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Joined:
November 2002
Posts: 1196
Location: Lafayette, Louisiana | A few years ago, a rather large musical instrument chain moved into my home town. They have a nice selection of top quality acoustic guitars including Ovation. I spent a good deal of time there playing different Takamines, Guilds, Tacomas, and various other brands. One thing stood out to me on just about all these guitars. High action seem to be what they all had in common. I asked a salesman there who did the guitar setup. The responce " What's that"???? So I began to show him that these guitars could play alot better, but he said the "factory" sets them up the way they should be. This just reinforces one thing that bothers the crap out of me. Guitar companies love to sell guitars, but they don't seem to give a damn about having people at the music stores who can make them play half ass. I know that if any of my guitars need work, they are headed back to New Hartford for Kim Keller and the guys to take a look at. Why is this? In fact the closest Ovation service center to me is no help either. I took an old Viper solidbody there for some fret work, and the guy who was helping me just could not say enough how Ovation never caught on with solidbodies. Then the prick went on to say that he has seen Ovation acoustic guitars made with crazy glue! This is suppose to be a center where I can take my Ovations for work. I am some thankful that Ovation has such a good service center at the factory. I would be some screwed if I could not send my guitars back to the factory for fret work and other things. Ok, I will stop. Thanks for letting me rant! |
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Joined:
July 2003
Posts: 1922
Location: Canton (Detroit), MI | WOW! I hope you feel better now.
If that chain isn't Guitar Center, it should be....that sounds about par for the course for there....the help usually only knows electrics, and probably think that high action is normal for acoustics.
Sounds like you ran into an Ovation-hater at the service center....but, unfortunately, liking Ovations is not a prequisite for being able to fix them! That guy probably only works there, doesn't own or run the place. |
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Joined:
September 2003
Posts: 9301
Location: south east Michigan | When the time comes sometime next year I hope that I will find the right guitar at the right price in one of our few non-corporate music stores. Unfortunatly, the small stores might have four Ovations while the Guitar Center has twenty-four to choose from. Many on this board buy off the internet, but I think I need to play and hear the exact guitar I buy. I have found that two of the same model can play very differently.
Brad
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Joined:
May 2002
Posts: 3005
Location: Las Cruces, NM | Sad, Sad story, but typical of the times. The factories think the dealers will set up the guitars and the dealer has a new standard, "factory setup", not caring that shipping and initial setting in might need some correcting. Well, they are just hastening the day when everyone buys from the catalog and books entitled "Setting up Your Guitar" sell like hotcakes. |
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Joined:
May 2003
Posts: 69
Location: UK | Yeah, I agree with the rant but my issue is the fact that guitar manufacturers are letting them ou the factory that way in the first place!
To be fair my Ovation Elite Special was set up perfectly when I purchased it new. My Adamas was also set up perfectly but that was a second hand instrument sold to me by a luthier who had prepared it professionally before selling it. However, these are top-end instruments and frankly I would not fork over muchos dollars unless they were perfect.
I am staggered how often I test drive a new guitars, especially in the low-end range and it is immediately obvious that it has had very little setup at the factory.
What is going on here? Are some manufacturers so dumb that they can't figure out that buying guitars, especially at the mass-market end is like a Pepsi Taste Test? The potential customer is going to buy the instrument that "feels" good as well as sounds good. Actually, most starting guitarists probably can't even discern what is a good sounding instrument, so action is going to be a more significant determining factor in buying one!
OK, I'm not a luthier and I probably don't understand the issues but I am a businessman and I do know how consumers think!
BL |
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Joined:
July 2003
Posts: 1922
Location: Canton (Detroit), MI | Brad/Slipkid, when you're ready for your guitar, you should have a look at Huber and Breese in Fraser(where I got my ME 12-string--you mentioned you had been there before), they may have something of interest.
Also, Elderly Instruments in Lansing may be worth the trip....they carry at least one of the U.S-made models usually, including Adamas. You can check what they have on their website before spending the gas to go. They have a set-up department with a very good reputation....I don't know if they even touched the CC01 I bought there, but the set-up on it was/is very good. Every new Ovation/Adamas I try there usually has good action/set-up(used ones are not so good sometimes).
Dealers thinking that factories do the set-up is very self-serving....any dealer that thinks that way is setting himself up to go out of business in the long run. If a customer is not happy with what he buys there, he won't be back if he thinks it's the dealer's fault....I suppose that is why they are very willing to blame any lack of set-up, etc. on the manufacturer. If you don't do anything, you can't make a mistake......
Bottom line is that the action needs to get set up properly. We saw the people doing it at the Ovation factory on the "Made In America" program on GAC a couple of weeks ago.....but I would presume that set-up can go out in shipping, so dealers need to at least check it. If they don't, it gives both them and the manufacturer a bad rap...shame on them. |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 10581
Location: NJ | set ups are a personal thing.
Everyone likes them in their own way. they are in a way like fingerprints.
I bet if you played some of my guitars you would not like them. I tend to use heavier strings (well worn in or old as some people tell me) and I have the action set generally higher than most people like them.
It is impossible to anticipate how someone likes a guitar Unless they are in front of you showing you and telling you what they want. the "universal" setup a factory does is usually pretty good. Of course a guitar should never leave with buzzing frets or something of that nature.
Martian guitars used to all come with heavy strings and high action. Many shops would get them shave down the saddle and put lighter string on them and sold the hell out of them. Now I think that martian has changed that policy. |
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Guitar setup? What's that??????
