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March 2007
Posts: 840
Location: CA | Then again, a teacher of mine once observed, "If there are no questions, there are no answers". So....
I have been an Ovation owner since 1971 and think they are great guitars. And from reading this forum they've made and continue to make lots of them.
So how come there is nowhere (at least that I've been in California) where you can go and see/play a decent selection of Ovations? The Guitar Centers that I've been to all have at most a handful (5-6) of Celebrities and an occasional overpriced Balladeer or Elite, but I've never seen a Custom Legend or — be still my beating heart — Adamas for sale anywhere but on this site, EBay or Craigslist. In smaller music shops I've only seen at most one or two lonely round-backs gathering dust on the wall.
So what's the deal? Do ad reps for Taylor/Martin/Gibson just give sweeter deals? |
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March 2005
Posts: 2791
Location: Atlanta, GA. | OK, just pull the lid off THAT can 'o worms again!!! |
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August 2003
Posts: 4619
Location: SoCal | The GC in La Mesa/San Diego has had CL's and CE's. I even picked up an Adamas U681T there. As to the 30th Anniversary Custom Legend (2004), they got one in about June. They eventually sold 5 or 6 over the next 6-7 months. I believe they sold a fair number of LX's. Had the large display, etc.
Guitar Trader in San Diego has supported USA Ovations and has sponsored Matt's Chop Shops each year. I know they sold at least one of the 1687 RI's.
Both Guitar Center and Guitar Trader staffs get up to NAMM. The last several years I will be on a knee checking out a guitar and the Kaman Rep will bring over several of their staff to reintroduce and reinforce that I was part of the OFC. When I was in their stores, they were knowledgeable about the product line. |
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Posts: 7211
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | "So how come there is nowhere (at least that I've been in California) where you can go and see/play a decent selection of Ovations? "
What I have witnessed since we created the Fan Club is the following, especially regarding the USA line.
Those that carry the line usually are still in business because they know what sells. They order the guitars, they come in, and rarely even make it to the wall before they are sold, or in many cases, they were ordered in the first place because they were already sold. I once asked one of my favorite music stores why he never carried any Adamas guitars, and he quickly informed me he gets at least a couple every month. I never saw one in the store... and that's a good thing really. They all sell.
The other side of the coin is the stores that can't carry the line. They may want to, but the Fender, Gibson, Martin, Taylors of the world put such pressure on them to have such a large inventory across the line, that they just can't afford to have a line that they only sell one or two a month of. This may change with Fender acquiring KMC. One can only hope.
Now, scattered about are a few exceptions. Stores that can afford to have a few Top O' Line Ovations on the wall for a month. They order more than they need, and they do things like clinics that sell those guitars and lots of other stuff too usually. The extra's make up for the few guitars on the wall.
It's extremely hard for any store not "dedicated" to a line to even carry it. The online competition is much too fierce. |
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August 2005
Posts: 3736
Location: Sunshine State, Australia | You think its bad in California?
Try finding an Ovation in an Australia guitar store - especially a non-Asian one.
Even harder, find a guitar salesman that thinks an Ovation is anything more than a plastic toy. :mad: |
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June 2007
Posts: 3084
Location: Brisbane Australia | Amen to that Muz.
Toombul Music had a couple of Celebs hanging on the wall last week.
The sales guy knew Jack about them.
AJ |
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Posts: 3736
Location: Sunshine State, Australia | He knew Jack? That's more than most. |
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Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | But Jack's in a different country. |
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January 2003
Posts: 38
Location: Denver, Colorado | It's the same in the Denver area. We had one Mom and Pop shop in the area that handled the higher end O's but they went under last year. The Guitar Center by my house has one Custom Legend but only because it was a used trade in. It's in good shape but they want an arm and a leg for it I could buy a new one for what they are asking and they won't deal... |
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July 2005
Posts: 3408
Location: GA USA | I've played some fantastic Ovations and Adami... at OFC jams. And those have been popping up in CA and CO. |
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February 2002
Posts: 1817
Location: Minden, Nebraska | Marketing. |
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March 2005
Posts: 12750
Location: Boise, Idaho | We have a local dealer for Ovations and a GC. GC doesn't carry any of the high end Ovations or any Adamas. They've had an LX display for years, but nobody knew what the LX was.
The local music store has a yellow page ad that said they were an Adamas dealer, but when I called they didn't know what it was. Another local store went out of business, but they liked Ibanez over Ovations. |
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March 2007
Posts: 840
Location: CA | Well, okay, that's kind of what I thought. I've never heard the 'sells before it's put on the wall' thing before, but I guess it makes sense. I fondly remember the days when you could go into even small music shops and play 10 or maybe 20 different Gibsons or Martins to decide which one sounded best to you. Be great to find somewhere like that for Ovations/Adamas. Frankly, I've never heard an Adamas played live so I have yet to see what all the fuss is about. LOL. |
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March 2005
Posts: 12750
Location: Boise, Idaho | I had never heard an Adamas, to my knowledge, until I bought the Ute. It's hard for me to imagine that wherever you are in California is more remote than where I am. I have found a 1537 and a couple of Collector's editions here, but they were in pawn shops. If they get a good used Ovation at the local GC, it generally gets sold really fast. |
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March 2002
Posts: 15654
Location: SoCal | Oddball, where in CA are you? |
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October 2007
Posts: 2711
Location: Vernon CT | Hey,
I live 5 miles from the Manchester, Ct G.C. which
is maybe 20 miles from the "Mothership" and have never seen an Adamas in that store. I will say they do have a fairly decent quantity of Celebs,
Balladeer's, Legends and Elites hanging on their wall. I would say they have 15 "O's" hanging. It
may not sound like a lot but compared to most stores Ovation is well represented. |
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November 2004
Posts: 1330
Location: ms | The GC in Mobile AL. will no longer take an Ovation in on a trade. The kid there said they had too hard a time selling them, but from the used ones i've seen they are mostly junkers priced too high.. |
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November 2005
Posts: 4820
Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | I'm not an expert, but I have opinions and listen a lot.
Seems I heard Ovation sells everything they make and have a waiting list. So their challenge is not marketing, it's production volume.
As said here and elsewhere, "perhaps the relation with Fender will change all that." |
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June 2007
Posts: 270
Location: Yorkshire, England | I know the discussion so far is based around the Ovation acoustic range, and I may be flying off at a bit of a tangent, but I don't think I will ever, ever grasp the notion of why the Breadwinner and Deacon range never took off.(Indeed any of the electric range) Did they suffer the same fate that the acoustics you speak about now suffer? Were there not enough famous endorsees? (Although I am sure that Jeff Lynne credited a Breadwinner on the original `New World Record' LP in 1976, along with various Ovation acoustics - I will have to check) I have owned several Gibsons & now have a Fender Strat and a Les Paul in my collection that I play and have gigged with. I think the Deacon and Breadwinner mix in their company very well and have often thought (dreamed )that someone might come along and re-issue these guitars. Now that Fender have taken over, does anyone think that there may be a chance of this? Maybe the time could be right. |
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April 2006
Posts: 1138
Location: CT | With all the hype about Adamas on this site, I really wanted to play one, but there were none on the 48th st. shelves - just one M.E. 12er. One day I stopped in Sam Ash just to look, and they had a 1687 re-issue on the wall so I made a mental note to go back and check it out. Sight unplayed, I worked a deal with Al on a U681T-12. LOVED it! decided I wanted a 6 string texture top. When I went back to Sam Ash a week later the 1687 was gone. Makes me wonder how many Adamii would sell if the huge chains actually stocked them. |
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March 2002
Posts: 15654
Location: SoCal | ..if the huge chains actually stocked them. Not just stocked them, but also put them where people could play them. I go into a Guitar Center and I can get at and play a D-42 easier than I can a high end Ovation, which are high up on the walls.
When you've got to ask a sales rep to get a guitar down for you, unless you really want THAT particular guitar,you'll never ask for help.
Dumb and Dumber..... |
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January 2006
Posts: 5881
Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | After my trip to the factory last May and my understanding of free market economics, I think I understand why Ovation isn't all that quick to jump back into the solid body market. Sure, they created the VXT to fill a niche in a select market, but to bring back straight electrics is a totally different story. It didn't appear that they had the production capacity to add another line or two of electrics in New Hartford. Indeed, when they were rolling out the VXT, it nearly crippled production of their acoustic models for a few months (as those of us waiting for Al's custom models were advised). They could move production overseas, but the competition for less expensive foreign made guitars seems even more fierce. If we don't understand the marketing strategy for their niche guitars (the roundbacks), I'm not sure I understand how a similar strategy would allow them to compete in the solid electric world. Just look at the wall of import Strats and Les Pauls on the wall at GC in the range of about $300 or less. |
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June 2007
Posts: 270
Location: Yorkshire, England | Hi Professor - thanks for taking my point up re. a new solid body range and I understand what you say. I was thinking about the Fender factory producing these guitars - If it is the case though, that a guitar company is unwilling to unleash a new model for fear of competition, then where do we go? The whole world will be for be ever dominated by Strats, Teles, Les Pauls and SG's. I personally think the time would be right to re-issue a new solid body, like a Breadwiner or Deacon, even if only for a limited run, just to see what happens. (I mean, just look at the interest it would cause on this site alone!) The nostalga factor would be on its side at least. Also, if you take a look at the general posting, a great deal of effort has gone into thinking of suitable model names for these new solid bodied guitars, which is surely the hardest part of the job! (Breadocaster anyone!) |
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Probably a dumb question
