OVATION USA COMING BACK?

[Dutchman]

I heard a rumor. Hamers and Ovations where my favorite guitars. Maybe Hamer USA? 

Anyone heard anything?

[duncans]

There is a current website, copyright 2025. No real manufacturing info i.e. country of origin. Pricing that I saw was in euros.

[Jim85IROC]

A quick search revealed that Ovation is owned by Gewa now, who apparently manufactures guitars in Germany.  Seems very unlikely that we'll see US models.

https://gewaguitars.com/en

 

Hamer is still owned by KMC, so even less chance of those coming back to the US.

Edited April 5 by Jim85IROC

[PS4 FTW]

3 hours ago, Jim85IROC said:

A quick search revealed that Ovation is owned by Gewa now, who apparently manufactures guitars in Germany.  Seems very unlikely that we'll see US models.

https://gewaguitars.com/en

 

Hamer is still owned by KMC, so even less chance of those coming back to the US.

The second slide on the homepage suggests otherwise--looks like two models at the moment.

Edited April 5 by PS4 FTW

[RobB]

I thought the owner of DW drums purchased Ovation about 10yrs ago and rebooted the New Hartford shop with much of the old crew? 

[Jim85IROC]

34 minutes ago, PS4 FTW said:

The second slide on the homepage suggests otherwise--looks like two models at the moment.

Interesting.  I wonder if it's a copy & paste from an older Ovation site or if it's legit.  It seems really odd that a german company would buy the name, then start production in the US for European sales.  I guess we'll see.

[Dave Scepter]

[Jim85IROC]

1 hour ago, Dave Scepter said:

Well that's certainly encouraging! 

[HSB0531]

I'm going to sit back and wait for the final outcome and announcements.

Update:  After I wrote this, Tortious added a lot of info and links.

See his in the thread just below mine for all the info.

Edited April 6 by HSB0531

[Tortious]

Is y'all's google broken? this happened years ago.

https://guitar.com/news/gear-news/ovation-guitars-has-been-acquired-by-gewa-music/

GEWA Music has announced its acquisition of Ovation Guitars from longtime partner, Drum Workshop Inc. Associated brands Adamas and Applause are reportedly part of the deal, which was inked in September 2020.

DW came to own Ovation Guitars in 2015 through a multi-brand acquisition from Fender/KMC. GEWA was then awarded sole Ovation distribution rights throughout Europe, and began designing exclusive models for the European market.

As of 1 February 2021, GEWA Music USA will take over distribution of Ovation Guitars in the US. GEWA will also continue servicing the international retail partners with which it currently has deals.

Ovation’s New Hartford Custom Shop will be taking over manufacturing of the Adamas models from DW. According to GEWA, the hand-built instruments will be available for viewing on the Ovation website, and can be purchased through the brand’s worldwide network of Ovation PLUS retailers.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ovation_Guitar_Company

In 2008, KMCMusicorp (and with that the Ovation brand) was sold to the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation.^[13] In 2014, Fender announced that they were closing the Ovation guitar factory in New Hartford, Connecticut, leaving all production of Ovation guitars overseas.^[14] Before that announcement, Fender established a U.S. production of various acoustic guitars in the New Hartford factory. Alongside Ovation and Adamas guitars, which were produced there for decades, Fender started a U.S. production of other Fender-owned brands in that factory, as is known, Guild (Guild Guitar Company) and Fender Acoustic Custom Shop.^[15]

Shortly after closing the New Hartford factory on April 30, 2014, it was announced that the Ovation brand had been sold to the company Drum Workshop, alongside a few other previously Fender-owned brands. The announcement was made on January 7, 2015. In addition to the Ovation brand, Drum Workshop also opened a smaller New Hartford factory near the old facility and reinstated the previously ceased U.S. production of Ovation and Adamas guitars.^[16]

In 2020, the German-based GEWA company acquired the brand and assets of Ovation and Adamas from Drum Workshop and moved production to a smaller shop in New Hartford, Connecticut.^[7] In January 2024, Ovation and Adamas guitars were displayed at the NAMM Show in Anaheim, California, as part of the larger GEWA family of brands.

 

I do recall reading that a couple people from the old US factory kept the equipment workable for the years they weren't making anything post-FMIC shutdown.

[stobro]

Apparently the carbon fiber-topped Adamas guitars have been produced for a bit. New is the USA made wood-topped Ovation models. On the GEWA website I saw a couple of Ovation models with "USA" suffix in their model numbers.