Samick Strat-quite surprised

[Bill Beck]

I picked up a mint Samick Valley Arts Pro Strat for my 15 year old daughter from a TDPRI'r (thanks Ringo) and am very surprised at the quality. Maybe I got a good one, but it has a very light alder body, nice neck, good fret job, decent electronics, and a very nice fit all the way around. Since I am "Stratless" right now, I may borrow it once in awhile...sounds decent through the Vox Pacemaker 15..."Team Korea" :D

[telemike]

When I was in New Orleans sometime last year, I walked up on a guy sitting in the street playing a black tele through a little battery powered amp. Of course, I had to go over and take a closer look. It was a Samick tele. He sounded pretty dang good too.

[Mark Davis]

Samick makes so many guitars for so many companies you would be surprised.

[mojo2001]

About ten years ago I was a Samick Valley Arts strat nut. Bought about 5 or 6 of them ($75-125)...and every one was different, like most brands output I suppose. Two were real killers and stood out from the others.

One mod that will really bring those suckers to life is to fit some decent CTS pots in place of the mediocre Korean fare. I think they were junky mini pots from the factory. The switch isn't too great either but I am not sure of the immediate sonic effect of changing the switch if it is working OK. Good pots really open the tone up and is well worth $15 bucks and an hour of your time

But overall, yeah they are great budget guitars with real nice necks.

[Lonn]

I've bought many nice Samicks over the years. Very overlooked because they don't say Fender on the headstock. That's ok though.... more for me!

[ROADMAN]

[charlie chitlin]

I think my Epiphone Zephyr Blues Deluxe is a Samick.
Amazing bang for the buck.
Incredible, actually.
I wish the neck wood was as cool as the back (the stripe is killer), but that's pretty minor.
My buddy's 335-ish one (Sheraton?) has great stripe on the neck, but not on the back.
I wonder if you can get both.

[Mark Davis]

A "I" at the beginning means manufactured by Sae In (Korea); "U" means by Unsung (Korea); "P" means Peerless (Korea); "S" means Samick (Korea);

"R" have allegedly been manufactured in the Aria plant;

DW = DeaWon (China); EA = Gibson/QingDao (China); EE = Gibson/QingDao (China); MC = Muse (China); SJ = SaeJung (China); BW = China

"B" (found on some Korina G-400 is Bohêmia Musico-Delicia (Czech Republic);

SI = Samick Indonesia

F = Fujigen (Japan
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

compare your serial number to these and you can see where your Epi was made.

[AnthemBassMan]

-Yep, I will NOT get rid of my Samick Strat either! I bought mine a few months after I started seeing their ads in Guitar World about the giveaway of an SSM-1 Strat copy with blues player autographs on it. Mine is a little ways from stock now. Yes, the pots are the usual cheap, dime sized pots. Those have been replaced with CTS. Also the p'ups are Carvin S60s in the neck and mid, and a Bill Lawrence L-500XL in the bridge. The Carvins are great. They sound like a slightly tougher Strat. And the B.L. is a screamer! Mine has the 21 fret neck too. These guitars are seriously overlooked.



L8R,
Matt D.

[timothy lee]

I am new here so I thought I would jump in with my interest: Korean guitars. The first below is my Samick SSM1-PH BUN, Bubinga top.

[manfesto]

My girlfriend's 80s Squier P-bass came out of the Samick factory (looked up the serial number and read up on Squier's history to find out). A nice creamy white (except where the stickers used to be), no pickguard, super-comfy neck.

It's a sweet bass - every bassist that plays it is surprised by its warm, round tone (and none of them were able to guess it's body was made of plywood!).

So yeah, um, go Samick!

[jrfrond]

Lots of Fender and Squier guitars, right along with Epiphone, Aria, Ibanez, Vantage, et al came from the Samick factory in Korea. They are HUGE, and at one point, they were producing 70% of the world's guitars!!! Then CHina got into the act and the rest is history.

Along with Samick are/were a couple of other Korean factories that did excellent work e.g. Cort, Saehan, Mighty Might and Hyundai.

I was at the Samick factory in '94. It was quite the operation. I have a Fender Korea P-Bass Special that is staying with me. It's just too cool.

[charliebrown]

Originally Posted by Bill Beck

I picked up a mint Samick Valley Arts Pro Strat for my 15 year old daughter from a TDPRI'r (thanks Ringo) and am very surprised at the quality. Maybe I got a good one, but it has a very light alder body, nice neck, good fret job, decent electronics, and a very nice fit all the way around. Since I am "Stratless" right now, I may borrow it once in awhile...sounds decent through the Vox Pacemaker 15..."Team Korea" :D

Hilarious.

I just picked up a Samick "Valley Arts" strat style guitar today for $150. Made in Korea, Transparent flame top-matching headstock, bound neck and body, Wilkinson trem bridge, mini Grover machines, NICE birdseye maple neck. $150??? because it says "Samick"???

It plays like a dream, sustains acoustically as nice as any strat I've played. I've yet to even plug it into my amp. It's a great foundation even if the electronics were shot. Yeah, I'm sure the top must be veneer...no biggie. It's a great playing axe. Highly recommended...jmho, ymmv.

[acousticman1]

I have owned a samick strat for about 3 years (not sure on the year, I bought it used) and was never quite happy with the sound, even when played through a nice tube amp. I finally replaced the electronics with a loaded fernandes pickguard I got for 20 bucks and blocked out the trem cavity and was actually able to get a decent tone. However, the body still feels pretty cheap and the tuners are garbage. However, for the $55 I paid for it, I can't really complain. I feel that if I put some real work into it I would have a decent guitar though, so I can recommend them to anyone looking for a low cost project.

[charliebrown]

Originally Posted by acousticman1

I have owned a samick strat for about 3 years (not sure on the year, I bought it used) and was never quite happy with the sound, even when played through a nice tube amp. I finally replaced the electronics with a loaded fernandes pickguard I got for 20 bucks and blocked out the trem cavity and was actually able to get a decent tone. However, the body still feels pretty cheap and the tuners are garbage. However, for the $55 I paid for it, I can't really complain. I feel that if I put some real work into it I would have a decent guitar though, so I can recommend them to anyone looking for a low cost project.

Mine is currently apart...ordered a new pickguard for it. I decide, since I don't have a guitar with humbuckers that this will be a simple, straight forward dual humbucker with a 3 position switch. Trying to uplad a photo of my model from a guy who owns one also...Saber with a transparent flame top (probably veneer). New pickguard will be just 3-ply black, 2 cutouts for cream/black exposed coil pickups...or I may go with chrome covers or 2 exposed coil pickups...all I know is the original pickguard was "lost" by the previous owner and his attempt at fitting a standard Strat guard was, to put it mildly, a failure...still undecided.

[rangercaster]

my Samick Valley Arts was $199 new (closeout special) ... locking tuners, Duncan import single coils, hardtail bridge ... ... the neck alone is an amazing piece ...

[charliebrown]

$199 closeout on that new is a nice score. I've been amazed at the quality, fit/finish of Korean made guitars for a number of years. Some of Fender and Gibson's Korean imports are nice players. With pickup swaps (which alot of folks do to American made guitars as well) they can be spectacular instruments.

[notryt]

I now own 2 valley arts ssm-1s and they are better that mims and are (arguably) better than american standard.. Ive owned both.. the ssm-1 stock pups are better .. add some giovanni texas specials.. and hands down better.. Ive played too many strat copies... and by far this is the best one I ever played... I wish only I could get my hands on a pre-samick just to see if there is any real noticable difference. Even at the cost of an MIM used this is definitely a way better player. my first strat was an american standard back in (cough) 1973..

[D.Allen]

I will be getting a USA Custom Shop Samick next week at NAMM. It was less then half the cost of most custom builds and quality is excellent for the price.

[hshight]

I've got a late 1990s Samick Tele copy, but the truss rod is useless. Trying to loosen it for a bit of relief, nut is coming off the rod. And it's not string-through. May sell.