Ovation Guitars...

http://www.usatoday.com/s...plant-closing/8073439/

They always slid right off my leg whenever I played one. They always seemed to play well enough but I never use a strap on an acoustic and the rounded back just did not work for me. Another acoustic guitar I always hated was the Gibson Hummingbird. I never played one I liked, the way it played. They sounded OK from what I remember but were hard for me to play. For that matter I once got to play George Jones' stage guitars in a session, recording some songs I wrote. I wound up playing my Takamine, his Martins played well but the tone was too dark for my taste. It is likely that I had bad taste at the time and was just used to something brighter. I now wish I had used one of the Martins if only for the sake of having the recording... oh well.
 
RIP Ovation.
 
J

Agree with Bats, I always wanted to like them, but just didn't like the sound.
 

batsbrew
 
glen campbell, played his so well, and sounded so good on it, i always figured i was missing something.
 

Likewise Gordon Giltrap.

This.
 

jbow
They always slid right off my leg whenever I played one.

Also, this makes me feel really old. I remember when Ovation was born.. and now I have seen them die. I should buy a used one as a gesture to futility.
 
I am glad someone here warned me off the 70s Yamaha FG acoustic guitars. They were really good in their day. The best one I ever had was an FG 300 "red label". It was between 1970 and 1976.. those years all run together into one long year. I didn't have it too long before I had to pawn it... I think I had a 160 too for a short while, but the 300s were GREAT guitars. I don't remember what the problem is with them but I remember someone telling me to beware. I'll have to search to remember. Virtual memory... (search function and Google) lol. I think it is something to do with the neck.
 
I'd really like a 000 body Martin, Taylor, or something comparable... that style just seems to fit me. I have a Takamine dreadnaught but I almost always play a Taylor "Big Baby". Not the best guitar but it is comfy to play.
 
@ Criag... I would really LOVE a JT Variax. I wonder (maybe you know) is the USA model worth the price over the Asian model? I assume that the electronics are the same. I think a JTV would be inspiring, particularly when stuck playing the same old thing every time I pick up a guitar.
 
I was watching videos this AM of Jimi playing acoustic. There are a couple of him with a 12 string and one with a small 6 string acoustic doing a cover or Hound Dog... it is good. Then I decided to look to see and there is a video of SRV playing acoustic blues... he is much more precise, Jimi is way more fluid and relaxed. They are on YT and easy to find... as long as we are talking about acoustics.
 
J
 
 

here's my Ovation , played totally acoustically , recorded with a little zoom 
 
 

 
 
Kenny
 

My brother gave me a nice washburn Acoustic/Electric. The overall sound is thin and while I was living in Canada, I searched for a really nice acoustic to record with.  I tried all the high end stuff like Martins and Taylors etc .. but was unimpressed with most of them. I finally started looking at the lower end stuff made in Canada and fell in love the Norman. What a great guitar at a great price and a great sound. The washburn is great for composition, but the Norman is for recording.

I had one in the 80's.  Did not like the dry, harsh Canadian winters and the top cracked, really badly.  I used a humidifier in the case, probably not as diligent as I should have been.
 
Still sad to see them go under.
 
My Martin did not mind Canadian winters, but really loves Florida winters.
 
Awesome guitar playing Kenny

It just takes another Jimi Hendrix, Beatles, or Clapton to come along and it will swing again in favor of the guitar. The Beatles were passed up by all of the big producers in their day, being told that guitar playing boy bands were on the way out.

It would also help greatly for the economy to turn around. I would imagine that amp manufacturers are in the same boat, no one has any expendable cash. I wish I did, the used market looks incredible right now.

slartabartfast
My reading of the article referenced by the OP is not that Ovation has stopped manufacturing guitars, just that they will no longer pay US residents to do the work. As such this is just another in the long list of factories that have gone to China. The reason given for the move is that demand is down, but apparently the choice of which factory to close in order to accommodate the decreased demand was based on the usual considerations. By now we have become so used to having instruments made in foreign factories, that the cachet of a made-in-America-by-American-craftsmen = quality, is no longer worth the cost of actually paying American craftsmen. Anyone want to guess if CF Martin or Gibson is going to be the next to go?
 
Incidentally the demand for guitars in the US is apparently on a downward trend. I suspect that this is because the guitar is no longer considered an essential accessory for the adolescent American male. The DJ may be replacing the troubadour as the musical hero of the young.

Yep... from the article: "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".
 
IMO, they will be just as good maybe cheaper. I've watched Chinese guitars over the last decade or so go from a POS to some decent and more than decent guitars. They learn from the customer. For instance Rondo guitars, Rondomusic dot com. They have at least three lines of instruments. The SX seems to be the lowest end guitars. I have two SX guitars and even though they are lower end, they are not bad. I have an SX Telefaker and an SX GG, a solid mahogany LP style guitar with two P-90s. The pickups are not potted and tend to squeal at high gain but it plays well and sounds good. (I have paraffin and beeswax to mix, melt, and pot the pups, but have had second thoughts). The GGs were going for 99 bucks when I bought them (I also bought one for a friend who was like Herb's friend, he never learned, he died and was younger than me)... but that is another story.
They have a mid line, I bought one of them for my older daughter, it is a pink SG style guitar, it is a Douglas.
You may have heard of their top end guitars, they are Agile. As far as I know they are exclusive to Rondo and back to my original point, I have watched them improve the pots, nuts, pickups, etc over the years. Now some of them are really nice. They sometimes have a plaintop LP copy that REALLY looks great. I am always tempted, though the LP is not my favorite guitar.
 
http://www.rondomusic.com/electricguitar.html http://www.rondomusic.com/alspec.html
 

 

People seem to really like the Harm 1 and Harm 2 guitars too. They really have improved over the years. So, while to the American workers caught in the change may have to go to work somewhere else and I imagine that if they try they can get work as luthiers or with other manufacturers. The slave labor in China may be ambivalent but we, the uncaring pigs.. will probably profit. I will not be surprised if the cost goes down and the quality goes up. Of course an American made Ovation or Fender acoustic will gain a mystique that will increase it's price. It will be interesting to watch over the next decade. Oh, I forgot the Armageddon in 2022 (according to the Masons and the redictions built into the Washington monument ... so, for maybe 8 years. We are over due for a big dose of reality. Again, another story.
 
Anyway, I've never heard anything bad about an Agile guitar. So I expect Ovation and Fender guitars are going to be nice... as long as they choose the right manufacturer. Remember the Japanese Strats? They were good guitars.
 
Only problem, from a friend who lived in China a few years ago. They have built new cities to house manufacturing workers. Built BIG cities where there was nothing. They had to install nets around a many of the high rise housing units to catch all the people trying to jump to their death... all in order to make cheap things to sell to us. Not good. Good guitars though.
 
J
 
 

I was chatting with local music store owners about Ovation...they seemed to have industry scoop.  Rumor is that Fender is struggling and a Canadian investment firm was looking to buy?  They tell me Fender is going to 'direct sales' on its web site soon or already is there.  Fender owns like 45% of Guitar Center and GC's are closing all over...who knows.

Hey jbow, 
I read your thread about Yamaha FG's.  
I still own a  Yamaha FG-75 from the early '70's.  It was actually our go to acoustic for Sue Saad & The Next.  It records really well.  It looks like it have been through a war and I could never part with it.