RIP Made In America Ovation Guitars

Well this sucks:

An Ovation guitar factory in the western Connecticut hills that has produced instruments for music legends from Paul Simon to Cat Stevens to Glen Campbell is closing after 47 years.

The New Hartford factory’s owner, Fender Musical Instruments Corp. of Scottsdale, Ariz., is ceasing U.S. production of Ovation guitars and notified employees Tuesday that production at the factory will end by June. That’s according to a report by the Republican-American of Waterbury.

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/ovation-guitar-factory-connecticut-closing-23441795

that does suck...I knew this was coming (I own an Ovation and have had several over the years) but knowing it was coming and have the announcement finally made are two different things.

They closed Hamer, now Ovation, and they have stifled Takamine production. Fender doesn't want competition, they simply bought Kaman (huge distributor) to control distribution of their own products.

Nothing new here, been going on since 2008.......too sad.

That is terrible... :tears: I really like Ovation guitars.

My ex-wife used to play in a bar band. I bought her an Ovation to use. We often joked that if a fight ever broke out she could easily smack someone in the head with that plastic back and probably not even damage the guitar!!

Good ol Fender...so far they've managed to kill off Guild guitars and Sunn amps too.

Hope they can't touch Godin Guitars, Located in Québec, Canada; manufacturing also in New Hampshire. [English/French]:scratch2:

Bummer...Maybe Fender should have the nickname “The Undertaker”.

Sucks that they keep killing off and ruining great brands. Add Tacoma guitars to the list.
I have 2 vintage Guilds including @ very rare 70’s era D40-C-SB sunburst & a
F45-12 CE that are amazing instruments but the new GAD Guilds are crap. And the made in America Guilds,well they are expensive and cost as much as Martins ,Gibsons & Taylors.

The only good news (at least for me ) is the value of the vintage east coast made guitars are rising fast.

Maybe they will figure it out when sales plummet.

I don't think you will be able to keep the same quality using people that don't care about or understand guitars in the manufacturing process.

SoundOfSound said:

Maybe they will figure it out when sales plummet.

I don't think you will be able to keep the same quality using people that don't care about or understand guitars in the manufacturing process.

Click to expand...

The sad part is that the casual musician will never know any difference because they will keep importing lesser Ovation models. Only those wanting/deserving/willing to pay for quality players are affected.

That's very sad. I'll never give up my Ovation Legend. It's funny that they never make mention of the true guitar masters that used Ovation's, like Al Dimeola, Larry Coryell and John McLaughlin, Robert Fripp and others. As well as Josh White, the first Ovation signature guitar produced in 1965-1967.

Dennis Gardner said:

The sad part is that the casual musician will never know any difference because they will keep importing lesser Ovation models. Only those wanting/deserving/willing to pay for quality players are affected.

Click to expand...

On the other hand, when Gretsch brought back the Corvette with an Asian-made version, the quality of build went up by about 3X. You never know.

As for Ovations, I was never able to play one comfortably, as my gut is as convex as an Ovation's back.

I don't think that Ovation is any different in their markets than anyone else. The real cash flow is in their lower end items meaning imports. Even Fender knows this, but at least they have kept the cache' of their American made models somewhat respected in the industry even through all the ups and downs. They just don't care about Ovation's heritage, because they weren't part of that experience. They don't make $, so cut the cord.

You can't tell me that there were more man-hours in an American made Ovation than a Martin or Gibson conventional model. Attaching a plastic bowl that is machine made onto a soundboard is way less labor intensive than an all wood model.

Cactus Bob said:

That's very sad. I'll never give up my Ovation Legend. It's funny that they never make mention of the true guitar masters that used Ovation's, like Al Dimeola, Larry Coryell and John McLaughlin, Robert Fripp and others. As well as Josh White, the first Ovation signature guitar produced in 1965-1967.

Click to expand...

Robert Fripp and Al Stewart had some sort of connection, but I can't remember the exact details. I do know that Al Stewart was a fan of Ovation guitars so it makes sense.

The old Hamer facility is a few minutes from my house in Willington. I did not know Ovation was located so close to me as well. Too bad Fender feels they need to shut down companies like this, I find it disgusting. Since they bought Jackson/Charvel, the quality has started to slip also

I think with Bain Capital-run Guitar Center circling the drain (been in one lately?) that Fender could be in real trouble, and these shutdowns are just the 'streamlining' that the beancounters demand. Their guitars are well-made and durable, so they don't wear out or become obsolete - how do you keep selling high-priced, identically appointed strats/ teles/ basses year after year? Modern revamps of the classic models just aren't as desirable as the 'classic' stuff.

Maybe this brand hoarding was done in a different period, when a diverse product line was desirable, and that time has now passed.

I don't know, but here's an example of how a company almost did this from within: a few years back, Taylor Guitars pushed their acoustic line into the shadows and staked their future on their new solid body electric models which were summarily dismissed, right or wrong, by electric players considering the other options available at the Taylor's (substantial) price point. These days, their acoustics are front and center once again with an expanding range of entry level, higher level and specialty guitars (8 string baritone acoustic anyone?) Seems like the market for guitar diversity is still there....

jmela said:

Maybe this brand hoarding was done in a different period, when a diverse product line was desirable, and that time has now passed.

Click to expand...

I have a Godin palour guitar made in Quebec. Bought it to learn on just before finding out about my cancer and after chemo have numb fingers and hands so, it sits.

Found out not long ago my son who lives in Vegas has been making guitars on special order. He his extremely good at woodworking so suspect he knows how to do it. He developed and built many of the instruments the Blue Boys Group uses.

Fender's quality has never been better post-CBS (post 1985), including their MIM (Made in Mexico) guitars as well as their outstanding Squier "Classic Vibes" that are made in China, which by the way have been selling like hot cakes since introduced. You want to see poorly built Fenders, take a look at many of the CBS era Fenders where they really cut corners. Neck pocket gaps wide enough to fit a credit card, warped necks, hack job routing, uneven paint and finish, poorly dressed frets, etc... you name it, it's there.

The shutdowns are basically to streamline their expenses in order to reduce their $250 million debt, half of which was borrowed money to buy KMC (Kaman Music Corp) who in turn owns Ovation. It's business that needs to be taken care of in order for Fender to survive in a bad economy. Nothing disgusting about it. Part of that debt is also money owed to Fender from sources like Guitar Center, which IMO will go bankrupt and be bought out within the next 5 to 10 years. Their long term debt makes Fender's debt seem like chump change.

As a side bar... if anything is disgusting, Guitar Center is disgusting. Last year, I was looking for a Fender Vintage Hot Rod 60's Strat and a Fender Classic Player Baja Tele to try out. As it happens, I was about to visit my parents in Baltimore so I decided to map out every Guitar Center and Sam Ash on the drive from NYC to Baltimore along I-95 for the fun of it. Not ONE store had EITHER guitar in stock but all of them offered to order one for me. If I wanted to order one "blind", I would have done so from Sweetwater where they have detailed photos of each guitar along with individual weights for each guitar.

With all due to respect to brands like Hamer and Ovation, both of which are owned by the KMC subsidiary, the brands have lost their cachet that they once had in the 80's and early 90's and hence have lost market appeal. Hamer especially made extremely well built and great playing guitars in the 80's. With Charvel/Jackson, the brand is still going strong with plenty of endorsers and wide appeal, including their latest endorser Guthrie Govan.

Northwinds said:

The old Hamer facility is a few minutes from my house in Willington. I did not know Ovation was located so close to me as well. Too bad Fender feels they need to shut down companies like this, I find it disgusting. Since they bought Jackson/Charvel, the quality has started to slip also

Click to expand...

I always hated Ovations because they wouldn't stay put on my lap!

I never owned an Ovation, but was always intrigued by the sound. A girl I grew up with had one (we're talking early-mid 70s) and I loved playing it and hearing others play it. Fast forward to the late 90s and I bought a Firch in Warsaw, Poland which was an Ovation knockoff. It was (and remains) a piece of junk. 15 years later, I settled on a Taylor 6-string and a Martin 12-string to amuse myself.