Who are the main Korean guitar manufacturers and who do they make guitars for?`

normal stuff..

Trees up here in Finland are pine, birch, all good only to manufacture paper. Not alot of hardwood. Which is a bloody good thing. Like them forrests. Some local builders use local trees in high-end guitars, saw a document on the TV. But that's marginal. We got some maple, oak etc. No rosewood or mahogany. A strat oozing tree-resin would be nice! :D
 
I found this I posted a long while back.

I went to a Samick site today in search of my geetar...could not find it But I did find a few interesting facts. Samick is not owned by Gibson, but does produce some guitars for them(Epiphone)...You pay for the name just the same as name-brand clothing. Indonesia is the biggest production country of the Samick Acoustics.There are mixed reveiws on them. The Korean made Samicks are considered the lower end of the electrics.Univox,Unicord, Westbury,Korg,Samick,Fender,Gibson,and others are all associated one way or another.There were lawsuits for copying styles etc.Some of the guitars are of good quality....They are made up of good tone woods, some exotic. Ovangkohl and Ebony from Africa,Rosewood from India and Rock Maple from North America.It is like anything else...Different strokes for different geetar taste.I wish I knew how to find out about mine though.If anyone has any suggestions for a Different t
 
This was posted by Richard Monroe that day too....

I've actually met Mr. Samick, the owner, and at least one of his sons, and I assure you, *he* owns Samick, not Epiphone, or Schecter, or Gibson, or anybody else. I do own 2 Samick made guitars. An Epiphone Les Paul Deluxe, and a Casino. The Les Paul is a *great* guitar, but it needed new pickups. The Casino is a fair guitar, and will need new pickups eventually. I didn't like the tuners, which I replaced. I can't say much about Mr. Samick's guitar business. I met him in another capacity, as a designer and builder of some of the finest Olympic target bows in the world, as well as a number of cheap student bows.
I do quite a bit of archery coaching, and Mr. Samick was seeking input from American dealers and coaches on what products they would like to see. If you think about it, there are similarities in the technology- Laminated wood under tension from strings, etc. I also own an Epi SG, a wicked cheapie, made in Indonesia, which is a pretty good waaay cheap guitar, but not anywhere near the league of the Les Paul. I don't know if that one is a Samick.-Richie


Here is a link to the thread...there may be more info on Korean made guitars there...https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=156902&highlight=samick
 
True, thanks for the excellent info and links.

I checked out the Samick Guitars web site at www.samickguitar.com and I must confess that I am intrigued by the Greg Bennett line. There is an incredible variety of body styles and pickup configurations.

In their line of solid-body electrics, prices range from about $170.00 to $500.00. They have both set-neck and bolt-on models, arch-tops, flat-tops, even a model with dual P-90s. They look like incredible bargains and I'm thinking of picking up....errr, several. :D
 
Yeah, the ones I've played at stores seemed pretty well built. Not a Gibson, but at least as good as a lower to mid range Epiphone (which is more than likely built by them anyway).

I've never heard on plugged in, though, so I can't vouch for that. What I liked was that they offered some with lipstick pickups.

Good luck. If you get one, let me know how you like it.
 
notCardio said:
Yeah, the ones I've played at stores seemed pretty well built. Not a Gibson, but at least as good as a lower to mid range Epiphone (which is more than likely built by them anyway).

I've never heard on plugged in, though, so I can't vouch for that. What I liked was that they offered some with lipstick pickups.

Good luck. If you get one, let me know how you like it.
Will do. :)
 
My post in the Samick thread....can anyone here help with ID'ing my Samick? I have listed some features, I forgot to list before in italics. I also edited in Bold.

I bought a used Samick a couple of years back,and it is a beautiful geetar! The front of the body is a Translucent black,encircled(Binding) with Ivory, then an encircling inlay of Abalone. Mother of Pearl flowers/cattails/leaves vining up the neck. I don't know what woods it is crafted from,but a deep,deep amber-brown color on back of body and neck. It also has Gold hardware, with two dual humbuckers(not sure if I said that right). It is absolutely Gorgeous! It plays very nice (I wouldn't dare call myself a player). It is not bulky, nor too heavy, and the neck is slim. Just right for my hands... ... I like its tone myself. I'll let you know in another 7-8 yrs if it has held up well. By the way, mine is made in Korea....The tone and volume knobs(2) are not gold though...they are plastic with numbers on them. One toggle switch of Ivory color....It is a neck thru body also. The body is shaped like the Greg Bennett Ultramatic and the Double humbuckers look the same. Headstock is pretty close too. No sig of course, nor a circle around the S.

I also have a Samick Acoustic which is made in Indonesia...I don't "attempt" to play it nearly as much as the electric....Edit~Months back, I traded this in on a Crafter which I like better for tone.

I had a Samick electric Bass, which I traded like an Idiot. I think I can get it back though. Once again, the neck on this bass was much slimmer than most,hence easier for me to errrr...try to play. And that is all the knowledge I can share without looking too retarded.....

Tardo Edit!! I am sooooo retardo...I just reread this post from a while back in the Samick thread. My bass was/is a Spector, not a Samick!! :D By the way, I got it back a few months back. It had never sold. I should maybe wonder why eh? :eek:
 
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Thanks for the infos, True-eurt, I've got a couple of G&L Tributes, which are AFAIK made in Korea, though by whom I do not know, and a PRS Santana SE, which, according to the headstock was made by the 'World Musical instrument Co. Ltd, Korea', and Googling for that name gave me the following nugget of information:


Originally Posted by Ibanez249
Apparently, PRS SE's are made by the same guys that do the Samick guitars, and I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole.

Bull****... SE's are made by the World Musical Instrument Co. Ltd. of Korea, a (relatively) small Korean manufacturer. I own one - a Singlecut Soapbar SE - and I'm here to tell you they're great guitars for the money. I also own an Edwards 335 (Japanese), 7 Ernie Ball Music Man guitars and a PRS Standard 24, so I know what a quality-built guitar is like. The Cort-factory Ibanez's and the Epi/Samick stuff has nothing on the PRS SE series, imho...
 
true-eurt said:
It had never sold. I should maybe wonder why eh? :eek:

the spectors i've played were pretty solid basses. it could be the not so familiar name that kept it from selling. or maybe it's pink with lime green poka dots?
 
Mr songwriter said:
Thanks for the infos, True-eurt, I've got a couple of G&L Tributes, which are AFAIK made in Korea, though by whom I do not know, and a PRS Santana SE, which, according to the headstock was made by the 'World Musical instrument Co. Ltd, Korea', and Googling for that name gave me the following nugget of information:

Well, to let you know that you may want to disregard my opinion on the subject, I've tried a few SEs out and I thought they were all terrible. I'd take an Epi almost anything over them. So your tastes and mine must not run in similar directions.
 
I bought a used Samick back in '98, my first electric guitar, got it used for 150 bucks at a store in Rochester, MN. I think the exact model was LB-10-SB, is a strat copy, it says it was made in Indonesia.
Now, 8 years later I own 3 real Strats, including a 1978. It dosn't measure up to the real ones, but I gotta say that the Samick still holds its ground, I replaced the pickups for some Dimarzios, and when you play it, the neck is one of the most confortable I've ever played, and the way it sounds, you would never believe it's a laminated body.

Now I use it as an autograph guitar, everytime I can get a famous guitar player to sign one of my guitars, that's the one... it already has 5 signatures.
 
notCardio said:
Well, to let you know that you may want to disregard my opinion on the subject, I've tried a few SEs out and I thought they were all terrible. I'd take an Epi almost anything over them. So your tastes and mine must not run in similar directions.

I'm not madly in love in with my SE or anything, I realise you're not going to get true PRS quality for what I paid, but I think it's OK, the nut is ludicrously thick and I don't like the trem, and the pickups are nothing special but I find it to be a very playable guitar, it just fits me well, Epi's are OK, IMO, but they just don't make the kind of guitar I'm interested in.
 
This Samick thread is interesting. I was looking for the Brook Mays store that was going out of business here in St Louis (Chesterfield) and came across this other store that's a Samick manufacturer outlet store.

They had mostly Samick/Greg Bennett stuff (and some Jackson's, Epi's, Silvertone, etc). Seemed like decent pricing and the instruments looked fine. I didn't stick around long, but I might go back in the future to spend some quality time playing them.

the other thing that was cool (for those with kids) is that they had some nice sounding violins for $135. That's about what Fazio's charges for rental for the school year. At that price we could have a violin burning ceramony after they stop using it after 5th grade...
 
Fusioninspace said:
This Samick thread is interesting. I was looking for the Brook Mays store that was going out of business here in St Louis (Chesterfield) and came across this other store that's a Samick manufacturer outlet store.

They had mostly Samick/Greg Bennett stuff (and some Jackson's, Epi's, Silvertone, etc). Seemed like decent pricing and the instruments looked fine. I didn't stick around long, but I might go back in the future to spend some quality time playing them.

the other thing that was cool (for those with kids) is that they had some nice sounding violins for $135. That's about what Fazio's charges for rental for the school year. At that price we could have a violin burning ceramony after they stop using it after 5th grade...
Where's this place in Chesterfield? I thought I knew where all the guitar mongers worth knowing were located. I've never heard of the Brook Mays store at all. Hmmmm...
 
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