A Sad Day -- Fender closes New Hartford

[mc2NY]

True. Whatever happens, it is just a big negative hanging over the U.S. MI industry, in an already bad economy. Coupled with a down record industry. Not a pretty scene.

This just in from a Hamer/Ovation dealer in the know:

Today I found out that the Adamas Ovation Hamer Guild factory in New Hartford CT will be closed by Fender. Adamas/ Ovation USA will no longer be a brand.  Hamer has been closed for 2 years now but is formally put to rest. Guild and the Fender custom shop are said to be moving to another facility.  Guild went from Westerly to Corona to Tacoma to New Hartford and I doubt they will move it back to Corona it didn’t work the first time. My opinion is that Guild USA will die when the current inventory is sold off

[Dave W]

He could be right, but they haven't come right out and said that Guild USA is history like they have done with Ovation. Even if it's true, the entire Guild company would have been history in 1995 if Fender hadn't bought them.

[rahock]

He could be right, but they haven't come right out and said that Guild USA is history like they have done with Ovation. Even if it's true, the entire Guild company would have been history in 1995 if Fender hadn't bought them.

It's true that Fender has saved a lot of brand names that were destined for extinction, but we tend to forget that part of the story. The fact is that business is business and only the strong survive. If Fender didn't take advantage of these opportunities, some up and comer would and Fender would lose strength and become one of the gobbled themselves. Better to be the gobbler than the gobbled. That being said , it still hurts to see companies like Tacoma and Genz Benz, who built products that were really superior , get bought just to be eliminated .
Again, business is business and every big successful company has done the same thing. Survival isn't always pretty.
Rick

[Dave W]

It's true that Fender has saved a lot of brand names that were destined for extinction, but we tend to forget that part of the story. The fact is that business is business and only the strong survive. If Fender didn't take advantage of these opportunities, some up and comer would and Fender would lose strength and become one of the gobbled themselves. Better to be the gobbler than the gobbled. That being said , it still hurts to see companies like Tacoma and Genz Benz, who built products that were really superior , get bought just to be eliminated .
Again, business is business and every big successful company has done the same thing. Survival isn't always pretty.
Rick

I can hear Algonquin J. Calhoun from Amos & Andy: "I'll be the gobble-or, you'll be the gobble-ee." 

The Genz Benz shutdown is a mystery for now, although it could just be that sales weren't good enough.

Tacoma is a different story. I know more than I can say publicly, but the company was already dead when Fender bought it. I also read at the time where people lamented another American company shutting its doors, which is ironic considering that Tacoma was founded as part of Young Chang Piano's North American lumber division.

[rahock]

Hmmm Kingfish, I can't comment on the finacialization of either company till I has all the information to properly coagulate
 I don't know anything about eithers financial status, but from a consumer point of view, both had products that were outstanding and it would be nice to see some of their innovations live on. I guess time will tell if they will or not. To jump right in and incorporate Genz Benz or Tacoma ideas in to the Fender product line could hurt the sales of their existing products initially. But, given a little time, they could ease some of this stuff back in to production. One can hope , right?
Rick

[nofi]

since tacoma is gone you can't walk into a music store and buy a better abg for the money, or even a more expensive one! from cruising you tube everyone seems to be buying those toy ibanez and fender things. sad story, indeed.

for me and rick at least.

[Dave W]

Hmmm Kingfish, I can't comment on the finacialization of either company till I has all the information to properly coagulate
 I don't know anything about eithers financial status, but from a consumer point of view, both had products that were outstanding and it would be nice to see some of their innovations live on. I guess time will tell if they will or not. To jump right in and incorporate Genz Benz or Tacoma ideas in to the Fender product line could hurt the sales of their existing products initially. But, given a little time, they could ease some of this stuff back in to production. One can hope , right?
Rick

since tacoma is gone you can't walk into a music store and buy a better abg for the money, or even a more expensive one! from cruising you tube everyone seems to be buying those toy ibanez and fender things. sad story, indeed.

for me and rick at least.

I'll send you both a PM about Tacoma, but as I said earlier, Fender only bought them for the factory capacity and skilled workmen. They were never interested in the brand.

No idea about the Genz Benz situation, but it was part of the Kaman purchase, it's not as if they bought it separately with the idea of killing off competition. I suspect if sales were good enough they would have kept the brand alive. When you're trying to reduce your corporate debt, just about anything but your flagship brand is fair game.

[rahock]

Thanks Dave
Both Tom and I have the cheapo Olympia Tacoma (Korean plywood model). The design and internal construction is the same as the expensive  real wood Tacoma. Even the cheapo is head and shoulders beyond anything at two and three times the cost. I have the Olympia and the holy grail Earthwood. If it weren't for those two, I probably wouldn't own an ABG. Tacoma really had something there.
Rick

[Chris P.]

And Fender just sold Guild.

http://www.vintageguitar.com/17565/fender-sells-guild-to-u-s-builder-cordoba-music/

[4stringer77]

Better buy up those pre Cordoba, FMIC Guilds now before they start demanding collector level prices 

[Dave W]

Interesting. Cordoba has a pretty good rep for nylon string guitars from beginner level imports to their small US shop for the upper end ones. They do have a fairly new steel string line so buying Guild's assets may tun out to be a good fit.

Considering that Cordoba is strictly an acoustic builder and importer, I wonder if they will continue the semihollow archtops and solidbodies. We'll know soon enough.

[Psycho Bass Guy]

One of the last annual reports from GC before Bain took them private showed that guitar sales were only 14% of their sales volume. If they do eventually crash, it may affect the pro audio manufacturers a lot more than guitar manufacturers.

I can tell you from my time as a manager there that pro audio pays their bills, which is ludicrous considering its margins, and why most of what they carry now is junk. Larry Thomas is the guy who ran GC while I was there. He's now the guy running FMIC. He also is the one who handpicked my particular store manager: wonderful criminal person he was.  I don't want to see FMIC implode, but they're heading that way in a hurry. You can't leveraged debt acquisition based on continual growth without having more customers and this economy is NOT a growth-builder.

BTW, re GB- Fender just came out with a whole new line of switching bass amps. That's all that's left of GB and SWR for that matter. SWR was killed directly by Guitar Center- who refused to pay for delivered product until newer runs were discounted. SWR (and Mackie and Ampeg before being owned by Loud) all ended up having to ship B and C-stock to feed GC's massive orders, which killed their reps for quality and put them in even more manufacturing debt, ultimately leading to their demise/buyouts and it all was the work of the man running FMIC now.

I think Cordoba may save Guild if they can find a decent marketing outlet.

[Dave W]

I can tell you from my time as a manager there that pro audio pays their bills, which is ludicrous considering its margins, and why most of what they carry now is junk. Larry Thomas is the guy who ran GC while I was there. He's now the guy running FMIC. He also is the one who handpicked my particular store manager: wonderful criminal person he was.  I don't want to see FMIC implode, but they're heading that way in a hurry. You can't leveraged debt acquisition based on continual growth without having more customers and this economy is NOT a growth-builder.

BTW, re GB- Fender just came out with a whole new line of switching bass amps. That's all that's left of GB and SWR for that matter. SWR was killed directly by Guitar Center- who refused to pay for delivered product until newer runs were discounted. SWR (and Mackie and Ampeg before being owned by Loud) all ended up having to ship B and C-stock to feed GC's massive orders, which killed their reps for quality and put them in even more manufacturing debt, ultimately leading to their demise/buyouts and it all was the work of the man running FMIC now.

I think Cordoba may save Guild if they can find a decent marketing outlet.

All the major online retailers already carry Cordoba. I can't see why they wouldn't keep carrying Guild under new ownership.

I checked, Cordoba just introduced their only steel string line late last year. This will probably get them in big time.

FYI, Larry Thomas is out at FMIC. One of the board members is acting as temporary CEO and they just hired Bob Roback as president. Maybe things will improve.

[Pilgrim]

I have to think this is a plus for Guild, and I'll keep my fingers crossed for Fender.

[4stringer77]

I look at Fender basses the way a Hell's Angel looks at Harley Davidson motorcycles. Why buy a new one? Let the yuppies do that, there's plenty of old ones to go around.