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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Love O Fair - 2018-04-16 7:32 AM
@Mr. Ovation - >>>It might just not be sustainable to have a facility in Connecticut.<<<
Interesting statistic. Perhaps hello Oxnard?
Not ALL USA-made locations are equal.
Made in New Hartford CT USA is not the same as Made in Oxnard CA.
(have you ever BEEN TO Oxnard?)
Big difference between
"made in a century-old building next to the Farmington River in the woods of New England" and
"made in an industrial park next to Goodwill Outlet and the Irrigation Slough near the Onion Fields of Oxnard."
Edited by Old Man Arthur 2018-04-16 3:20 PM
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Location: When?? | @Arthur - >>>Not ALL USA-made locations are equal. Big difference between.<<<
I don't get it. Same materials, craftsmanship and tools. Miles mentioned the constant expansion of people eager to spend $10k on guitars being made by many individual luthiers, obviously coming from a vast array of location types. Why would the scenery outside the shop make any difference at all in the quality of the product being produced inside? It doesn't seem that the quality of DW's USA-made drums is at all diminished by being produced at their Oxnard plant. They make great products there. Why not guitars, too? |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | I guess I might be considered unpatriotic, but I don't care so much where something is made as who made it. I appreciate the craftsmanship, skill and care that these guys demonstrated over the years. If the same craftsman made Ovations in Oxnard, I wouldn't care.
On the other hand, I also appreciate history and preservation of historic buildings. I never made it to a factory tour. I've never been to Connecticut. I don't know if there's anything to draw me there now. I doubt that going to the place where they used to make Ovations will do it. |
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Location: SoCal | Right now, until announcements are made, we are all just blowing smoke. We got no idea what's coming. But I will say, OMA, that I felt about Oxnard the way you do. Until I went there and explored. It's an up and coming city with an interesting mix of farm land, ocean front property, luxury hotels, and a growing business base. I would have no problem if Ovations were built there.
As for what I would like or think is going to happen, it would just be speculation. I got no crystal ball, so I'll just wait and see. And enjoy my Ovations..... |
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Location: CA | I actually DO have an O from the '70s. . . 1111-4 bought new in 1971 for around $200. Not because it looked cool, because it sounded better than everything else in the music store that was at or even double the price. Been halfway around the world, broken neck and various contusions, but still sounds pretty freakin good.
Sorry to hear about Ovation (nobody actually said "Ovation factory", but assuming this is what you are all talking about). Wish some Daddy Warbucks would step in and keep 'em going. |
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Location: Tennessee | Maybe DW is now able to answer the age-old question:
“How do you make a small fortune making guitars?”
“Start with a large fortune.” |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Love O Fair - 2018-04-16 2:19 PM
I don't get it. Same materials, craftsmanship and tools.
Not the same "craftsmanship" because it is not the same Craftsmen.
moody, p. i. - 2018-04-16 4:35 PM
But I will say, OMA, that I felt about Oxnard the way you do.
I have not been there since 1980's. And that was only to go over to Oxnard because you could catch a Freight Train out of there. I was in Ventura. Hop a Freight back up North to the Bay Area. Grab some water and beer and snacks. Hop a Grainer, and be in Oakland the next morning. 
Edited by Old Man Arthur 2018-04-16 7:46 PM
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Location: SoCal | OMA, I never had a good impression of Oxnard. It was a small farming community outside of Ventura. But I've been there looking around over the last 5 years and I'm impressed with the area. |
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Location: When?? | @Arthur - >>>...you could catch a Freight Train out of there<<<
You learn from hobos the art of catching trains. Locomotives slow at trestles or whistle stops to hook the mail. Diving into an open boxcar, you lay there until your breath comes back. Then standing in the doorway you're the king as crowns of hills and towns go by, and nighttime eats the summer up, and spits the stars across the sky.
--Rod McKuen
(just thought I'd toss that in there)
Edited by Love O Fair 2018-04-16 9:11 PM
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Location: Always beautiful canyon country of Utah | What is important is the fact that we all have Ovations that we love and cherish. And there will be enough great vintage Ovations at reasonable prices for the remainder of our rapidly shortening lifetimes! Play your Ovation and enjoy your life!! |
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Location: When?? | @nerdydave
+1! |
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Location: Phoenix AZ | I really thought the Bluebird reissues would have turned things around ... |
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Location: Jet City | Old Man Arthur - 2018-04-16 1:01 PM have you ever BEEN TO Oxnard?( Born there. And I don't think the location matters as much as the people that have decades of experience building them. |
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Location: NJ | well we know where the experience is |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | I'd be surprised if costs in California are much lower than Connecticut, but maybe. Californians keep moving here because it's too expensive to live in California (and they've already filled up the other places on the coast). Wages are much lower. Maybe Ovation should move here. Lots of good spruce |
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Location: Frozen Tundra of Minnesota | Damon67 - 2018-04-17 12:44 PM
Born there. And I don't think the location matters as much as the people that have decades of experience building them.
Precisely. It matters to me who creates my Artistic Pieces. Model Horses, Jewelry, my Guitars. It makes the piece more personal to me. I accept that this doesn't mean squat to DW, but it means something to me. And I don't like how they handled this, standard business practice or not. |
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Location: Lake Forest, CA | Having worked in the computer industry for most of my adult life, lay-offs are a part of that industry's landscape and I've been laid-off several times.
In cases like this the decision is entirely financial, not personal. There's not much enjoyment to be had in laying people off from a position.
I don't blame the management. They had to make the tough decision borne of today's guitar market.
I am thoroughly grateful for DW's attempt to bring back the Ovation brand.
They may yet succeed, but only if they're able to find a spot in today's market. |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | When I was younger I thought that seniority was worth something. If not respect, at least financial security. When I got old, I realized that "old" was the only thing that I got from seniority. Management may not put any number on experience, except possibly a negative number. |
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Location: When?? | @Mark - >>>When I was younger I thought that seniority was worth something.<<<
I've been a self-employed corporate supply vendor my entire career.. since age 19.. and I remember realizing around my mid thirties how nice it was to be doing business with people my same age when it came to client management and negotiation. Then, as Mark said, I thought it would continue on with respect and security. Nope. The machine just doesn't run that way. Attrition is inevitable in most every field. However, today I am semi-retired and own a seasonal candy company.. and fortunately for me those consumers would much rather enjoy something yummy that's made by an old man with a fired copper cauldron than by a millennial with a digital gizmo cooker. I sorely wish it to be that way for the guys at the mothership as well. Point there being, and again going back again to what Miles said in his post about boutique luthiers, perhaps those who lost their work in New Hartford can band together and explore that market. It is obviously alive and moving forward.. and it would be a shame to know that their talent and expertise go future vacant.
Edited by Love O Fair 2018-04-17 8:51 PM
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Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | FWIW, no one has said anything about there not being Made In USA Ovations ever again, and no one mentioned anything about closing the CT facility. There are still people there. I think DW made a good investment in an attempt to save Ovation, and I think they are still succeeding. Remember, just a few years ago FMIC ran the brand into the ground, closed the doors and sent everyone home. DW came in and proved there still is a market for Ovation guitars albeit maybe not the market they hoped for, and not the market we would like, but a market just the same.
The first 5 years are the hardest for any company, and it takes on average 3 years to work out all the kinks. Oh look, we're looking at the three-year mark now!!! So it's time to make some changes to make a go of it or get out. I hope they make a go of it, we'll just have to see.
As far as where the guitars are made... I think there is still some mojo in a made in the USA guitar. However, I don't see any large production coming out of a factory located in arguably the worst place in the country to have a manufacturing facility. Let's face it, the labor costs are far above what people are willing to pay for a guitar, especially in Connecticut not to mention the additional/redundant costs of managing that facility from the other coast.
Time will tell... my fingers are crossed.
P.S. Before hitting submit and checked a bunch of sources of best/worst states to have a business... while the opinions vary... Connecticut falls somewhere after 40th worst state to have a business.
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Location: Lake Forest, CA | It would not surprise me in the least if I found that California is ranked lower than Connecticut in the list of best/worst states to have a business. |
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Location: 6 String Ranch | California isn't any better than Connecticut for producing. Connecticut has got that Democratic governor that is driving the state
Into the ground. California has the environmentalists that are strangling industry their own way. |
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Location: When?? | I am curious to know unit production and revenue stats for Ovation's Asian-made guitars in ratio to the same stats per those made in the USA. |
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Location: SoCal | I think they should move to Texas, maybe Austin. Good environment, low taxes, and a gas station guy who can come by and kibitz...... |
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Location: Fort Worth, TX | moody, p.i. - 2018-04-18 1:01 PM
I think they should move to Texas, maybe Austin. Good environment, low taxes, and a gas station guy who can come by and kibitz......
Austin has some excellent acoustic guitar companies. Ovation would be a welcome addition for a fact. |
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A new chapter???
