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Location: 6 String Ranch | I don't think the darkest times are now. Following your line of thought then the darkest times would have been from 99-03. |
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Location: NJ | any day they make an Adamas with a textured top is a good one. |
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Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | I have to say it again, the flame / tribal top guitars are popular. I don't care how they get ovations in everyone's mitts. Once they see how good they are, they'll try others.
The people in charge now are doing the right things. Both at the product lines and distribution levels. (three things I'd add. on the ovation side, an A papoose type instrument, and on the Hamer side, a small body travel guitar and a short scale mustang type guitar) The alternative is that we wind up in an ovation ghetto.
PS I've played at least a dozen adamas from '03 and found them to be stunning. |
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Location: Phoenix AZ | Originally posted by alpep:
any day they make an Adamas with a textured top is a good one. He doesn't say much, but he obviously knows what he's talking about ... |
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Posts: 9301
Location: south east Michigan | Yes...we have Nikki Six and flame tops. But we also have the re-issue Adamas as well as all the other retro designs we played with on the tour. I think Ovation currently has things pretty well covered at both ends of the market.
(I think the flame tops are cool...not for me...but cool) |
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Posts: 766
Location: New Hampsha | I agree - Things peaked in 1968-73 with the Huricanes, Tornados, T'Heads, and Typhoons and the dark period started when these lines were discontinued. Waiting for the semi-hollow body resurrection.....
And waiting.
:p |
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Location: south east Michigan | Waiting for the semi-hollow body resurrection.....
Your wait is over. The headstock looks different and says "Hamer", but it's all you could want from a semi-hollow body. |
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February 2004
Posts: 1634
Location: Warren,Pa. | I agree with what Roger said...too many serious guitar players hate Ovation because of what it represented for so long...trendy, durable, great plugged in. If I'm looking at serious guitars I'm not looking for those things. I visited a couple of better music stores on vacation last week (one of which sold higher end Taylors, Martins and Ovations). I was wearing my Ovation Tshirt w/ the "plug it in" motto. I could tell by the look on their faces that none of the people who worked in those stores could understand WHY I would be interested in Ovations. We know the great things that are going on, but most people seem to have a bad memory stuck in their heads. |
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Location: SoCal | Tragocaster thinks that the dark times may be today, but I disagree. Acoustically, Ovation is building some of it's best guitars. The LX's and the contour bowls LX's sound wonderful acoustically, on par with some of their best instruments. |
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Posts: 1922
Location: Canton (Detroit), MI | I agree, Ovation is building some of the finest instruments they have ever made. It's sad to see them ignored. I've tried a couple of times with lookers at our local GC to have them get the 2005 Collectors (hung up in the rafters so no one can get it) down to try it and they WON'T...it's an OVATION. Won't even consider it.
Roger |
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Location: Flushing, MI | I didn't mean to sound like I was saying that this is their worst period for building instruments. Obviously they still make the same high quality instrument that they've always made. I just meant that it was the company's darkest hour due to public perception of it's product which, face it, has never been lower. And Ovation don't help matters by promoting their electric super shallow bowl guitars, and neglecting to promote their more toneful models. |
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Location: 6 String Ranch | Some good points made Trago. Part of the low public opinion is that there is so much else for them to have higher opinions about and those companies are spending the bucks to get those opinions.
As usual I was much more focused on the product. |
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Location: NJ | The stuff that's coming out now is some of the best built/sounding, innovative-designed product that they've done in quite a few years (ThankYouDarren!). I would also venture to say that a LOT of the shift towards the "better-sounding ACOUSTIC guitar" and the interest in the older, "legacy" models came from information that they've been able to glean from the FREE, on-going demographic studies that're available from Forums like this one (and others) - both Positive and Negative . . .
There IS though a LOT of negative "hype" that's garnered by the AcousticGuitar cogniscente out there over the years that Ovation'll have to overcome . . . but they're getting there.
I personally feel that they need to "distance" themselves somewhat from the Import line by demanding that prime purveyors (GuitarCenter) take the TopOfTheLine products DOWN from the rafters and put 'em in the "A" room with their counterparts so that they can be FAIRLY compared side-by-side. There's no reason to "bulk-display" ALL of the models on one wall in the main room - they don't to it for Martin . . .
Granted, Martin has a lot more expensive models that require a more secure, controlled area. WHY then is the method of "securing" the more expensive Ovations done by simply placing them "out of reach"?
Put 'em in the "A" room, where they're SECURE yet ACCESSIBLE!!
KMC provides more than the Lion's Share of product to these guys. Perhaps they need "flex a bit o'muscle" . . .
Not "favoritism" . . . just "fairness" . . .
ahhhhhhhhhhh(click!) |
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Posts: 15678
Location: SoCal | Boy, Cliff hit the nail with his head regarding the need to get the high end O's off the rafter hooks and down with the other high end guitars.... If people from the corporate office are reading the board this morning and can only take one point, that's gotta be the one. |
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Location: NJ | . . . and my resume' is Available Upon Request. |
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Location: Flushing, MI | Cliff - Amen and Amen!
I've been playing since the mid-60's, but I've played VERY few Ovations over the years. And the only ones that I've EVER been able to try out in stores have been the foreign made, super shallow jobs. Fortunately the Celebrity that I own has the OP24+ electronics, which help out a lot. I honestly can't tell that it's construction or materials are in any way inferior to the US made models. For what I paid for it, it was a great deal.
But honestly, prior to joining this board I'd never really had the chance to give a good Ovation a fair shake. All I knew was the opinions that I've read from others, which I've never really taken to heart. The few older Ovations that I'd played over the years I thought were either OK, or less than OK. Not bad, but not mind-blowing.
Then I got this Legend. WOW! This is truly up there with the finest acoustics that I've ever played, and I've played old pre-war Martins old Gibsons etc. etc.
Now that I recall, I had a student years ago that had a very beat up Ovation. I couldn't tell you if it was a Legend, Balladeer, or what, but I do recall being mightily impressed with it's tone, and thinking to myself "Hey those aren't supposed to sound THAT good".
So yeah, they need to get these better sounding models in the showrooms where people can play and hear them. I'm sure they're reputation would become much improved.
I'm currently DYIN' to try out an Adamas. I've never even seen one in the flesh before. |
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Location: south east Michigan | I know...it's really frustrating but we just keep ending up talking about it.
But just for a minute, imagine if you will, a "high end" room in a GC with a U681T, an AD-II, and a 2005C hanging on the wall.
GC could put an excessive mark up on them and still sell them for less than a high end Taylor. |
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Location: 6 String Ranch | maybe someday...... |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | Al,
Are the high end A's & O's hanging your "A" room... next to the Taylors??? |
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Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | I've been fortunate enough to have been allowed INTO Al's "A" room . . .
I'd venture t'say that the only Taylor you'd probably find MIGHT be the half-eaten TaylorHam sandwich from Al's lunch . . . . |
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Location: south east Michigan | You know Bill, when I go into a GC or my local music store of choice I try to be an Ovation advocate. When salespeople or managers strike up a converstion I'll try to pass on information that they might not have. However, I am very careful not to come across like just another obsessive "fan-boy". I just can't pretend to have the credibility that a sales rep or Kaman employee would have.
I'm sure that others here do the same thing.
We'll just keep plugging (pun intended) away! |
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Posts: 1922
Location: Canton (Detroit), MI | I bought my 2005 Collectors because, for some reason unknown but to God, they put it in the high-end room at our local GC. The second one they got didn't get that royal treatment. As soon as it arrived, up in the rafters it went.
Roger |
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Location: SoCal | Hello, Ovation marketing??? Anybody home??? (Sorry Rick, but this is very important). |
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March 2005
Posts: 12759
Location: Boise, Idaho | I have an opinion about the problem, but not about the solution. I started with Ovations in the early 70's because people like Jim Croce, Cat Stevens and David Gates used them and I liked their music. It was a huge sacrifice for my bride to be and me to sell my electric and acoustic guitar and scrape enough together to by my Matrix so I could play it at our wedding. $250 was a lot of money for us. It was more important to us than an engagement ring.
At that time Ovation was new technology and on the cutting edge or modern or whatever we called it and that was important.
Now, modern means nothing and new technology changes every week. My daughter is high tech, but doesn't like Ovations because she wants a "real guitar" that has a wood back. The 20 something sales manager at GC doesn't like Ovations because they slide off his leg, but he spends most of his time with the electric stuff. The generation that is in its 20's these days listens to digital music through ear plugs and wants an acoustic guitar, if at all, like some guy plays once in some grunge rock band.
Marketing acoustic guitars to this generation must be tough. Taylor got in the door somehow and the kids aren't impressed with the "new" technology, which they now think is old. They just think all wood guitars are better and can't or won't listen to the difference in the sound. |
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Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | Does your daughter ever compare the sound of your guitars to the wooden back ones? Maybe listen while you play them both. |
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Ovation "golden years" or "rust years"?
