On the shores of the Farmington River in New Hartford, Connecticut, three legendary acoustic brands have amassed a formidable army of guitar-building talent that seems destined to take flattops into a new golden age.
Hang out with the folks who work at the beautiful brick factory in New Hartford, Connecticut, where Fender Acoustic Custom Shop, Guild, and Ovation flattops are built and, before long, the ghost stories start to fly. Tales of night watchmen, phantasmal apparitions in the corners, and whistling, invisible strangers in the wee hours, are traded readily. And it’s little wonder—the facility was erected on the shores of the Farmington River before the Civil War, and by various accounts has been a uniform mill and a sewing-machine factory, among others things. In short, a lot of industrious folks have walked these halls.
Since 1967, the New Hartford factory has been all about guitars. But even now it seems like a bridge between worlds—and it’s certainly no less industrious for it. Here, carbon-fiber guitars take shape alongside small-batch acoustics built with old-world and computer-based methods. And in the process, new chapters are being written in the annals of some legendary guitar brands.
After leaving Westerly, Rhode Island, almost two decades ago, Guild is back in New England. And the design team for this legendary brand is now helmed to a significant extent by the legendary Ren Ferguson, who spearheaded Gibson’s acoustic renaissance. Fender—which made its first concerted (if largely unsuccessful) foray into acoustics in the early ’60s with Rickenbacker design legend Roger Rosmeisel at the helm—has again dived headlong into the business of acoustic guitars, this time with Ferguson and acoustic lutherie veteran Tim Shaw overseeing the works. And Ovation—whose aerospace- and acoustic-electric-guitar-pioneering forefather, Charles Kaman, first made the New Hartford facility a guitar factory in 1967—stands poised to take the brand in new directions.
The creative energy and focus around the New Hartford facility is impressive. This is clearly not an operation designed to cash in on nostalgia or leverage famous brands in an effort to move mediocre instruments. Soon after taking the job in January of 2012, Ferguson had already designed and unveiled a whole new line of Guilds, the Orpheum series, which include—among other ’30s-inspired designs—a beautiful, sonorous, and barn-rattlingly powerful 12-fret slope-shouldered dreadnought
Meanwhile, Fender—intent on building more than rebranded Guilds—is designing flattops that honor the misunderstood and often underappreciated legacy of the Rosmeisel-era acoustics with guitars that, in some cases, are tailored specifically for those who primarily play electric. And from what we’ve seen, felt, and heard, the notion of fretting an E-major chord on a C-profiled Stratocaster neck and generating the booming, balanced output of a good dreadnought is a musical idea we could definitely get used to.
And Ovation is simultaneously looking ahead and capitalizing on its experience as one of the most consistently groundbreaking companies in the industry. Further, a young, eager musical freak of a brand manager named Jason Barnes is working with a veteran staff of guitar builders—many into their fourth decade of building Ovation and Adamas guitars—to keep the brand at the cutting edge of playability and exploratory design while also taking advantage of the materials, talent, and experience behind the new crew working on Fender and Guild guitars in New Hartford.
If this all sounds a bit like some kind of mad luthiers’ summer camp, well, that sentiment isn’t too far off the mark. This is a hardworking, spirited, often hilarious gang that hangs together, talks shop, and even launches into lunchtime jam sessions around the front office if you give them five seconds of breathing room. And as impressive as many of these guys are as luthiers, they’re killer players, too. But once they’re on the clock, this is a determined, inexhaustible bunch fired up about the new convergence of talent and the instruments it’s producing. At any given moment, you can find Ren Ferguson digging in the wood room, tinkering with inlay, or looking over the shoulder of a builder as they discuss a better approach to some minute step in the manufacturing process. It all adds up to a very promising future for three brands that deserve to remain acoustic industry fixtures. If you love the acoustic guitar in any measure, it’s not hard to be thrilled and intrigued about what might emerge from this buzzing hive of guitar-building energy.
See photos from our trip inside the factory:
Inspired by elements of three of Jack White’s vintage amps – a 1964 Vibroverb, a 1960 Vibrasonic and a 1993 Vibro-King – The Pano Verb Amp delivers many unique design features never before found on a Fender Amplifier. Jack worked closely with Fender to create the Pano Verb, an entirely new and versatile tube amplifier unlike anything you’ve heard before.
The Pano Verb’s cosmetics echo the Third Man iconic “yellow, black and white” aesthetic, so it looks as incredible as it sounds. A product of Fender in Corona, Calif., U.S.A., the Pano Verb is destined to become a modern classic for players that desire a distinctive sound for both stage and studio
Songs of a Lost World
The Cure return after 16 years with Songs of a Lost World, out November 1. Listen to "Alone" now.
Songs from the record were previewed during The Cure's 90-date, 33-country Shows Of A Lost World tour, for more than 1.3 million people to overwhelming fan and critical acclaim.
"Alone," the first song released from the album, opened every show on the tour and is available to stream now. The band will reveal the rest of the tracklisting for the record over the coming weeks at http://www.songsofalost.world/ and on their social channels.
Speaking about "Alone," the opening track on Songs Of A Lost World , Robert Smith says, "It's the track that unlocked the record; as soon as we had that piece of music recorded I knew it was the opening song, and I felt the whole album come into focus. I had been struggling to find the right opening line for the right opening song for a while, working with the simple idea of ‘being alone’, always in the back of my mind this nagging feeling that I already knew what the opening line should be… as soon as we finished recording I remembered the poem ‘Dregs' by the English poet Ernest Dowson… and that was the moment when I knew the song - and the album - were real."
Initially formed in 1978, The Cure has sold over 30 million albums worldwide, headlined the Glastonbury festival four times and been inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame in 2019. They are considered to be one of the most influential bands to ever come out of the UK.
Songs Of A Lost World will be released as a 1LP, a Miles Showell Abbey Road half-speed master 2LP, marble-coloured 1LP, double Cassette, CD, a deluxe CD package with a Blu-ray featuring an instrumental version of the record and a Dolby Atmos mix of the album, and digital formats.
Shred-meister and Eric Johnson expert Andy Wood joins us to talk about EJ’s best tracks, albums, and more. Whether you’re a fellow expert or don’t know where to start, Andy’s got you covered, from studio albums to live tracks. Come with questions, leave with homework!
Walrus Audio's MAKO MkII Series offers premium all-in-one, multi-algorithm pedals with improved tonality, new UI, and added controls for versatility. Featuring new amplifier models, OLED navigation screens, and updated programs based on user feedback, these pedals are designed for inspiring studio-grade tones.
Walrus Audio is excited to announce the release of their highly ambitious and highly anticipated MAKO MkII series. With the original MAKO line, players were offered premium all-in-one, multi-algorithm models for with the D1 Delay, R1 Reverb, and M1 Modulation, as well as top-of-the-line amp and cabinet simulation with the ACS1. After four years of real-world use and experience with the first generation, the team went to work applying everything they learned and heard from players to make the next generation of MAKO pedals even better.
Each pedal in the MAKO Series has been redesigned and rebuilt for vast improvements in tonality, new UI with the addition of an OLED navigation menu screen, and added secondary controls for even greater versatility. Dialing in these inspiring studio grade tones has never been easier and has never sounded better.
The ACS1 MkII features three new amplifier models to go with the three existing models, all inspired by high-gain amps for heavy-style players to get people moving:
- The distinctively raw and punchy Peavey® 5150.
- The warm, rich, and harmonically complex Orange® Rockerverb.
- The world-famous, in-your-face Mesa Boogie® Dual Rectifier.
Additional updates on the series are as follows:
- OLED navigation screen menu for improved UI.
- Increased headroom and lowered noise floor for tonal improvement.
- Rebuilt and fine tuned programs based on user feedback.
- All six R1 programs completely rebuilt from the ground up.
- All new Grain Delay algorithm on the D1.
- Six additional cabinet models for the ACS1, designed by Justin York at York Audio.
- Total BPM Control and BPM Readout on screen for time-based effects.
- Now 128 on-board presets.
- Many new program controls (ex. size control on R1, noise gate on ACS1).
- Flanger sound added to the Chorus algorithm on M1.
MAKO MkII Series pedals are packaged in custom anodized aluminum enclosures. Exact sizes for all four pedals is 4.9” x2.52” x 2.64”. Power requirement for all four pedals is 9VDC (300mA minimum).
Walrus Audio is offering the R1 MkII, D1 MkII, and M1 MkII for $399.99. The ACS1 MkII is offered at $449.99. All are available for preorder now at walrusaudio.com and through authorized dealers with expected shipment starting in mid-October.
For more information, please visit walrusaudio.com.