Ovation USA closes down

[foldedpath]

Apparently Fender is also closing down its SWR amp and Genz-Benz amp divisions, so this looks like part of an overall belt-tightening at the company. It could be a tail-end effect of the recession, or maybe an early response to the decline of the Baby Boomer market in guitars and guitar accessories.... all us old guys who supported these companies for years, but our demographic bump in the population is about to take a dive, if it isn't happening already. That's going to put a big dent in everyone's sales, and the largest companies like Fender won't weather that storm as well as some of the smaller shops with lower overhead.

It will be interesting to see to what extent they still continue making Ovation and Guild guitars overseas. If all they're doing is continuing the lower-end models, that's more competition for Fender's own brand of lower-end acoustic guitars. At this point, the "Fender" name on an acoustic guitar headstock probably means more to the younger generation than Ovation or Guild.

[Charlieshafer]

Folded, as usual, makes some very interesting points. In acoustic music, the age of the guitar hero is rapidly diminishing. As you look at the young guns who are capturing attention now, there are far more mandolin players and fiddlers that catch the young audience's eye. If I feature fiddlers and the like at a show, the audience is younger; if Chris Wuerth over at Guitartownct features a picker on guitar, the audience is much MUCH older.

I do think the tail end of the recession plays a role, also, as this dragged on years longer than people hoped. And, in my own business, the last two years were the worst of the bunch..

To top it off, many of these conglomerate-style companies really only poach their own sales. As an example, if I'm buying an electric guitar and thinking "I want a Gibson", I'm usually thinking "which Gibson?" The same goes for a Fender. I'm not usually thinking, "gee, Stratocaster or Les Paul??" They're too different beasts.

[Michael Weaver]

Of course competition has an effect. Just not here. In this case, the Ovation was a totally unique design unto itself. The price point of the higher quality Ovations made in Connecticut were unappealing to contemporary buyers of guitars in that price range. The Ovation pacrim instruments are much less expensive, and a different beast altogether. Martin sells instruments made in their Nazareth plant and in Mexico. Do you really think the buyer for one is the same as the other?

No, I am agreeing with you. Ovation was their own deal. I don't even care for Ovations myself. I'm using them as an example. Like I stated "which company will be next". I think we are losing business to pacrim instruments either way you slice it. When someone buys their first instrument, then as you say, buys the next step up they have now bought two pacrim instruments per person. I just think that we should help new players and builders alike.

[guitargain]

I have a 1984 Collectors Series Shallow Bowl that I bought brand new in either late 1984 or early 1985. I still play it today.

[jake-mando]

My uncle played an Ovation in the 70's, and he was the one that got me interested in music. I've been playing a 1980 tobaco burst Balladeer special since 1990. Toured with it, jammed with it and played the heck put of it. Not a sign of wear. Not even a crack in the top. I have nothing but good to say about Ovation guitars.

[Dave Greenspoon]

The CT Ovations were ubiquitous workhorse guitars for just about every touring singer-songwriter or small band I saw growing up as a kid in N. Fl. Even I've noodled on their mandocello and had a blast with it. They certainly had their niche. The fiberglass was impervious to conditions, and the nice spruce tops and painless electronics sounded great when amped.

I agree that it'd be great if the folks leaving Ovation/FMIC formed something new and filled the next niche. An all-composite mandolin with active on-board electronics to the marketplace for under $1000.00 could be interesting. It'd be the PMM, with all due respect to the inimitable Peter Mix. Stage/studio ready without a care for humidity or temperature? Rainsong and CA aren't prepared to do it.

[almeriastrings]

When someone buys their first instrument, then as you say, buys the next step up they have now bought two pacrim instruments per person. .

If they end up then buying a Gilchrist, a Peter Coombe or a Duff - that makes three.

In my opinion, better to look at the quality and desirability of said instruments than geography......

[nickster60]

Unfortunately like many US products they cant keep pace with inexpensive pac-rim products. It is difficult for many companies to survive especially in our old industrial states. The tax base and regulation just make it very expensive to produce a competitive product. CT was where I grew up, and it was a industrial powerhouse. Those days have long since passed, factories are now turned to condos.

[allenhopkins]

...When I read most of the posts on the forum it seems most people push for pacrim instruments. I am not saying that they are all bad instruments but when we suggest that every new player buys one this is what happens…

And what would you suggest we tell the person who wants a "first" mandolin, at an affordable (less than four-figure) price, to buy? One of the US-made Harmony, Regal, Kay etc. mandolins that people used to learn on? Oops, they ain't made any more.

"Independent and talented [individual] builders" can't make a living hand-building $500 mandolins. Some "mandolin-curious" potential pickers want to spend $250 or less. For these people, it's Asian-made (possibly Romanian-made) or nothin'.

And you're right that Asian-made instruments aren't "all bad." Many are quite good, in fact.

But, leaving a touchy subject behind, too bad about the Ovation shutdown. I never had all that much respect for the work-person-ship in Ovation guitars. When I worked part-time in Eldon Stutzman's little Saturdays-only instrument store, he kept sawed-in-half-longitudinally bodies of an Ovation and a Martin D-18 for comparison. The difference in the brace shaping (or lack thereof in the Ovation) was quite striking. And, as he said, the back and sides -- which Martin would spend a great deal of hand-work time cutting, shaping, bracing and finishing -- popped out of an injection molding machine at Ovation, at a cost of maybe a few dollars worth of Fiberglas and factory time. So how come the two guitars were priced about the same?

I also heard that Ovation was originally started, at least in part, to use up spruce left over from making helicopter rotors. Any perspective on that?

[almeriastrings]

I also heard that Ovation was originally started, at least in part, to use up spruce left over from making helicopter rotors. Any perspective on that?

That bit is an urban myth - but the rest is true.

[Ted Eschliman]

Not quite true. The technology used to develop a space age plastic to replace wood on the helicopter came out of Kaman Industries. As you can imagine the high speed harmonics of helicopter blades required special attention to resonance to keep them from tearing themselves apart. Charlie Kaman, a musician himself discovered the same Lyrachord technology could produce musical instruments. Thus, the Ovation guitar.

[nickster60]

Kaman
Is is first and foremost a helicopter company in Bloomfield Ct. I wouldn't be surprised if the prototypes were built in the helicopter plant with existing materials. I work next door to it plant for many years.

[Caleb]

I work in a shop that builds helicopter blades. We still use materials from Kaman. I always thought the concept of Ovation guitars was pretty neat, and they made some of the best 12-strings I've ever heard (these were really their strongest point, IMO).

[Folkmusician.com]

The whole musical instrument industry is taking a severe beating right now. Of course, this has been the case with most industries, but instruments are not seeing the recovery that is starting to show in other areas. There are a few niche instruments that haven't been hit as hard (mandolins being one). The niches are becoming more competitive though.

[Timbofood]

Very well put Fred!

[Eddie Sheehy]

That bit is an urban myth - but the rest is true.

Quite well explained in "The History of the Ovation Guitar" by Walter Carter.

Charlie Kaman was a guitar player who was as interested, if not more interested, in the sound of the guitar he was making than the technology he was using. His rotor blades were spruce with a thin veneer of fiberglass - he spent countless hours studying the vibration characteristics of both. He wasn't trying to make a Martin, and in my experience Ovations (unless custom models) never cost as much as a Martin. His concept of helicopter design - which spilled over to guitars - was to make an Everyman's model. He envisioned people flying their personal helicopter to work in the future. And he at least tried...

As for the buy Pacrim if that's your price-level, it applies to almost everything produced here and just like Steel will surely come back to bite us when ONLY Pacrim instruments are available after we kill off our domestic 'competition'. But that's life, and economics...

[allenhopkins]

...in my experience Ovations (unless custom models) never cost as much as a Martin…

List retail for Ovation Deluxe Balladeer, c. 1967/68, $369.50 (reference).

List retail for Martin D-18, 1972, $450.00 (source, Mike Longworth, Martin Guitars: A History, p.240).

So: not "as much," though Ovation prices may have jumped 1967-72. But not hugely different, either. Considering the apparent differential in manufacturing costs (hand-cut, braced and finished back and sides vs. injection-molded bowl), I would think the prices should be farther apart.

Just my 2¢.

[Eddie Sheehy]

I bought my first Ovation Balladeer new in 1983 - for just under $400. A Martin D-18 was out of my price range at the time...
Was the Deluxe an Acoustic/Electric?

[thistle3585]

My sister told me tonight that the Ovation plant has been closed down. I was hoping to tour it when I went to visit her in October in New Britain. About 5 years ago, I built a ukulele for her to be auctioned off for Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation which was founded by Kaman and his wife. I had inlaid a MOP German shepherd in the headstock. She told me that Mr. Kaman had called her and asked her to bring it by so that he could take a look at it. I believe he was either in a hospital or nursing home at the time. She asked if he wanted to bid on it and he said, "No, I could never enjoy it anymore than to see its craftsmanship." She said they spoke for sometime about the demise of American craftsmanship. I think a short time before that Stanley had shuttered its last plant in CT too. I'm guessing he'd be pretty heart broken to hear what has become of his company. My sister said there was another instrument factory shut down in the area too but I'm not sure if it was tied to Ovation or was a casualty in and of itself.

[allenhopkins]

...Was the Deluxe an Acoustic/Electric?

Dunno; don't think so. Seems to have been a prettier early model, as far as I can tell from the ones I find on the net ...

[Eddie Sheehy]

Wow! $550 - right up there with a Martin D-18 of the same year...

[nickster60]

There use to be a company that made Dulcimers in Western Ct also. I think that may be the company your sister is talking about. I think the companies name was Folkwoods. They were in Winsted or New Hartford.

It seems everybody is shifting some of all of the production to Asia. Something I learned just recently, even some Triumph motorcycles are being produced in Asia. I don't have anything against Japanese bikes I have owned many and have two. I wont be buying a Triumph any time soon as much I like them. It would be like buying a Pac-Rim Ducati, the mystique is gone.

[Folkmusician.com]

The Dulcimer company was Folkcraft (we were a dealer back when they were in CT). They also made Folkroots. They actually sold to someone in Indiana and are still going. I believe Folkroots was originally made in California.

[Cal]

Interesting, but sad news of another manufacturer moving all production offshore. Wonder if Gibson, Martin, or Fender will be next to end US production (Fender now owns Kaman Music, and Kaman Music owns Ovation)?

I still have an US made Ovation Artist model guitar that I bought used years ago in Chicago when name brand acts from Paul McCartney to Al DeMeola were still regularly playing them. Low action fast neck that feels like an electric guitar. Still works like brand new.

Ovation's high end Adamas acoustic guitar line introduced a composite carbon fiber - birch wood top laminate; with the wood being approximately 1/3 the thickness of a typical top of the line solid wood guitar top to enhance the vibration of the frequencies his engineers wanted. They introduced a number of innovative solid body electric guitar models over the years that were not nearly as popular as his acoustics. Charlie Kaman passed on at 91 in 1991 having reinvented the guitar. I believe he commented in an interview along the line of how he worked hard to get the vibration out of helicopter blades, while working as hard to put vibration into ovation's products.

Have never been a fan of their Celebrity or Applause mandolins, the nut width feels off to me, but have loved the Hartford, CT. made in USA ones. Ovation USA made a great stage mandolin.

Thanks for the post Ted!

[almeriastrings]

All those companies already have a two-track approach, with some stuff (the high end) made in the US and other things made elsewhere (Asia or Mexico). With modern manufacturing techniques, though, it is no longer (necessarily) the case that you can slam things made elsewhere as "second best". Just a couple of weeks ago I got a "blowout", end-of-line deal on a traditional style Breedlove dreadnought (Cascade D/CRE). I already have one, a prototype built by Kim Breedlove which is a superb instrument by any standard, but this one is red cedar topped over solid rosewood.... I got it for roughly 50% off the regular price, too good to miss. Breedlove seem to have really reduced their line recently, since the takeover... and I always kind of fancied having a cedar/RW option available..... anyway, this one was made in Korea. Structurally and finish-wide it is truly hard to find a single flaw. Beautifully put together. Likewise the cedar top and EIRW back/sides are gorgeous... 1 3/4" nut width too. The one thing I did not like was the pickguard... but I don't like them on most new Martins either... swapped that for a Greven already. Tone and playability are all you could wish for in a guitar of that spec, from any maker, anywhere... it records beautifully.

So, my point really is that while there does seem to be quite a bit of prejudice around about what are often dismissed as "pacrim" instruments, any prejudices I may have held are long gone. I am happy to perform with a phenomenally good Chinese-built Northfield mandolin and a Korean built guitar when I feel their particular voices suit what I'm doing.... and I don't think they rate as "second best". They should be judged on their own merits and they hold their own in any company, in my opinion. We are very fortunate that today seriously fine instruments are available from so many sources - though I admit that if I was a manufacturer myself, I'd probably take a different view on that!