Graham
Venerated Member
Jeff said:
Happy belated Jeff.
First guilds from the new factory...
- Thread starter caveman
- Start date
Happy belated Jeff.
Scratch
Enlightened Member
Sorry I missed it the first time 'round. happy birthday buddy. Hope you carped the diem bigtime...
coastie99
Enlightened Member
Birthday !
How'd I miss that one........... sorry mate.
Hope it was a ripper........ happy belated birthday.
How'd I miss that one........... sorry mate.
Hope it was a ripper........ happy belated birthday.
JerryR
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How come we missed Jeff's birthday :!: :!: :!: :!: Happy belated - reckon the new CT Plant should gift the first line models to LTGers as their birthdays arise, for a thoro testing and feedback 
Scottsdale, AZ: APWire: Mr. William Mendello, CEO of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, announced today that a sample acoustic guitar off the assembly line of the newly relocated facility in New Hartford, CT would be sent to each member of the LetsTalkGuild.com website as their birthday passed. In his own words, Mr. Mendello said "they've done nothing but support the move and embrace Fender's business model over there."
One member of the web site, a very loud-mouthed man named "Chazmo," is reported to have had an atypical reaction to this generous announcement from Fender. He suggested to Mr. Mendello that a fork and salad dressing should accompany each guitar. This is believed to be a reference to the Ovation guitars currently built at the New Hartford facility, but it may also simply mean that Mr. Chazmo was hungry at the time.
In any case, Mr. Mendello laughed off the suggestion and instead suggested that an English-to-Chinese dictionary might be a better companion to the guitar.
Mr. Hans Moust, an acknowledged expert in the history of Guild guitars was asked his opinion, and was then seen shaking his head and muttering "I cannot finish this book... I cannot... When will Fender stop torturing me?!"
One member of the web site, a very loud-mouthed man named "Chazmo," is reported to have had an atypical reaction to this generous announcement from Fender. He suggested to Mr. Mendello that a fork and salad dressing should accompany each guitar. This is believed to be a reference to the Ovation guitars currently built at the New Hartford facility, but it may also simply mean that Mr. Chazmo was hungry at the time.
In any case, Mr. Mendello laughed off the suggestion and instead suggested that an English-to-Chinese dictionary might be a better companion to the guitar.
Mr. Hans Moust, an acknowledged expert in the history of Guild guitars was asked his opinion, and was then seen shaking his head and muttering "I cannot finish this book... I cannot... When will Fender stop torturing me?!"
Hey, folks, I just sent an email to Hamer/Ovation asking them about the possibility of a factory tour, and letting them know that we're Guilders. I'll post up when I hear whether this will be possible and when and maybe we can set up a pilgrimage.
Small price to pay, don'cha' think, CJ?capnjuan said:
Well, might have to wait until after the pilgrimage to know for sure but ... so long as well don't have to all hold hands like goin' to the Wonder Bread bakery ... or the National Gallery of Art ...Chazmo said:Small price to pay, don'cha' think, CJ?capnjuan said:
I might have to tie a string around everyone so we don't get lost.
fungusyoung
Senior Member
Nice press release, Chazmo! :lol:
Anyone know if any of the Tacoma build staff are moving East? I'd think that could be immensely helpful if FMIC has a genuine interest in carrying on with the quality bar set in Tacoma.
Anyone know if any of the Tacoma build staff are moving East? I'd think that could be immensely helpful if FMIC has a genuine interest in carrying on with the quality bar set in Tacoma.
sitka_spruce
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+1! Also does anyone know if any Westerly employees will clock in at CT? Would be closer in distance from RI to CT and perhaps that would make the Guilds sound more east-coast again!fungusyoung said:
Whelp, short answer... no tour (yet), folks. Maybe I'll try again in the winter some time...
I got a very nice, comforting email direct from Frank Untermyer, the GM of the New Hartford Kaman facility (below) [this is legit, by the way, not a Chazmo APWire fabrication]:
Thanks for your interest, We're not ready for a tour. Once we are we
probably will arrange for a more comprehensive tour, opening the
facility to a larger group of people (we have long had tours for both
the Ovation and Hamer web based fan clubs). We have made real headway
here on Guild. We've dedicated a large amount of space exclusively to
Guild. It's really good work space, you'll be happy. We've had our
people train at Guild. We're putting some of our best people into Guild
production. We have spent a good deal of time designing and fabricating
the proper tools and fixtures that Guild has long deserved. We're all
very much into this project and are excited about returning Guild to its
New England roots. The exterior of our facility is much like Westerly
but we have renovated the interior so that the work space itself is
nicer and far better suited for building guitars. I know that there is
much speculation out there about why Guild is being moved again. Rest
assured that this move is being looked at as Guild's last and is being
made to insure that a rich American guitar tradition continues far into
the future.
I got a very nice, comforting email direct from Frank Untermyer, the GM of the New Hartford Kaman facility (below) [this is legit, by the way, not a Chazmo APWire fabrication
]:Thanks for your interest, We're not ready for a tour. Once we are we
probably will arrange for a more comprehensive tour, opening the
facility to a larger group of people (we have long had tours for both
the Ovation and Hamer web based fan clubs). We have made real headway
here on Guild. We've dedicated a large amount of space exclusively to
Guild. It's really good work space, you'll be happy. We've had our
people train at Guild. We're putting some of our best people into Guild
production. We have spent a good deal of time designing and fabricating
the proper tools and fixtures that Guild has long deserved. We're all
very much into this project and are excited about returning Guild to its
New England roots. The exterior of our facility is much like Westerly
but we have renovated the interior so that the work space itself is
nicer and far better suited for building guitars. I know that there is
much speculation out there about why Guild is being moved again. Rest
assured that this move is being looked at as Guild's last and is being
made to insure that a rich American guitar tradition continues far into
the future.
12stringer
Senior Member
A very comforting email there Chazmo!
Thanks for enquiring,
Randy
Thanks for enquiring,
Randy
Taylor Martin Guild
Senior Member
Will they make acoustic guitars there or just electric guitars?
marcellis
Senior Member
Train where, Tacoma?
What were these people making before they were put into Guild production? Hamers? Ovations?
The whole situation sounds so strange. I hope it works out.
But it really looks incongruous from my POV.
Can't answer those questions, folks. Wish I could.marcellis said:
I don't know that it's incongruous, Marc, but certainly seems preliminary to me. I asked a follow-on question to him this morning if he knows which models will be continued or discontinued... I'll let you know if I hear anything. I also invited him here... we'll see.
Scratch
Enlightened Member
Awesome update, Chazmo. Thanks. You da man...
As a former Westerly worker, i can't imagine that Ovation would give tours to the general public. At Guild we made it standard policy to never do that, otherwise we'd have to have a department of employees just for that...you can imagine the guitar players that think they deserve a tour after paying $1,000 for a guitar.
I often wondered if they did the same thing to General Motors or Toyota ?
Regarding most of the other comments on this thread...I'd have to say that Count Scrofula hits the nail on the head. He's fast becoming my hero.
In response to his comments about how many 'westerly guild employees' we're still making guilds, the answer is zero. No workers from westerly ever moved to Corona. 4 were offered jobs, all turned them down.
I often wondered if they did the same thing to General Motors or Toyota ?
Regarding most of the other comments on this thread...I'd have to say that Count Scrofula hits the nail on the head. He's fast becoming my hero.
In response to his comments about how many 'westerly guild employees' we're still making guilds, the answer is zero. No workers from westerly ever moved to Corona. 4 were offered jobs, all turned them down.
WiW,
I'm sure you know that tours are common practice at other US manufacturers; and it appears that Ovation/Hamer does indeed offer factory tours.
I'm a little surprised that you feel as you do, WiW... Yes, I'm sure tours take a lot of the staff's time, but it's certainly good brand PR and I think it makes a lot of folks feel closer to their instruments in some way. The Martin folks who make their pilgrimages to the factory always rave about it. Many of the folks who've been to Taylor out on the west coast also enjoy the experience. I do think, though, that the Tacoma facility did not have (frequent) tours when it housed Guild production, which I guess was the Westerly approach.
Anyway, I told Mr. Untermyer that some ex-Westerly folks hang out over here in LTG. It'll be interesting to see if he (or any of his staff) come to pay us a visit. If it's true that the Kaman folks are excited to have Guild in New Hartford, I'll remain cautiously optimistic that it could be good for Guild.
I'm sure you know that tours are common practice at other US manufacturers; and it appears that Ovation/Hamer does indeed offer factory tours.
I'm a little surprised that you feel as you do, WiW... Yes, I'm sure tours take a lot of the staff's time, but it's certainly good brand PR and I think it makes a lot of folks feel closer to their instruments in some way. The Martin folks who make their pilgrimages to the factory always rave about it. Many of the folks who've been to Taylor out on the west coast also enjoy the experience. I do think, though, that the Tacoma facility did not have (frequent) tours when it housed Guild production, which I guess was the Westerly approach.
Anyway, I told Mr. Untermyer that some ex-Westerly folks hang out over here in LTG. It'll be interesting to see if he (or any of his staff) come to pay us a visit. If it's true that the Kaman folks are excited to have Guild in New Hartford, I'll remain cautiously optimistic that it could be good for Guild.