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
 
 

Judging by the quantity of so-called young prodigy guitar players I see on the internet, there are still lots of kids playing the guitar - and lots more girls than in my days.
 
I guess it's just that there's a major outlet for talentless people these days, and as is often the case with imbeciles, they get lots of attention.
 
As a guy who wishes to start a family, I'm quite happy to see that my kid will have access to pretty decent starter instruments at a very reasonable price. 
 
When I look back at all the years I've passed trying to play that poor excuse for a guitar that was my first instrument, without an amp for the biggest part, a lot of the time with a broken string or two that I couldn't replace for weeks, I tend to believe that it had a negative impact on my playing.

I don't have Maids only "Made in China"!
(well, a little humor I suppose maybe, maybe not.)
 

Rain

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

 
 
Kenny
 

Some very tasteful playing Kenny, as always. 
 
I've never played one, nor intended to buy one - admitting I could have afforded to. But it's always sad to see brands vanish like that.
 
The only steel string guitars I remember half-fondly were a little Norman (Canadian brand if I'm not mistaken) I owned for a while and a Takamine. Nothing to write home about, though the Norman was, for my taste, one of the easiest acoustics I've had the opportunity to play.
 
Incidentally, now that I have my little tube amp and my precious SG, besides possibly a cab w/ a 12", a budget electric-acoustic is next on my list. Fender and Ibanez are the two brands which had affordable guitars which I would be curious to try.
 
If I could, I'd get a nylon/classical first, but a regular acoustic is more of a priority.

Hi Rain , thanks for listening to my tune and Ovation 
the guitar I'm playing belonged to a friend that I have know for about  20 years , he knew he was gonna loose money by selling it , so he wanted to make sure that the next person who owned it was a friend …
I wound up trading him even up an electric and an acoustic for it ...
 
I met Charles Kamen when I was working at a music store on West 48 th street NYC ...
He was a very nice guy to talk with , he told me all about the helicopters and rotor blades …..
 
back in them days it was a common thing for the presidents and founders of musical equipment companies 
to go to the music stores and talk to the sales help ….I miss that part of the gig ..I met everybody 
 
When Ovation guitars came out , it was a pretty interesting time in the guitar world 
all the guitar companies were coming out with pretty radical guitars and nobody was even trying to play it safe 
where I was working you would see stuff like Travis Beans w aluminum necks , Chapmansticks, Ned Steinberger was just getting off the ground , Ibanez was coming out with some of the best guitars they ever made GB 10 , Paul Stanley and some really fantastic Ibanez Artists and 335 style gtrs , Gibson was coming up with all kinds of offshoots of Les Pauls and various hybrids , Marauder ,  Sonex , Roland was just coming out with Guitar synths , then you had custom builders , w basses  Alembic was hitting the scene pretty hard and paved the way for Ken Smith , ……... 5 string basses were hitting the stores ...
Yeah I know i can go on and on ,,,i won't   ……...there was just as many choices back then as there are now 
 
regarding you desire to pick up an acoustic to augment your songwriting / recordings 
I wish you the best of luck 
in your travels , if you happen to run across a used Art & Lutherie acoustic …give it a strum ….
they are priced super reasonable , they play and sound fantastic ..
they sure don't look like much ..
I have one so i can get away with saying this ..they are fugly  yet they sound great and are well made 
 
all the best , 
 
Kenny
 

Mesh
Enjoyed listening to your playing Kenny......I also listened to about 10 of your songs on Soundclick.......Bravo!!

 Hi Mesh , thank you for the kind words  it means a lot to me 
 
also a big thank you goes out to auto_da_fe   
 
thanks guys 
 
Kenny
 
 

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.

Fender is currently owned by outside equity which acquired it from Weston Presidio in late 2012 (though Weston's Michael P. Lazarus is still on the Fender board) and recently released the following:
 

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (April 8, 2014) – Fender Musical Instruments Corporation (FMIC) announced today the upcoming retirement of CEO Larry Thomas, effective May 31, 2014. Thomas was appointed to the FMIC Board of Directors in 2009 and later appointed CEO on Aug. 1, 2010. Current interim COO Scott Gilbertson will assume the role of interim CEO until the company completes its search for a successor.

Gilbertson is a partner at TPG Growth and currently serves on the board of Fender Musical Instruments and has also served as interim COO since Oct. 2013. Previously, he held a variety of executive positions at leading companies including J.Crew, Under Armour and Bally International.

“I am extremely proud of the success we have achieved in my time at Fender,” said Thomas. “We did a lot in just a few years and I leave feeling like our table is set for the company’s future direction. This has truly been a wonderful life-experience. FMIC is a wonderful company and Fender is a great brand, and I am very thankful to have played a part in the company’s history.”

“On behalf of everyone at Fender, we are grateful and appreciative of Larry’s important contributions to the success of Fender and the company’s ongoing legacy,“ said Mark Fukunaga, FMIC’s Co-Chairman of the Board. “He has been a tireless champion who has shared his own passion and experience to bring out the best in everyone within the company.”

 
The 2 companies currently in control are TPG Growth (http://www.tpggrowth.com/ http://www.tpggrowth.com/news/2014/20140201-state-of-fender.php) mentioned above and Servco Pacific (http://www.servco.com/) whose primary business is selling cars (!). The above quoted Mark H. Fukunaga is CEO of Servco.
 
You can learn a lot by viewing the key players and their backgrounds here:
http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/people.asp?privcapId=1468570
 
It will be interesting to see who they appoint as the new CEO.

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.  
 
 

Vocalist in one of my bands played one. It had a great stage sound.
I didn't like playing it but the guitar was sure better than the reasons it
won't be made in the US anymore.
I think we'll be seeing many more of the same stories.
Lot of very strange things going on in the guitar market(s) and although
I'm glad none of it effects me I do hate to see folks losing their jobs.