SFIV1967
Venerated Member
Right, source was this (the guy on the left wrote the article): http://www.maindragmusic.com/blog/tag/dr-strings/Mark Dronge?
Ralf
Right, source was this (the guy on the left wrote the article): http://www.maindragmusic.com/blog/tag/dr-strings/Mark Dronge?
By the way, I just read a post at AGF that not a single one of the NH staff got offered a job in Oxnard...
"We all had a meeting today with the CT DOL and found out about what benefits we will receive, unemployment insurance, et al. Fortunately we qualify as 'displaced workers' because our jobs essentially went to China. I hope you can see the irony and humor in telling a roomful of guys in their fifties and sixties (many of whom are world-class woodworkers) that we qualify for retraining benefits! AFAIK, no one has been offered a job in Oxnard, not that many would consider it."
Ralf
Watasha,
From what I recall, Ren is actually a Fender employee. I know he came on board because the former CEO, Larry Thomas, asked him to join up. He was not tied to Guild / New Hartford, specifically, although he was certainly doing work there. That said, I would think recent changes would affect his position in the company. Maybe we'll hear about him soon.
There are other Fender guys who are/were actually dedicated to Guild, both in marketing/sales and production ends of the business. I wonder what will happen to those folks.
The Newark St. models are made neither at Cort or Samick, but at SPG Musical Instruments Co., Ltd., 414-2, Cheongcheon-dong, Bupyeong-gu, Incheon, South Korea. Hope that clarifies it. SPG also produces Gretsch guitars. That's why the Guild Newark St. serial number are starting with KS (Korea SPG factory).A simple deal with Samick, Cort or whoever and Newark Street models get in their pipeline.
Yes, some people seem to forget that Ren and Tim were also running the Fender Acoustic Custom Shop!Ren is actually a Fender employee.
Yes, even though the costs of living have been evaluted as quite comparable by Ladytexan, tehre's a lot of other variables that come into play when considering such a great distnce of relocation, not least of which would be family/friends/housing equity and quality of neighborhood." AFAIK, no one has been offered a job in Oxnard, not that many would consider it."
I hope you are right on all points. I'd love to see the N.S. & G.A.D. lines continue. I think it's good way to keep at least some semblance of Guild electrics alive and entry level acoustics are a great way to attract future buyers for the upmarket acoustics.There's been a lot of speculation about the fate of the Newark Street line, mostly seems pessimistic. I think this might be the one area where Cordoba has a handle on things. Think about it. All the Newark Street product is built in Asian factories under contract with Fender and then distributed through Fender. Cordoba has distribution experience and works with Asian manufacturers. A simple deal with Samick, Cort or whoever and Newark Street models get in their pipeline and start to show up in all the places Cordobas are now. Would work for GAD as well, and as somebody pointed out either in this thread or the one with advice for the new owners, low-mid priced product is the bread and butter that finances the caviar of high end product. So, maybe by the holiday selling season, these lines are in tons of stores around the country (or world, as I think they have world wide distribution in place), keeping the name out there. Big question is how fast they can ramp up US production, and if they have the space and workforce to do it in large numbers. Also, who knows how much capital they have, maybe they are looking at a larger space as we carry on our thread here, and in a month they will announce they are moving production to a new facility.
I guess we'll find out with patience.
Brad
I don't mean to be argumentative, but Fender is not all bad. They kept Guild going in one form or another since '95. Remember, FMIC was basically an employee buyout when CBS decided to quit the guitar biz'. I've spoken to people that were there for the transition and they said that everything changed for the better at that moment. For a while Fender had no U.S. production facilities and they bootstrapped themselves back to true viability.I hope he has an out. Think about it: Quite possible the foremost (factory) ACOUSTIC luthier in the world stuck with...Fender. Ugh
From what I understand SPG is pretty good at keeping the quality consistent. I don't have any Electromatic series Gretsches but I've been impressed with the 542x series models I have played. They are a very decent, very serviceable guitar as built, not too different than the N.S. models.The Newark St. models are made neither at Cort or Samick, but at SPG Musical Instruments Co., Ltd., 414-2, Cheongcheon-dong, Bupyeong-gu, Incheon, South Korea. Hope that clarifies it. SPG also produces Gretsch guitars. That's why the Guild Newark St. serial number are starting with KS (Korea SPG factory).
Ralf
I couldn't imagine making such a move unless they are paying luthiers a lot more than I suspect they are paying.Yes, even though the costs of living have been evaluted as quite comparable by Ladytexan, tehre's a lot of other variables that come into play when considering such a great distnce of relocation, not least of which would be family/friends/housing equity and quality of neighborhood.
I'm also not so sure that the "skilled labor" problem will be that bad in Oxnard. We've got a fair share of highly skilled and unemployed craftsmen out here, ourselves.
Wonder how many are already on Larivee's waiting list, for example?
Oxnard is not pretty. Couldn't we have Carmel, or Big Sur Guilds?
Yes, but the idea's the same, I was using Samick and Cort as examples not as reality.The Newark St. models are made neither at Cort or Samick, but at SPG Musical Instruments Co., Ltd., 414-2, Cheongcheon-dong, Bupyeong-gu, Incheon, South Korea. Hope that clarifies it. SPG also produces Gretsch guitars. That's why the Guild Newark St. serial number are starting with KS (Korea SPG factory).
Ralf
By the way, I just read a post at AGF that not a single one of the NH staff got offered a job in Oxnard...Ralf
It definitely makes you wonder, doesn't it? How DO they learn? I just wanted people to know that Oxnard (despite the creepy name) is not a horrible place......I do find it interesting, however, that nobody from New Hartford is being recruited. If this is true, how will Cordoba learn how to make Guilds? From specs? Drawings? Watching videos?
I DON'T KNOW.... it's all just conjecture and .... I'm tired of that. I'll just wait and see what happens!!