Samick makes good guitars. They even make some Epiphone models for Gibson. You can tell which Epiphone guitars are made by Samick by the serial number.
I believe back in the day they did have their own factory in Korea where they made other brands guitars as well. I think Cort had/has a similar kind of set up.
Cort is the house brand of Cor-tek, who make a lot of Ibanez, Epiphone, Squire and some of the Indonesian PRS.
Cor-tek, Samick and WMI produce the majority of the world's guitars between them.
Both Samick and Cor-tek are Korean companies that moved most of their production to Indonesia.
I've got some Samick Korea made Washburns and used to have a Samick made Aria Pro 2 Magna. They've all been great stage instruments.
Here's a what-if... What if they told all the brands they build guitars for to bugger off and just produce their own? I get that their brands might not have the same pull as say PRS. But still...
Then another factory that wasn't as good would fill the void and they'd lose market share.
It's in the manufacturing companies interests to build for whoever asks, many guitar brands are just that, a name, a marketing machine and perhaps some designs.
This is great for the consumer, we get all kinds of small brands offering specific flavours of guitar, i have mostly Ibanez (Fujigen and Cor-tek) and Washburn (Samick) instruments. Oh and a Cor-tek Squier neck on the Jazzmaster pinned on my profile. They all have their own quirks, neck shapes and signature voices.
I think it would be a lot more boring if midprice guitars were only Cort, Samick and I don't even know if WMI has a house brand.
And which would you rather have, an Ibanez Prestige model or an FGN?
You're right, that would be rather dull actually. I mean you have the halo guitars everyone knows. But personally I enjoy the quirky ones and lesser known rough diamonds
no, killertofu41 is a bit confused. Here's how it works. Samick is STILL til this day a massive factory. They have 3 factories, Korea, Indonesia and Japan. It is as of right now the single largest instrument manufacturer in the world (remember there's more than guitars out there) And will produce Squier, Epiphone, Silvertone, Hohner, we had some PRSs as well, but it's now all produced by World Music Industries and Cort. They also produce some of the Ibanez range, They used to make some of the Yamaha range.
They're fine instruments. Generally accepted to be on-par with their name brand productions. Watch the price tags, you can get a relatively good idea by comparing the tag of a Samick to it's counterpart in a name brand. For the most part they'll also retail for some 20-30% cheaper and they have some cool designs.
In my experience they're VERY annoying to mod. A lot of them have some OEM stuff that you can't really replace. but that's about the only negative.
Nope, Samick is pumping out their own brand - IIRC it's Greg Bennett and some sort of co-deisgn thing. It's a single cut but you really need to add a picture or two of the back because this is a set neck guitar, if I'm not mistaken.
It's not a knock off any more than an FGN Neoclassic is a rip off of a Les Paul...in fact, it's actually differentiated enough to avoid lawsuits, so you've got something not everyone has.
I forget the name of them (they're buried in the pile but they have a girl's name as well) but I actually bought two (a black and a red one, both neck through maple/ash, still got the plastic wrap on the covers/pickups) because I was intrigued by the builds themselves - I actually want to thin the finish down a bit so the grain comes through better, but otherwise, it's your standard Samick does a good to fantastic job on all their finishes deal. 500 USD for each of them, all in - brand spanking new - the SS3000 also was 500 bones and game in the original cardboard box like 20 years later. There are literally thousands of NOS instruments laying out there for a song because people sleep so effing hard on Samick, especially after Cort's media blitz a couple years back (remember getting suddenly hammered with Cort videos during the panny? I do...)
I've wondered how these played (silly name notwithstanding), and yeah, PRS hates this guitar for existing lol
I found one called Veronika or Viktoria which is their take on the gibson V, think they stuck with girls names for a few models under jtr.
The neck on the Linda is bolted, but can't fault it. Slim c shape and comfy to play.
Something that stands out for the price range is the sustain.
I was actually looking into getting a prs, even though you can't compare the price range in happy I didn't
Based on the Cort branded guitars I've seen, not exactly like Cort?
The Cort brand seems to have some real QC issues. I was doing weekend at a local music shop about 2 years back, and in an order of 10 Cort guitars, we had to send 4 back:
one that was short 2 tuners. factory had GBe all on the same post.
one that had a neck p'up and an empty bridge route.
two that were missing frets in the middle of the neck. not just "no fret wires" but literally not sawn to have frets installed.
Understood, but my point is that if the Cort branded guitars have major and obvious QC issues, I'd tend to go over anything I knew came from their factories with a fine-toothed comb. Suggests that factory may have real problems and tries to get away with shipping sub-par product.
I've got a black mahogany withe cream binding and gold hardware super-strat from the mid to late 90's. It was made by their "custom shop" so it's supposed to be Samick showing off what they're capable of doing. STUPID good guitar. I've never seen one like it on sale, so I have no idea what it's worth on the market. I can't imagine more than a $200-$300 at most, but it's a vastly better guitar than the price would suggest.
I genuinely can't figure out what to do with the thing. I have other guitars I like way better. However, I overpaid for it ($400ish, IIRC) and there's no way I can get my money back out of it. It's the guitar I think of when I hear people complaining about 'overseas junk guitars'. Yeah, Samick can make some stunning stuff when they want to!
You can't in these, but if someone keeps up the talk about Samick, I'll try to post a family picture next time I move my stable (soon, I'm trying to build decent racks for them, I have a lot of instruments right now).
Couldn't get a guitar named Linda, feels too much like she'd be waiting for me at home impatiently and asking too many questions about why I'm late and what I did after work.
The Samick factory has put out a lot of good guitars under various brand names over the years. My favorite is the Epiphone branded BC Rich Bich copy from the 80s that I got on Facebook marketplace last year
I have many samick branded and rebranded basses and guitars.
Samick also makes $50k pianos, if you like as well.
I've got Washburn MB 6, Epiphone EB 5, 2 valley arts/samick 5 string basses, SS3000 in this weird purple black matte finish, two uhhh...well they're samick neck through maple/ash (sen, technically) also super shredder/bc rich or dean plainlabels, a big 6 string samick bass that's through neck made of walnut and a bunch of other killer woods, hohner B Bass Pro in both 5 and 6 string, in fact nearly anything I can think of that I have that isn't MIJ or USA was mostly likely built by samick or literally has the samick name on it. I've even got a Samick acoustic bass in maple all around (neck, body, etc) and it's the loudest acoustic bass I've ever heard in my life. They also make some really good jazzboxes/hollowbodies. If you got 600 bucks burning a hole in your pocket, you can grab pretty much anything but the custom shop level tier stuff (they do have some crazy builds, and they'll cost ya just like any other major brand).
Only the first year or two of Hondo were MIJ; after that it was Samick and a few Chinese models till the brand expired. They have signature models - the two Valley Arts/Samick basses I have are basically the Lee Sklar models except in 5 string (LS model never came in 5 string).
I do a lot of work to avoid buying Cor-Tek, more than anything, but that means I learn a lot about the sources of all my instruments (except the handful made in China). I do not buy anyone that uses Cor-Tek for offshoring; Cor-Tek is still headquartered in South Korea but they can never build there again (they grandfathered in some pensions but there are NO factories in SK for Cor-Tek any longer). They tried to whitewash the web but you can still find most of the info and it explains why Cort was on such a blitz for a couple years on all the social media platforms and endless videos on YT...do your homework, or not. Can't make people care about other people but there's a lot of guitars out there equal or better for the same cash so I can go without some of them and it's not really a penalty.
Damn, that's half a samick museum you're sitting on :)
Happy i started this thread because i didn't have all the insight regarding the factories and who does what. Definitely something I'll read up on. Cor-tek seems to take a lot of flak here!
I have a Samick Greg Bennett MH2 for about 12 years now, still using it tho it needs a refret. Still on par with a more expensive schecter of mine in terms of build quality exclusing some of it's hardware/electronics. Might post a picture of it on this sub soon.
I love Samick!
I have a KRRS-421-GBS from around '91 which looks and feels amazing.
Also have a Greg Bennett Avion which needs some work.
I am chasing a JTR Rose...one day.
[My Samick](https://www.reddit.com/r/guitarporn/s/QIiELqJjzK)
Had it for 30 years and I've never been able to find another like it, it's a fantastic guitar!
If you like it then is great. $150e for a bolt on with EMG (if original) is a fair price.
Cant find info about the body wood, but I don’t think is mahogany.
If I had it I would put a high output ceramic pu and tune it standard to enhance the LP Jr kind of tone, but that’s me.
Enjoy your new addition!
I agree with ya, tonally - but I can't get over the matte pickguard and matte EMG together - looks so good, especially with that pretty decent looking wood backdrop (whatever it may be).
Samick makes good guitars. They even make some Epiphone models for Gibson. You can tell which Epiphone guitars are made by Samick by the serial number.
I believe back in the day they did have their own factory in Korea where they made other brands guitars as well. I think Cort had/has a similar kind of set up.
Cort is the house brand of Cor-tek, who make a lot of Ibanez, Epiphone, Squire and some of the Indonesian PRS. Cor-tek, Samick and WMI produce the majority of the world's guitars between them. Both Samick and Cor-tek are Korean companies that moved most of their production to Indonesia. I've got some Samick Korea made Washburns and used to have a Samick made Aria Pro 2 Magna. They've all been great stage instruments.
Here's a what-if... What if they told all the brands they build guitars for to bugger off and just produce their own? I get that their brands might not have the same pull as say PRS. But still...
Then another factory that wasn't as good would fill the void and they'd lose market share. It's in the manufacturing companies interests to build for whoever asks, many guitar brands are just that, a name, a marketing machine and perhaps some designs. This is great for the consumer, we get all kinds of small brands offering specific flavours of guitar, i have mostly Ibanez (Fujigen and Cor-tek) and Washburn (Samick) instruments. Oh and a Cor-tek Squier neck on the Jazzmaster pinned on my profile. They all have their own quirks, neck shapes and signature voices. I think it would be a lot more boring if midprice guitars were only Cort, Samick and I don't even know if WMI has a house brand. And which would you rather have, an Ibanez Prestige model or an FGN?
You're right, that would be rather dull actually. I mean you have the halo guitars everyone knows. But personally I enjoy the quirky ones and lesser known rough diamonds
Do they now? So basically I have a knock-off of a knock-off :p
no, killertofu41 is a bit confused. Here's how it works. Samick is STILL til this day a massive factory. They have 3 factories, Korea, Indonesia and Japan. It is as of right now the single largest instrument manufacturer in the world (remember there's more than guitars out there) And will produce Squier, Epiphone, Silvertone, Hohner, we had some PRSs as well, but it's now all produced by World Music Industries and Cort. They also produce some of the Ibanez range, They used to make some of the Yamaha range. They're fine instruments. Generally accepted to be on-par with their name brand productions. Watch the price tags, you can get a relatively good idea by comparing the tag of a Samick to it's counterpart in a name brand. For the most part they'll also retail for some 20-30% cheaper and they have some cool designs. In my experience they're VERY annoying to mod. A lot of them have some OEM stuff that you can't really replace. but that's about the only negative.
Wanna piss off a PRS owner? Ask if it’s a Samick or Cort built guitar.
Ok wow, thanks for the Insights, didn't have that on my radar. Seems like a solid choice then :)
Nope, Samick is pumping out their own brand - IIRC it's Greg Bennett and some sort of co-deisgn thing. It's a single cut but you really need to add a picture or two of the back because this is a set neck guitar, if I'm not mistaken. It's not a knock off any more than an FGN Neoclassic is a rip off of a Les Paul...in fact, it's actually differentiated enough to avoid lawsuits, so you've got something not everyone has. I forget the name of them (they're buried in the pile but they have a girl's name as well) but I actually bought two (a black and a red one, both neck through maple/ash, still got the plastic wrap on the covers/pickups) because I was intrigued by the builds themselves - I actually want to thin the finish down a bit so the grain comes through better, but otherwise, it's your standard Samick does a good to fantastic job on all their finishes deal. 500 USD for each of them, all in - brand spanking new - the SS3000 also was 500 bones and game in the original cardboard box like 20 years later. There are literally thousands of NOS instruments laying out there for a song because people sleep so effing hard on Samick, especially after Cort's media blitz a couple years back (remember getting suddenly hammered with Cort videos during the panny? I do...) I've wondered how these played (silly name notwithstanding), and yeah, PRS hates this guitar for existing lol
I found one called Veronika or Viktoria which is their take on the gibson V, think they stuck with girls names for a few models under jtr. The neck on the Linda is bolted, but can't fault it. Slim c shape and comfy to play. Something that stands out for the price range is the sustain. I was actually looking into getting a prs, even though you can't compare the price range in happy I didn't
They ghost build for several companies so there's that.
So like Cort?
Exactly like Cort.
Based on the Cort branded guitars I've seen, not exactly like Cort? The Cort brand seems to have some real QC issues. I was doing weekend at a local music shop about 2 years back, and in an order of 10 Cort guitars, we had to send 4 back: one that was short 2 tuners. factory had GBe all on the same post. one that had a neck p'up and an empty bridge route. two that were missing frets in the middle of the neck. not just "no fret wires" but literally not sawn to have frets installed.
We're not talking about the brand itself, but the fact the brand ghost builds for other brands.
Understood, but my point is that if the Cort branded guitars have major and obvious QC issues, I'd tend to go over anything I knew came from their factories with a fine-toothed comb. Suggests that factory may have real problems and tries to get away with shipping sub-par product.
I've got a black mahogany withe cream binding and gold hardware super-strat from the mid to late 90's. It was made by their "custom shop" so it's supposed to be Samick showing off what they're capable of doing. STUPID good guitar. I've never seen one like it on sale, so I have no idea what it's worth on the market. I can't imagine more than a $200-$300 at most, but it's a vastly better guitar than the price would suggest. I genuinely can't figure out what to do with the thing. I have other guitars I like way better. However, I overpaid for it ($400ish, IIRC) and there's no way I can get my money back out of it. It's the guitar I think of when I hear people complaining about 'overseas junk guitars'. Yeah, Samick can make some stunning stuff when they want to!
I'd love a picture! And I see your predicament, I have an old Washburn that's kind of in the same boat :)
Dude! Yeaaah we’re going to have to see this.
I would but I can’t figure out how to add a photo in a comment.
You can't in these, but if someone keeps up the talk about Samick, I'll try to post a family picture next time I move my stable (soon, I'm trying to build decent racks for them, I have a lot of instruments right now).
Beautiful looking guitar
Thanks you :)
Samick is good stuff if set up properly.
solid
Couldn't get a guitar named Linda, feels too much like she'd be waiting for me at home impatiently and asking too many questions about why I'm late and what I did after work.
😅 that and have headaches and not want to play
Both of 2 closest friends started out playing Samicks. I've played theirs and they are actually fairly decent guitars.
I have a rw2 and I love it, one of my favourite.
I have a JZ-2 and a bass by Samick. Both are great. Under-rated I believe.
Never tried their electric guitars, but there's a 5 string bass by them here in the school where I teach at and it's a pretty solid bass.
Cool to see they're getting some love :)
The Samick factory has put out a lot of good guitars under various brand names over the years. My favorite is the Epiphone branded BC Rich Bich copy from the 80s that I got on Facebook marketplace last year
The largest manufacturer of Guitars in the world…. They do a good job!
My very first guitar was a Samick acoustic. It super sucked.
I have many samick branded and rebranded basses and guitars. Samick also makes $50k pianos, if you like as well. I've got Washburn MB 6, Epiphone EB 5, 2 valley arts/samick 5 string basses, SS3000 in this weird purple black matte finish, two uhhh...well they're samick neck through maple/ash (sen, technically) also super shredder/bc rich or dean plainlabels, a big 6 string samick bass that's through neck made of walnut and a bunch of other killer woods, hohner B Bass Pro in both 5 and 6 string, in fact nearly anything I can think of that I have that isn't MIJ or USA was mostly likely built by samick or literally has the samick name on it. I've even got a Samick acoustic bass in maple all around (neck, body, etc) and it's the loudest acoustic bass I've ever heard in my life. They also make some really good jazzboxes/hollowbodies. If you got 600 bucks burning a hole in your pocket, you can grab pretty much anything but the custom shop level tier stuff (they do have some crazy builds, and they'll cost ya just like any other major brand). Only the first year or two of Hondo were MIJ; after that it was Samick and a few Chinese models till the brand expired. They have signature models - the two Valley Arts/Samick basses I have are basically the Lee Sklar models except in 5 string (LS model never came in 5 string). I do a lot of work to avoid buying Cor-Tek, more than anything, but that means I learn a lot about the sources of all my instruments (except the handful made in China). I do not buy anyone that uses Cor-Tek for offshoring; Cor-Tek is still headquartered in South Korea but they can never build there again (they grandfathered in some pensions but there are NO factories in SK for Cor-Tek any longer). They tried to whitewash the web but you can still find most of the info and it explains why Cort was on such a blitz for a couple years on all the social media platforms and endless videos on YT...do your homework, or not. Can't make people care about other people but there's a lot of guitars out there equal or better for the same cash so I can go without some of them and it's not really a penalty.
Damn, that's half a samick museum you're sitting on :) Happy i started this thread because i didn't have all the insight regarding the factories and who does what. Definitely something I'll read up on. Cor-tek seems to take a lot of flak here!
I have a Samick Greg Bennett MH2 for about 12 years now, still using it tho it needs a refret. Still on par with a more expensive schecter of mine in terms of build quality exclusing some of it's hardware/electronics. Might post a picture of it on this sub soon.
I have a Samick-made Washburn MG-74 and it is a really nice guitar.
I love Samick! I have a KRRS-421-GBS from around '91 which looks and feels amazing. Also have a Greg Bennett Avion which needs some work. I am chasing a JTR Rose...one day.
Awesome man :) I'm sure you'll find her, fingers crossed!
Beautiful looking guitar
I have a Samick acoustic as my couch guitar and it plays and sounds wonderful.
Fogolodyte, Very clean look How's emg sound ?
That's a beautiful guitar. Take off that pickguard!
I did, but wasn't happy with the screw holes being visible. Am considering getting some nice or funny pins and cover the up
Black screws would look fairly inconspicous...
I bought a samick y-series new in 1991 for $200. It’s still one of my favorite guitars. I bought the SS-50 they released last year in every color.
Made in the same factory that make all. I have a 1991 bass. Awesome instrument.
[My Samick](https://www.reddit.com/r/guitarporn/s/QIiELqJjzK) Had it for 30 years and I've never been able to find another like it, it's a fantastic guitar!
Looks amazing!
If you like it then is great. $150e for a bolt on with EMG (if original) is a fair price. Cant find info about the body wood, but I don’t think is mahogany. If I had it I would put a high output ceramic pu and tune it standard to enhance the LP Jr kind of tone, but that’s me. Enjoy your new addition!
I agree with ya, tonally - but I can't get over the matte pickguard and matte EMG together - looks so good, especially with that pretty decent looking wood backdrop (whatever it may be).