Ovation guitars closing

Mark Eaton · Post by **Mark Eaton** » 3 Sep 2014 10:17 am

Russ, thanks for the link of the short interview with Jim Gurley.

As I wrote earlier, I have played some Ovations with one of the modernized iterations of the bowl, and check out the photo - it stays on one's lap pretty well.

Nevertheless, this guitar, the Adamas 1 GT had a Manufacturer's List Price of about $5500. If you knock off 25% for the "street price" = $4125. With all the excellent choices in all wood American-built guitars in that price range, apparently Ovation's time had come and gone.

Jack, I don't know what is correct, but one of the theories about a guitar "opening up" with age is that the only part that really matters is the top or the soundboard, from many thousands of cycles of vibrations, and the back and sides aren't significant to that process.

Barry Blackwood · Post by **Barry Blackwood** » 3 Sep 2014 1:20 pm

Mark, after reading your post, I suppose one could draw the conclusion that the "Lyrachord" bowl was just a gimmick and not as revolutionary as the advertising would have had us believe..

Mark Eaton · Post by **Mark Eaton** » 3 Sep 2014 3:19 pm

A point could be made for it being a gimmick, but at any rate, once they got Glen Campbell onboard as one of the original virtuoso spokesmen, along with the introduction of the Josh White model, Ovation guitars were flying out of that place.

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 3 Sep 2014 3:36 pm

There are two major concerns I have about Ovations, apart from the fact that you cannot hold them properly.

[1] The Lyrachord bodies have a nasty habit of coming unglued from the rest of the guitar.

[2] If you get a chip in the finish it's almost unrepairable. I've never yet seen a chipped Ovation repaired to where you could no longer see the chip.

Rick Barnhart · Post by **Rick Barnhart** » 3 Sep 2014 3:53 pm

I bought mine in 1976, it is a little awkward on the lap and the top tends to lean in toward me while standing. It cuts through the acoustic crowd during jams, though. I'll never sell it, because sadly it probably wouldn't net enough to convince me to part with it. I've always resisted the urge to paint watermelon seeds on the top.

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 3 Sep 2014 6:23 pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSE1GrQVzCQ

Jack Hanson · Post by **Jack Hanson** » 3 Sep 2014 8:08 pm

Andy Volk wrote:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSE1GrQVzCQ

Glen with a thumbpick smokin' on that gut string Ovation. Very cool.

What is that thing he plays here with George Morgan and the Collins Kids?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-oZl3Mng8o

And isn't that Hal Rugg pickin' that 1000?

Peter Huggins · Post by **Peter Huggins** » 4 Sep 2014 1:11 am

What is that thing he plays here with George Morgan and the Collins Kids?

It's an early sixties Teisco guitar, which Glen also used on lots of the Wrecking Crew sessions.
(In fact, I posted a response to the same question on that you tube video about a year ago.)

And I think the steel player is Don Davis.

Bill Hatcher · Post by **Bill Hatcher** » 4 Sep 2014 11:41 am

in the 70s they made a pretty good recording guitar. you could get a lot of top end out of them. good guitar for high third tuning. i fixed a lot of them. they removed too much material up at the neck for the truss rod adjustment. very weak there.

they for sure introduced us to the electric acoustic!

Alvin Blaine · Post by **Alvin Blaine** » 6 Sep 2014 12:45 am

Mark Eaton wrote:The plan is, for now, that the cheaper Asian-built guitars will still be produced.

I guess the big question was on the fairly expensive New Hartford built Ovations. If one is going to spend some fairly big dough on a new acoustic guitar these days with the plethora of choices including the big three American companies (Martin, Gibson, Taylor) and the seemingly endless choices from mid-sized to small builders, would you choose an Ovation?

Apparently most people were saying "no."

Which begs the question - why did Fender buy the company to begin with? If the brand was in a downward spiral, it doesn't seem like a very good business decision.

One thing I read from a guy in the guitar biz was that the Fender Sales & Marketing team wasn't very fired up about pushing the American-built Ovations what with all the competition on the higher end, and they were having more success pushing the cheaper Asian-built versions.

If that's true, and folks were passing over American-built Ovations while guitar shopping and going through the decision making process, then I guess it falls under the heading of "the people have spoken."

I have a Martin dreadnought from their Custom Shop on which I took delivery three years ago this month. When I was guitar shopping for a higher level instrument, I don't recall ever thinking, "Gee, maybe I ought to look into an Ovation."

FMIC bought out all of KMC (Kamen Music Corp) that included Ovation, Adamas, Takamine, Hamer, GTX, Charvel, Applause, Jasmine, Slammer, Montana, and Ventura Guitar lines. Genz Benz Amps.
Toca Percussion, Gibraltar Drum Hardware, Gretsch Drums, LP Music- Latin and world percussion, hand drums, Sabian Cymbals, Vic Firth drum stick, and Legend Drums.
Seiko, Becker String Instrument, Lee Oskar harmonica, and a few other music brands.

So far FMIC has killed off, or sold, about 6 or 7 of the above brands, and has been expanding a few others.

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 6 Sep 2014 3:56 am

I never could get used to the curved back...

" Ovations will continue to be manufactured outside the U.S., Fender spokesman Jason Farrell said Wednesday. He said Fender also builds Ovations in China, South Korea and Indonesia"

The end of the era is the Ct plant is closing, not the brand.

Martin making out of USA guitars, Taylor making out of USA guitars, Fender making out of USA guitars, Gibson etc... It's a hard market to compete in.

Ovation never made it to the Bluegrass stages, it never competed with the natural tones of the famous dreadnoughts. It never competed...that was the slow death...

Changing with the times...it's the new era and it's been here for a couple of decades.

Sho Bud is gone too !

Mark Eaton · Post by **Mark Eaton** » 6 Sep 2014 5:05 am

Tony Prior wrote:I never could get used to the curved back...

Martin making out of USA guitars, Taylor making out of USA guitars, Fender making out of USA guitars, Gibson etc... It's a hard market to compete in.

The difference between Ovation and the four companies mentioned above is that all four of the higher-priced American made versions are still going strong, maybe stronger than ever. As I posted earlier, Ovation was losing ground on the higher end. As Tony also wrote, they never caught on with the 'grassers, though Tony Rice played one for awhile years ago, back when the company was going strong.

I don't know the exact relationship Kaman had with all the companies Alvin mentioned and I don't have the ambition to look them all up, but one of the most well-known on the list is Takamine, and they weren't owned by Kaman then or now by Fender, they are still a separate company, but they are distributed by Fender. Apparently a small percentage of ownership by Fender, by way of Kaman is involved.

And as alluded to by Alvin, it was a package deal. But if they didn't want the American-built Ovation line, perhaps someone else would? I don't believe it was their intent to kill off the brand - they hired Ren Ferguson away from Gibson acoustic guitars in Montana to be in in charge of Guild at the same facility in New Hartford as Ovation. I have to believe Fender was putting a serious effort into that factory. The guitars were being made in the same building, just as Jackson electric guitars are made at Fender now, they brought us to the Jackson area when I toured Fender Corona last year. I think they gave it the old college try in Connecticut but in the end, expensive American-built Ovations were no longer happening. They did find a buyer for Guild in Cordoba here in California because may players still revere the Guild name and some of the models and designs.

Jay Fagerlie · Post by **Jay Fagerlie** » 6 Sep 2014 6:47 am

Re: The Glen Campbell video.
I've been a fan of his since my Mom brought home his 12 string guitar album...in the 60's?, early 70's?
BUT!!!
Although his note selection in the video leaves nothing to be desired, the 'quack' of that guitar is pretty bad.
Glen, Jerry Reed, Chet Atkins, they all left the world of good tone and went to the dark side in my humble opinion.
The attack of the piezo system imparts a harsh quality to the sound that causes ear fatigue, just like listening to distortion, it messes with your ears (at least it messes with my ears)
It helps to not use a pick, but that 'quack' is always there.
I've played a lot of ovations over the years, they all played easy, the necks were comfortable, but plugging them in always soured me on them.
Again, IMHO

Joachim Kettner · Post by **Joachim Kettner** » 6 Sep 2014 7:55 am

This is the album that Jay mentioned:

Jay Fagerlie · Post by **Jay Fagerlie** » 6 Sep 2014 9:04 am

It was this one:

I would like to hear the one you posted- it looks like a good one also!

Wayne Carver · Post by **Wayne Carver** » 6 Sep 2014 7:24 pm

Andy Volk wrote:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSE1GrQVzCQ

That sounds like Willie Nelson playing with James Last.

I have a 12 string model Ovation that has a crack from the bridge to the binding. It's a common malady of older Ovations. It doesn't affect the sound. It might just be the finish. Some Martins have this same problem. I like the guitar OK and it sounds pretty good especially plugged in. It was given to me by an uncle.
I would agree with others that the Ovation was popular in the 70-80's kinda like "Earth Shoes" or "Norton Motorcycles."
There was a band we liked at Jacksonville Beach in the 90's that played a lot of country/folk/rock and one of the three band mates played an Ovation. They were really tight and sounded good.
I would also agree that after that era the name Ovation was lost as one of "the" guitars to buy.
I would not have gone out in the past 25 years and bought an Ovation. Perhaps a Taylor or Seagull with a flat finish.
I have heard that solid top guitars improve with age and laminate top guitars don't. I don't know if this is true.

Lane Gray · Post by **Lane Gray** » 7 Sep 2014 2:45 am

Re: the tone of the Ovations I have one memory from backstage at a festival in the later 70s.
Bill Harrell played ovation, and shared some pickin' with Doc Watson. Doc heard an old D18 when Bill played his salad bowl.

Tom Keller · Post by **Tom Keller** » 7 Sep 2014 7:23 am

As Mark Eaton previously pointed out Tony Rice did use an Ovation to record Manzanita. Pat Flynn used an ovation for quite a while when he joined the New Grass Revival. My point being both references would know what acceptable tone would be In Pat's case it could of had something to do with volume.

I don't think it had as much to do with tone as appearance. If you look at the instruments, in bluegrass today 99% of them are clones of the original instruments or original instruments.

my two cents...

Tom Keller

Barry Blackwood · Post by **Barry Blackwood** » 7 Sep 2014 7:30 am

Interesting that neither guitar on the album covers is an Ovation...

Joachim Kettner · Post by **Joachim Kettner** » 7 Sep 2014 7:57 am

Barry, I don't think Ovations were already made by then.
When were the first roundbacks for sale, maybe '67? Does somebody know?

Barry Blackwood · Post by **Barry Blackwood** » 7 Sep 2014 8:31 am

You are correct, Joachim. The first Ovation guitar was 1966. The astounding 12 string guitar of Glen Campbell was released in 1964. Mr. 12 string guitar was released in 1966. Campbell became an endorser in 1969.

Alvin Blaine · Post by **Alvin Blaine** » 7 Sep 2014 1:43 pm

Mark Eaton wrote:
Tony Prior wrote:I never could get used to the curved back...

Martin making out of USA guitars, Taylor making out of USA guitars, Fender making out of USA guitars, Gibson etc... It's a hard market to compete in.

The difference between Ovation and the four companies mentioned above is that all four of the higher-priced American made versions are still going strong, maybe stronger than ever. As I posted earlier, Ovation was losing ground on the higher end. As Tony also wrote, they never caught on with the 'grassers, though Tony Rice played one for awhile years ago, back when the company was going strong.

I don't know the exact relationship Kaman had with all the companies Alvin mentioned and I don't have the ambition to look them all up, but one of the most well-known on the list is Takamine, and they weren't owned by Kaman then or now by Fender, they are still a separate company, but they are distributed by Fender. Apparently a small percentage of ownership by Fender, by way of Kaman is involved.

And as alluded to by Alvin, it was a package deal. But if they didn't want the American-built Ovation line, perhaps someone else would? I don't believe it was their intent to kill off the brand - they hired Ren Ferguson away from Gibson acoustic guitars in Montana to be in in charge of Guild at the same facility in New Hartford as Ovation. I have to believe Fender was putting a serious effort into that factory. The guitars were being made in the same building, just as Jackson electric guitars are made at Fender now, they brought us to the Jackson area when I toured Fender Corona last year. I think they gave it the old college try in Connecticut but in the end, expensive American-built Ovations were no longer happening. They did find a buyer for Guild in Cordoba here in California because may players still revere the Guild name and some of the models and designs.

I think a few in the Fender- KMC buyout deal were distribution only contracts, like with Takamine, LP, Grestch Drums, and a few others.

Brett Day · Post by **Brett Day** » 8 Sep 2014 2:09 pm

My twin brother Brandon played an Ovation guitar for awhile. It was a beautiful blue color and sounded awesome! I think the one he had was an Ovation Celebrity

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 9 Sep 2014 4:48 am

You can see PDFs of an extensive collection of Ovation catalogs here:

http://www.ovationtribute.com/Catalogs% ... hures.html

I had no idea that at one point, Ovation made an Adamas-style mandocello.

Gary Spaeth · Post by **Gary Spaeth** » 10 Sep 2014 6:34 am

i remember guitar player did a positive review of them in the 70's when they were new. they said it didn't sound very good acoustically but when plugged in on stage it was close to a a martin d-18. when you think of what else was available for acoustic it was the best. you could put a deArmond pickup in the sound hole and it sounded like a bad telecaster, or mike it and put up with feedback. that was it!