Aspen Unknown

Aspen was a brand name used by International Music Corp. (IMC), one of the companies that pioneered guitar making in Japan, then later in Korea. The guitars from the '70s were most likely produced at a Tokai plant outside of Nagoya. However, in those days there were over 60 guitar plants in the Nagoya area, and dozens more sub factories, so tracing the exact provenence of any instrument is all but impossible.

After 1979, almost all the Aspen production was shifted to the Samick plant in Korea. Tokai went out of business in the mid '90s and Samick stopped producing guitars in Korea around 1998.

I got the same guitar as Mike (the first reviewer) and it is awesome!! mine is mettalic blue with sealed grover tuners, floyd rose bridge, humbucker PAF sealed pickups and an ash (that's right, genuine ash tree wood) neck!!!

You can tune this puppy to do anything from metal to punk! This can be so loud too!

Pro-ass guitar, perfect setup, fast action, no flaws WHATSOEVER!

This guitar is pretty solid. there are a few scratches on it, but it must have taken a lot of work to put them there and the strap buttons are nuke-proof!

I definitely prefer this over my yamaha, montana and other yamaha. If i lost it i would be devastated.

this is a sweet ass guitar.. it's got grover machines with a locking bridge.. there's two allan keys in a groovy little holder on the back of the neck.. the neck has a very sensitive playability and doesn't need a lot of work to crank out those harmonics bends or a combination of the two.. it's got a strat style body. with a shiny jet black finish, a black pickguard and back cover. and black metal knobs. the headstock is angled back and the whole neck looks like maple.. it's the only part of the guitar that's not black or chrome. 21 fret neck with three single coil pickups that are completely black.. they almost look like sensorarys. the bar just pops in, while my friends winding his into hhis fender singin' spin the black circle ii'm plugged in and playin there's a fancy marble inlay of "Aspen".. i threw my big muff at it and put a dent rightat the top.. but still it's sweet to look at.. i've only had one problem with it. the five way selector has loose connections and skips out if you try and select it while playin. so i leave it on one setting.. but the store said they'd fix it. i love the fine tuners.. but recently i haven't been using them cuz i've been playing with different tunings like drop z or something.. 3 frets down. it's heavy but sweet...if i went to a shop.. forget the freekin fender strats.. and buy one of these.. they have better parts.. better necks and the body is the same basically.. they're sweet

i use a big muff pi and a samick sm 10 40 watt amp... i found that the pickups aren't as loud as my old aria pro. which i broke and sold for 100 canadian. heh heh.. sucker... but they still put out the selector gives a deep zombie sound when tuned down to that drop q or whatever and a nice thunderstruck whip the turkey sound when all the way south.. it 's perfect for playing sabbath and such and it looks mean.. i have a harmony i bought for 20 bucks and i love the pickups. 1983 1x3" pickups all chrome.. they sound better. and they skweel like a pig in a headlock. but you only need that for crazy rhoads solos and such the muff adds good depth too..

when i bought this it was used.. so i had to fix the selector and put a new screw in one side of the pickup, the store did it fer me so this beast was put together like a freekin rolls royce.. everything was neatly in it's place. the screw and selector was the owner's fault from tinkering.. but it was immaculate

other that the dent i put in it with my muff (don't get pissed off with a muff in yer hand,.) it's in good shape.. a few surface scratches from my aluminum picks. after a slight adgustment to the selector contacts.. this'll last.. i'd keep a backup... just in case strings break.. those aluminum and stainless picks have a cool sound but they work like hacksaws

my mom is friends with the guy who owns the store/shop. so i can get it fixed whenever.. but it's the same as any other strat. so generic parts'll werk.. as for the company... i don't care really.. it'll last. and i'm good with electronics so home repair will do fine.

I've been playin for 7 years.. i started with an acoustic yamaha for a few months.. then my parent's bought me a passing gift. (i was starting grade 6 i think.. yeah i was.. anyway, they got me a combo of a aria pro 2 strat. cherry red.. nice sounding.. but not very well made.. looks like a one day wonder, a ross practice amp, and a stand. last year my friend and i were goofin around and he hit it.. it fell against the wall.. i felt so lousy , it broke just paast the first machine.. so.. we went down that day.. a 10 min walk to Marie's Place and i spotted this aspen... I was looking at samicks.. but this was shining.. i didn't even play it i held it. got a feel of it. and took it home.. i hid it under my bed. and used my window curtain to cover the break.. i felt so bad cuz i broke my parent's gift.. but anyway.. i hid it for 3 weeks till one day they finally noticed. after seeing it a few times and said.. what did you do paint your guitar.. ,well no i bought a new one.. they were happy.. cuz i spent my moula wisely.. i glued the headstock back together.. gave it a crappy acryilic purple paintjob and sold it fer 100..haha.. a while later i traded a 12 string in partial, for a sovtek big muff pi.. sweet. and i got a samick s-10 those little puppies sure do bark and bite! i use d'darrio classic rock strings and tekpic aluminum picks, or cheep vinyls depends on my mood. i play sabbath.. and classic rock.. hendrix toiron butterfly.. i also love funky wah bands like rainbow butt monkeys... i have plans for the harmony.. my friends bro got it in '83 and it's parts are all toop mounted so i'll make a body or two..really outta there bodies.. and switch back and forth with a few screws.