Posted on 04/23/2014 1:02:02 PM PDT by Olog-hai
An Ovation guitar factory in the western Connecticut hills that produced instruments for music legends from Paul Simon to Cat Stevens to Glen Campbell will be closing in June after 47 years and production of the Ovation line in the United States will stop, the manufacturer’s parent company told the shop’s 46 workers this week.
One former factory worker called it “the end of an iconic American brand.”
Fender Musical Instruments Corp., based in Scottsdale, Ariz., and maker of the iconic Stratocaster electric guitar, said in an announcement Tuesday that it was ceasing domestic production of Ovation guitars and closing the New Hartford factory, citing “current market conditions and insufficient volume levels.” The company also said it is consolidating production of U.S.-made acoustic instruments. …
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Santa Cruz?
Both Hummingbirds and Southern Jumbos have mahogany backs and sides.
Both Hummingbirds and Southern Jumbos have mahogany backs and sides.
Hank Williams occasionally played a Southern Jumbo. The guitar that’s considered “Hank’s Guitar” is the Martin D-28. Neil Young owns and still plays Hank’s 1941 D-28. Hank also played a 1947 Martin D-18, and pre-war Martin D-45 that now belongs to Marty Stuart, having passed through the hands of Tut Taylor, Hank Jr., George Gruhn, and Johnny Cash (who traded a pair of Civil War pistols for it) before ending up as Marty’s, ostensibly as a wedding present when Marty married Cash’s daughter, Cindy.
“Santa Cruz?”
That was it. Incredible guitar.
Except at Mandolin Bros. of Staten Island, because MB is always an exception. I don't even remember Gruhn carrying them at the time.
It seems with acoustic guitars that you really do get what you pay for, more so than electrics. I have a Sigma acoustic (basically a licensed copy of a OO-style Martin) that cost around $180 new, which I never play because the action is terrible and no amount of fiddling with the saddle will fix it. And the main reason I haven’t replaced it yet is because I’ve yet to find another acoustic I like with a price under $3,000.
For the record, that figure is about twice what I paid for my PRS.
On lower end accoustics I’ve come to love the tone from a cedar-top more than a spruce top.
A friend of mine had a Larivee with a cedar top. Nice-looking, and nice-sounding, instrument.
And I’ve noticed that most steel-string acoustics I have checked out in shops over the last fifteen or so years play almost like electric guitars.
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