JohnnyB

FMIC filed for an IPO in March 2012, but they haven't gone forward with it. That means for over two years they've known they need an infusion of cash. In the meantime they've moved some things around, gave up on Hamer USA Jan. 2013, and closed down the New Hartford operation yesterday, meaning the end of Ovation USA and probably Guild. This may all be in the interest of improving the balance sheet to go through with an IPO.

If that's so, then Fender is risking their own name brand acoustics in the same move. It costs a certain amount of money (probably pretty huge by our perspectives) just to keep the New Hartford facility open. The combined revenue of USA Guild, Fender, and Ovation acoustics need to generate enough revenue to justify keeping the facility open. Obviously the combined sales of those brand names can't do that. And let's not forget that the loss of USA Ovation is as iconic as any of the brands mentioned here. Ovation had the same market impact in the '60s/'70s that Taylor has had in the last two decades.

Here's another big thank you to you guys who made these finely crafted instruments that pushed all the right buttons--beauty, attention to detail, playability, dynamics, and sound quality. One thing I'm curious about--FMIC officially shut down the Hamer operation Jan. 2013. We consoled ourselves that at least you were still making fine guitars for Guild and Ovation. The shuttering of the New Hartford facility is the end of your relationship there and dashes any hope of bringing Hamer back. What does it mean for Ovation and Guild? Are they next?

Yeah, Monaco Elite. It's pretty well known that a single-cut guitar such as an LP has a more rigid neck than a DC that joins the body around the 22nd fret such as the Hamer DCs and the Gibson SG. In fact, even though electric bass has a long-ass neck and most have double cutaways, there's a movement especially among the boutique brands that brace the neck on the thumb side to an extreme. As an example, the Elrick Evolution 4 Single Cutaway. I'd love to see how this thing would play.

Like night follows day, narcissists inevitably reveal themselves. I think that was semi-sarcastic. Doesn't matter. Read the threads on the other forums. There's a pattern consistent with what we've seen here--an unusual request with an arcane and illogical set of requirements, followed by opacity, condescension, unreasonable expectations from a fan forum followed by browbeating and insults, followed by avoidance by forum members and a permanent ban.

Like night follows day, narcissists inevitably reveal themselves.

Here are a couple of gmaslin threads that might be worth your time. At DIYAudio gmaslin started two threads including all 18 of her total posts before gmaslin was banned. See if you can spot some patterns there in common with this thread. Thread 1, Dec. 15-23, 2012 Thread 2, Dec. 20-22 + Feb 3, resulting in Moderator intervention, deletion of some objectionable posts, and the banning of gmaslin gmaslin also started some threads at the Ovation Fan Club that get increasingly arcane and demanding. Here's a sample: Ovation Preacher thread Ovation case latch thread Even this thread about best rock intros devolves into the following: and

Yep. "She" hasn't posted since Friday morning (post 49). I think your challenge to corroborate "her" statement about USA Duncans made abroad put "her" away and Thorn's mention of tracing "her" IP address sent "her" running. "She" made 16 posts in the first 49 (one in every three) and none among the 23 that have followed.

There's the comprehensive breakdown of differences, part by part, wood piece by wood piece. As cmatthes originally stated with full confidence, the USA and import Hamers share NO parts, wood pieces, veneers, pots, tuners, bridges, or whatever, whatsoever. And that doesn't begin to address how differently they are built and finished.

The only downsides of the TLE are that there aren't that many of them and when you find them, they won't be $300. As for the Samshin pickups, for the time and energy you're spending sifting for the one passable specimen in a pile of crap, you could have earned enough money to get some domestic handwounds that would be worth the time, discussion, and most importantly, the hands-on use for making music. Ask anyone on this board about me. I look into things until I've done them to death, and describe nuances far past where others' eyes glaze over. I've owned MIK Washburns, Epiphones, Gretsch, Fender, Indonesian Squier, MIJ Ibanez, and I don't know what all. But even I have a threshold where I conclude that something's not worth further study. One such is Asian pickups. Even the MIK Washburns I bought my teenage daughter lost their MIK pickups to USA replacements. I have never found an MIK pickup worth leaving in the instrument, so I don't waste my time playing, evaluating, or even thinking about them anymore. Others are less patient and busier musicians than I am, which would account for the zero response (until me) about Samshin pickups.

TLEs have the contour for your ribs: They also have direct-pull strings, though I've never noticed any difference in tone, playability, or tuning stability with direct-pulls vs. strings that angle from the nut to the tuners.

From what little I've gleaned off the I-net, Samshin is the Korean OEM behind so many of the pickups that go in Asian-mf'd guitars, including the "Duncan Designed" pickups. If you don't like garden-variety USA Duncans, I can't imagine any fascination for Samshins. It's not like anybody strummed an import guitar and then went, "Oooh! Samshin pickups!" I had developed a prejudice against USA Duncans in favor of Fralins and Rio Grandes, but Duncan makes some fabulous pickups if you know where to look. The ones that completely reversed my opinion were the Duncan Custom Shop Phat Cats that came in my Hamer Newport. Those pickups in that guitar re-define what an electric guitar can do. I've had a bit of experience with Asian-sourced pickups, and all of my experience is to either get rid of the guitar or replace the pickups. Generally speaking, even when they have a good fundamental tone quality, they lack the sensitivity and dynamics needed for live playing. Case in point is an Indonesian Squier Vintage Modified Jazz fretless (the po' man's Jaco model) that I picked up used for $199 w/bag. The original pickups sounded musical, but the bass was tiring to play in-group because I had to pluck so hard to get passable dynamics. I replaced 'em with USA Bartolinis and it's now one of my most gorgeous-sounding basses. My verdict: life's too short to examine, research, or otherwise dick around with mass-mass-produced MIK (e.g., Samshin) pickups.

That's some funny sh!t right there. :lol: Gmaslin: Maybe it's because he's on a first-name basis with the guys who ran Hamer and built the guitars ... among other things. He may have picked up (and also contributed) information with his brother.

You could significantly drop the price by going boltneck because the body and neck can be finished separately and a boltneck doesn't require all the finicky sanding and finishing at the neck joint. I've had some high quality boltnecks that totally kicked ass, especially a USA-made G&L ASAT Special. What if you used a T-51 layout with P-90s? That would be a WMG and a solid rocker to boot. Or an HB for the bridge. But ya gotta decide on one PU config or the other for economy of scale.

Sound City Real to Reel--all analog chain--mic'd through one of the best custom consoles ever, recorded to 2" 24-track analog reel-to-reel tape, mastered to vinyl. See the film. Fascinating.

Yes, but the question isn't to recommend a shredder for a shredhead or wannabe shredhead, it's a shredder for a non-shred guy, which is why G&L may be a better choice over the usual suspects for its excellent tonewoods, meatier neck, excellent construction and ability to do excellent clean-to-dirty (even jazz and blues) spectrum non-shred tones. The Hamer Centaura HB is another great candidate. I got one of those for my stepson and its clean tones were so sweet and body and neck so ergonomic that it was hard to go through with the gifting part of it. I gotta admit, though, that USA Jacksons are suh-weet.

Here's a little info. You're wondering if the Climax is worth $500? It's a semi-handbuilt guitar, much to the same standards as Fender Custom Shop, with select woods, a patented, very warp-resistant neck, handwound pickups, excellent fit'n'finish, etc. Plus they were made with more handwork and less automation than other custom shop and boutique brands. They're made in the same factory on many of the same machines and by some of the same people that produced the legendary Leo-era Music Man instruments. Leo was still running the company when the Climax was produced. I've played a Climax fretless bass and would have bought it (for more than $500!) but someone was buying it over the phone at the store while I was trying it out. As I said before, the G&L shredders would be a good choice for someone who wants shred features but plays other styles of music. The woods are better and more resonant, and the necks aren't so toothpick thin.

Yeah, I was thinking Diablo or Centaura HB. Another alternative is a G&L USA Invader (scroll down to see them), available as H-S-S, H-S-H, or HH pickup configurations. Actually, the single-coil-sized pickups are dual-blade humbuckers and sound great!

Relatively speaking, early Fenders weren't really that cheap, and weren't much less money than the setneck Gibsons. I think that when introduced the Strat went for around $250, which translates into $2100 in today's money. There are other traits of pre-CBS Fenders that are considered boutiquey today. First is that the early Fenders were made from an abundance of wide-plank old growth wood that we can only dream of today--just about everything was one-piece well-seasoned, ash or alder. Second, Leo's modest assessments notwithstanding, by today's standards they were hand-built instruments with the help of power machines--band saws, belt sanders, etc. Still, the necks were hand-shaped by holding the wood up against large belt sanders; USA G&Ls are still made this way. Pickups were wound with the help of a winding machine, but the wire was guided by hand, resulting in "scatter-wound" pickups which reduced inductance compared to the later, more orderly machine-wound pickups. With the advent of the Stratocaster, production was separated into three sub-assembly specialties--bodies, necks, and pickguard/electronics. Each was attended to by an individual or small team, so each of those components was largely handbuilt, and the production efficiency came from producing the three guitar components simultaneously. No green wood, no planking of multiple small pieces of wood, no CNC, no machine-wound pickups, no machine-set frets. That accounts for some of the current price; the other part being the attraction to own a piece of American rock'n'roll history. If anything cuts through the mystique to arrive at an honest price/performance ratio, it would be the current G&L USA models, which are made much the same way the pre-CBS Fenders were made, largely by hand with the help of band-saws, jigs, and large belt sanders. For about $1200-2000 you can get a killer instrument with excellent woods, pickups, hardware, fit, finish, tone, and playability that stops just short of terminal anal-retentive perfectionism. And really, I've never found any flaws in any of the seven G&Ls I've owned over the years.

The cover that drained many a container of hand lotion. Of course it did. It's a Vargas. And let's not forget the many boxes of tissues that gave their lives in the same cause.

Ooh, I just played that Friday (on vinyl). Gonna start today with Ravel's Bolero. From there, who knows? Maybe some Beatles, maybe some Miles Davis, Gary Burton, Jim Hall, or Brubeck.

Heh.... There's still room for another single coil at the bridge...ETA: or better: a Roland Hex pickup... To get all the potential sounds out of it there should be on/off toggle switches for each of the nine coils.

Reasonably priced, too, if you know where to shop. Similarly priced on Amazon, Wal-Mart, and Wayfair as well.

Spun Tom Waits' Swordfishtrombones (1982) and Nighthawks at the Diner (1975) on original vinyl yesterday. Going back for more tomorrow. Swordfishtrombones is just about the best sounding album I have (and that's saying something), and is sufficient reason on its own to get a good stereo.

So now it's time to play: