When I decided to get back into guitars a few years ago, I was surprised that there was an Ovation stigma. The first time I heard of it may have been when our daughter took guitar lessons in college. Her instructor talked her out of getting an Ovation and into an Ibanez that she has now sold. Her first two came with problems and had to be returned, which should have said something. She asked the same guy to look at a 1537 for me, but I don't know if he even looked at it before he criticized it. Then I started hearing this stuff about sliding off your knee and learned that there was a big difference between the Celebrities in the stores and the USA Ovations and Adamases that were still being made. I only knew of the USA models and the Applause models back in the 70s. I retain my Ovation bias from all those years ago. Some might call it an obsession. I presume that other people who may be more reasonable than I would retain their biases in favor of Taylors or Martins or whatever. The only difference may be that Ovation hasn't built up the bias in its favor like Taylor has.
Timolin, I played a $15,000 classical guitar in Barcelona, which was very nice, but I like my Ovation Classic better. The fact that I could get 30 more for less than $15,000 might have affected my hearing. |
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Location: Denver, CO | I was hashing through a few things with my lead guitarist yesterday, who happens to be playing MY strat right now ;-) I was playing the LX, but I said something about the T, and he said, "Oh, yeah, the plastic guitar." I thought, Et tu, Brute? "Well, Stevie, it's just like this one, only with a different finish..." But there you go. Same song, different verse. |
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Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | Don't worry, Jon, Stevie will come around eventually. We still have a lot of O's to go. He might rethink his comment when he sees the OFC-II in carbon fiber. |
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Location: Denver, CO | Show him the Breadwinner, Brad. |
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Location: Chicago | I have been noticing Rainsong guitars here and there. No hint of any problem that they're made of "plastic" or "carbon fiber." Is carbon somehow classier? I know it's expensive (Adamas showed that some time ago) |
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Location: Phoenix AZ | I think Adamas faced an uphill battle - different SHAPE, different MATERIAL, funky COLORS, gold SPECKLE, ornate CARVED woodwork ... it was too much or the average Joe to digest. Quick - name one successful acoustic guitar that was red? Yeah, same here.
What Rainsong has going for it is that it looks (shape) like a traditional guitar, and they make no attempt to hide the fact that it's carbon fiber. So the street appeal (and probably the sales) are no doubt well ahead of Adamas. But DON'T confuse that with the fact that it MAY be a dreadful sounding and terrible playing instrument. I have no clue as I've never actually played one.
Edited by Standingovation 2013-06-16 1:33 PM
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Location: Steeler Nation, Hudson Valley Contingent | I've played a couple of Rainsongs in the past. They were nice, well-built, durable guitars, no doubt. But they just didn't click my gears at all. There are quite a frew woodboxes that click my gears big time, but nothing has ever had the lasting appeal of my O's. I've had high-end Taylors, Martins, and a super nice Collings come and go. I hope to have others as well. (A OOO-45 is my pipe-dream guitar for example.) But I've laways had an Ovation handy for over 20 years now regardless of the rest of my stable. I don't see that changing. |
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Location: SoCal | moondogsturn - 2013-06-03 10:30 AM
I was listening to a coffee house player the other night. I asked him what kind of guitar he had....he said a taylor...you get what you pay for.
The reason I asked is because I thought by the sound, it had to be a real cheapie! It didn't sound near as nice as any of my guitars. I told him
I had an Adamas and he didn't even know what it was. Frankly, my old legend sounds 10 times better! It's sad to see most of the ovations being made overseas. Though, I bet even some of them could take on that little taylor of his.
There's a guy who's been coming out to our jams on Friday night and he's got a Taylor. Special ordered with an engelman spruce top. It's really a beautiful sounding guitar. That now makes 2 Taylors that I've played over the last 15 years that I really liked. I didn't ask what it cost, but I would have bet about $3500-$4000. I wouldn't have traded my 1537 for it.
What I can't figure out is, does my 1537 really sound that wonderful, or have I just played it so long (20 years), that it's a part of me? But then, who cares..... |
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Location: SoCal | Standingovation - 2013-06-16 11:32 AM I think Adamas faced an uphill battle - different SHAPE, different MATERIAL, funky COLORS, gold SPECKLE, ornate CARVED woodwork ... it was too much or the average Joe to digest. Quick - name one successful acoustic guitar that was red? Yeah, same here. What Rainsong has going for it is that it looks (shape) like a traditional guitar, and they make no attempt to hide the fact that it's carbon fiber. So the street appeal (and probably the sales) are no doubt well ahead of Adamas. But DON'T confuse that with the fact that it MAY be a dreadful sounding and terrible playing instrument. I have no clue as I've never actually played one. Conventional appearance, unconventional material... I added some photos of the Rainsong JZ1000. Looks, feels, and plays like a jazz archtop. It is light as a feather. Impervious to humidity and temperature fluctuations. The obvious attention to detail in the cloth layup, provides (in my eyes) a great up-close appearance and character. This is a fabulous sounding guitar. It is from the original Maui guitars, when Dr. John Decker, an aeronautical engineer, was creating them in small numbers. They were very expensive to make. Not many were willing to pay such a high price (I think for an unconventional material). Not many were produced. 
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The "O Stigma": getting the truth
