Factory Tour: Behind the Scenes at Ovation, Martin, Taylor - Acoustic Guitar Mag Article

This is a November 1999 issue of Acoustic Guitar Magazine featuring a 'Gear Special' factory tour article by Teja Gerken, covering the manufacturing processes at several major guitar companies including Martin, Taylor, Ovation, Lakewood, Larrivée, La Si Do (Seagull, Godin, La Patrie, Simon and Patrick), and Tacoma. The article explores the debate between handmade versus factory-made guitars and walks readers through the key steps of guitar manufacturing including wood selection, body building, neck construction, finishing, and final assembly. Ovation is mentioned specifically in the context of using inflated fire hoses to glue fingerboards onto necks and hydraulically operated clamping mechanisms for binding.