Ovation guitars in the 2010s

Through the 2010s, Fender Musical Instruments Corporation and Drum Workshop, Inc. (DW) controlled the Ovation name, and 2 plants built it: Asian contract plants for Ovation (Korea/China/Indonesia; builders unverified) and New Hartford CT (Kaman/Ovation plant).^{[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18]}

5 eras touch the 2010s across 2 lines. The version changed in 2014 and 2015. A guitar from either side of those years can be a different Ovation.

Year by year

Year	Controlled by	Built at	Changed
2010	Fender Musical Instruments Corporation	New Hartford CT (Kaman/Ovation plant)^{[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 16, 8]}
2011	Fender Musical Instruments Corporation	New Hartford CT (Kaman/Ovation plant)^{[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 16, 8]}
2012	Fender Musical Instruments Corporation	New Hartford CT (Kaman/Ovation plant)^{[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 16, 8]}
2013	Fender Musical Instruments Corporation	New Hartford CT (Kaman/Ovation plant)^{[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 16, 8]}
2014	Fender Musical Instruments Corporation	Asian contract plants for Ovation (Korea/China/Indonesia; builders unverified)^{[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]}	yes
2015	Drum Workshop, Inc. (DW)	New Hartford CT (Kaman/Ovation plant), Asian contract plants for Ovation (Korea/China/Indonesia; builders unverified)^{[2, 10, 5, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 8, 9]}	yes
2016	Drum Workshop, Inc. (DW)	New Hartford CT (Kaman/Ovation plant), Asian contract plants for Ovation (Korea/China/Indonesia; builders unverified)^{[2, 10, 5, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 8, 9]}
2017	Drum Workshop, Inc. (DW)	New Hartford CT (Kaman/Ovation plant), Asian contract plants for Ovation (Korea/China/Indonesia; builders unverified)^{[2, 10, 5, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 8, 9]}
2018	Drum Workshop, Inc. (DW)	New Hartford CT (Kaman/Ovation plant), Asian contract plants for Ovation (Korea/China/Indonesia; builders unverified)^{[2, 10, 5, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 8, 9]}
2019	Drum Workshop, Inc. (DW)	New Hartford CT (Kaman/Ovation plant), Asian contract plants for Ovation (Korea/China/Indonesia; builders unverified)^{[2, 10, 5, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 8, 9]}

Eras in the 2010s

Line	Years	Controlled by	Built at	Grade
Ovation imports (Celebrity, Applause, Elite import)	2014–2015	Fender Musical Instruments Corporation	Asian contract plants for Ovation (Korea/China/Indonesia; builders unverified)	community^{[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]}
Ovation imports (Celebrity, Applause, Elite import)	2015–2020	Drum Workshop, Inc. (DW)	Asian contract plants for Ovation (Korea/China/Indonesia; builders unverified)	community^{[2, 10, 5, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 8, 9]}
Ovation USA (New Hartford)	2008–2014	Fender Musical Instruments Corporation	New Hartford CT (Kaman/Ovation plant)	community^{[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 16, 8]}
Ovation USA (New Hartford)	2014–2015	Fender Musical Instruments Corporation	No plant on record	community^{[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]}
Ovation USA (New Hartford)	2015–2020	Drum Workshop, Inc. (DW)	New Hartford CT (Kaman/Ovation plant)	community^{[2, 10, 5, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18]}

Other brands in the 2010s

Ovation, year by year

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Sources

Every numbered marker on this page points here: the document, its grade and the passages relied on. An era is computed, so it cites the facts it was derived from. A fact marked “no source” has no claim attached yet.

1
Fender to buy Kaman Music Corp.graded secondary
- "closing is set to happen by January 1, 2008"Ovation in the 2010s: owners and plants
2
Ovation sold to Drum Workshop (Jan 6, 2015)graded secondary
- "Yesterday, FMIC announced that KMC Music… has sold the Ovation guitar brand to Drum Workshop, Inc."Ovation in the 2010s: owners and plants
3
FMIC announces KMC Music sale of Ovation to DW (Jan 6, 2015); KMC sold to JAM Industries (Feb 12, 2015)graded secondary
- "FMIC announced that KMC Music… has sold the Ovation guitar brand to Drum Workshop, Inc."Ovation in the 2010s: owners and plants
4
Kaman Corporation Form 10-K for fiscal year ended December 31, 2007graded primary
- We sold our Music segment on December 31, 2007 for $119.5 million to Fender and recorded a pre-tax gain of $18.1 million.Ovation in the 2010s: owners and plants
5
Fender Musical Instruments Corporation Announces Sale of KMC Music's Percussion Brands and Ovation Guitars to Drum Workshop, Inc.graded primary
- as well as the Ovation® guitar brand.Ovation in the 2010s: owners and plants
6
Fender Musical Instruments Corp. Form S-1 (2012)graded primary
- In December 2007 we acquired KMC, which was our largest acquisition to date.Ovation in the 2010s: owners and plants
7
Fender Musical Instruments Corp, Form S-1/A Amendment No. 5graded primary
- since the acquisition of Kaman Music Corporation (now known as KMC Musicorp), or KMC, in 2007Ovation in the 2010s: owners and plants
8
Fender to cease US production of Ovation guitarsgraded secondary
- "Fender will now make Ovation guitars in China, South Korea and Indonesia"Ovation in the 2010s: owners and plants
9
blogspot: 2026/04/ovation solid body electric guitars.htmlgraded community
- "outsourcing others to a Chinese factory"Ovation in the 2010s: owners and plants
10
Drum Workshop acquires Ovation (Jan 7, 2015)graded secondary
- "have finalized an asset sale agreement"Ovation in the 2010s: owners and plants
11
Fender sells Ovation brand to Drum Workshopgraded secondary
- announced today that its subsidiary KMC Music, Inc. has sold its OvationOvation in the 2010s: owners and plants
12
Ovation Guitars joins the GEWA music family of brandsgraded secondary
- In 2015 DW became owner of the legendary guitar maker as part of a multi-brand acquisition from Fender/KMC.Ovation in the 2010s: owners and plants
13
Bloomfield instrument distributor moves HQgraded secondary
- DW also bought the Ovation guitar brand from Fender in that deal.Ovation in the 2010s: owners and plants
14
Production of Ovation Guitars to Resume in New Hartfordgraded secondary
- Drum Workshop purchased the brand earlier this year from Fender Musical Instruments Corp.Ovation in the 2010s: owners and plants
15
Drum Workshop purchases Latin Percussion, Toca Percussion, Gretsch Drums, Gibraltar Hardware, and KAT Percussion from Fender's KMC subsidiarygraded secondary
- Ovation Guitars and exclusive U.S. distribution rights for Sabian Cymbals are also included in the transaction.Ovation in the 2010s: owners and plants
16
Fender to close Ovation factory in Connecticutgraded secondary
- "built Ovation… for the last 47 years"Ovation in the 2010s: owners and plants
17
glencampbellforums: viewtopic.php?t=341graded community
- "the factory will resume production in October, 2015"Ovation in the 2010s: owners and plants
18
GEWA purchases Ovation Guitarsgraded secondary
- "Custom Shop will focus on… Adamas models"Ovation in the 2010s: owners and plants

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