Samick 3120 Greg Bennett Torino

The biggest reason why i got this guitar was because of its incredible look.I didn't knew this guitar even exist but when i first saw it at the music store i knew that it was the guitar i was looking for.A 22 Fret neck guitar with real smooth Grover tuners,a beautiful mahogany body,2 Duncan Designed pick ups(which produce a great sound),2 volume and tone controls,a Tune-O-Matic bridge and a great designed head (common in all the greg bennet designed guitars) that i specialy appreciate.I think i've got a new model because i bought it in 2003 and the guitar is black and not red as you can see at samick's oficial site.

I'm a Punk/Hardcore/Metal Player which means i work a lot with high distortions and a lot of gains, so i need a guitar that provides me a clean sound on a high volume level and avoids those extreme noisy feedbacks.I really wasn't expecting this guitar to give me all of that but it happened to give.I was impressed with the great sound its got.

When i bought this guitar i also thought that sooner or later i'd find several flaws on the factory set-up.Pickups adjustment,tuners,treble/rythm switch...In all the this electric area i found nothing.But taking a closer look to the guitar body i found a few almost unseeable small kind of dots which i thing are flaws but i'm not quite shore on that.

I haven't giged with this guitar till now,but i'm pretty shore it'll handle long nights on stage because i really trust on its hardware as i trust the on strap buttons (real solid),on the smooth tuners etc..I can obviously depend on it,and i would certanly use this guitar to gig without a backup.

I've never contacted the company and i can't say much about it,the only thing i know is that i have a 1 year waranty.

I'm not an experiant player i've been playing guitar for about 5 years and i own another Yamaha EG 112 guitar,a small Marshall Amp a Laney Tube fusion 200.If my guitar was stolen(which can easily happen on where i live)i think i would buy it again because it is definitely a great guitar.I personaly love the guitar body,the design for the fact it is not a typical SG,its bottom looks very much like a classic guitar.The guitar's head is just awasome,i love the designed and the fact that it is slightly tilted back.I also thing that the pick-ups match perfectly with the rest of the guitar.I'm quite shore i made a good choice on buying this guitar i strongly recommend to everyone that is thinking on buying a Gibson or Epiphone SG to take a look this beauty first!Believe me,this guitar deserves a shot!

When I first picked this guitar up at the music store I thought it was just a standered SG with a gorgeous finish. But as with anything you have to look a little closer. 24.75" scale length, blah blah. The thing with this guitar is the fact its solid. Amazingly solid. Its bulit like a rock. Start at the top. Grover tuners. There isnt much more to say about that. Grover is top of the line. Work your way down along the neck. It has the feel of a les paul neck, but not as thick. I live and die by the less paul, but they arent cheap. The neck on this guitar has taken me into a whole new world. It makes me ask "les who?" Its also a one peice guitar so the tone and sustain is great. I cant tell you about the orginal pickups because I found this guitar used (i had no idea it was used until the guy at the store told me, made well and taken care of) Whoever owned it before dropped some EMG pickups on there. EMG is so amazing. The tone of the guitar combined with the custom EMGs makes it the guitar for rock. The only thing I havent gotten use to is the pick-up toggle being at the bottom of the guitar. It makes it tough for quick bridge to neck changes. Other then that the price and the features makes it the best guitar I have ever owned.

What more can I say about the tone and sustain. Its amazing. Once again with the custom pickups i have in it I cant tell you about the stock. But it plays like, if not better, then any les paul or gibson SG i have ever owned.

What drew me to this guitar was the finish. Its amazing. The picture that I found online doesnt give it justice. The thing screams attention. People notice. Being that I got it used I cant say what kind of work was done on it before. On mine the action is suberb. It plays better then any guitar I have owned. The intonation is great. I havent found any flaws what so ever. Not in the finish, not in the electroinics, not in the craftsman ship.

I have only had this guitar for about three days, but once again it was used, and there isnt an imperfection on it. I think that its proven itself for someone. And its a brand new guitar to me. The way its made, the way it looks, and the way it plays makes me think this will be a guitar that is gonna last for years and years and years.

Havent had to go this route yet.

I struck gold in this guitar. Even though its customized a bit (EMG pickups) I feel like I have found the holy grail. It plays like a 1000 dollar guitar, looks like a million dollars, and overall, I just cant say enough.

2002 Korean-made double cutaway SG style guitar. 22 Frets. Like a true SG, this isa solid, thin mahogany body. Typical SG setup: 2 passive humbucking pickups, 2 volume and 2 tone controls, 3-way selector switch. Everyone else has already covered it, so, basically it's an SG, though the waist on the body is a couple inches higher than Gibson or Epiphone SG's, giving it a slightly different body profile. Frets are not real tall, perhaps medium. Very nice.

The neck I'm sure is also mahogany, with a nice rosewood board. The neck features very well done cream binding all the way around, and very, very nicely installed crown inlays, though I'm not sure of the inlay material. There isn't the slightest bit of filler or unevenness anywhere. Try to find this quality of workmanship on a Gibson Faded SG...you won't. I know, I tried.

The "high tech" quilt sunburst finish on this guitar is beautiful. It's not maple, just a picture that looks like quilt maple. Very, very nice. One reviewer thought it was a real maple top, but I wanted an SG with a mahogany body. This top is just icing on the cake.

Typical stop tailpiece with tune-amatic bridge, all finished in nice, shiny silver nickel. This guitar, like all in Samick's "Greg Bennett Design" series, are fitted with GROVER tuners...very smooth, solid and just perfect.

Being a Strat and Tele player for 20+ years, I've really come to appreciate the 24.75" scale length on this guitar. A slightly slinkier feel to the strings make it a delight to play. The neck is slightly wider than my Strat, but not too thick. I absolutely love the amazing access to the upper registers. I can play leads in the high B register on this thing! Really, really fun!

Overall, feature-wise, this is an SG, no more, no less. But visually, it's a very impressive guitar, and I've received numerous compliments on the classy look of this guitar. It's a very beautiful guitar to look at, and looks great under stage lights. It has everything I wanted for an SG, and looks far better than any Gibson or Epiphone I tried. Very, very good workmanship. I'm very impressed. For the normal SG features, a solid 8. Add the top notch electronics, switch and Grover tuners, we have a 9. And the stunning visual appeal of this guitar certainly makes it approach the 10 category, even for an SG. 9.5!!

I play a variety of styles. Contemporary praise/worship encompassing blues, classic rock, power pop, folk rock, country rock, etc. I don't play punk, jazz or a lot of country, but do play some country style stuff.

Obviously, an SG isn't the guitar to use for a wide variety of styles. There are a lot of things I play where the Strat is a much better fit tonally, and overall, I find the Strat to be more versatile for a wide variety of styles. But versatility isn't why I went after an SG. An SG delivers fat, low mid crunch as well or better than just about anything around. That's what I got it for, and that is most definitely what it delivers. I also got it for playing slide, and the great upper fret access is a big bonus for slide playing. For fat classic rock tones and for most blues stuff, and for slide guitar, this Samick SG is ideal.

I play thru a Peavey Classic 50/410, sometimes thru a Peavey Transtube Studio Pro 112. I use the Classic amp's tubes for fat overdrive tones, and with the solid state amp, use a Boss Turbo Overdrive. I also employ a Boss stereo chorus and Boss compressor. Pretty simple setup.

The guitar is not noisy at all. Twin humbuckers make it very, very quiet, though I don't play at insane volumes. But I crank it up pretty good thru the Classic amp.

The Korean built Duncan-Design pickups are good. Surprisingly good. I'm still trying to develop my "humbucker ear" as I've played single coils for so long, though I had a Gibson ES-335 years ago. This is where most $350 Korean-built guitars begin to lose their appeal...in the sound category. Not this one.

First of all, keep in mind it's a mahogany body SG. If you want sparkle and chime, you're asking too much. Strap on a Strat for that.

These pickups do have a surprising amount of high end, but not in a bad way. Conversely, the top end is quite musical and provides an appropriate amount of bite if I want or need it. Even when using the neck pickup, I find myself rolling the tone control for that p'up back to about 7 or 8 for a bit of a smoother sound. But that's not to say that there's anything harsh about this p'ups. Far from it.

The classic "in-between" tone using both pickups is right on. The pleasing midrange honk that Tom Johnston of the Doobie Brothers used a lot is there in spades. Subtle tonal variations are easily had by rolling either of the volume pots back - so you can "dial in" what you want. This is why I wanted a guitar with twin tone and volume pots.

Clean sounds are solid and meaty, but there's plenty of cut when using the bridge pickup. Using the neck pickup yields some excellent clean blues tones...think Blue Jean Blues. I've used the guitar for Sunday worship (clean sounds) and Saturday worship (rocking overdrive sounds) and just about every comment I've received about this guitar includes words "fat", "warm" or "big." It certainly delivers a very rich, warm sound.

Add a generous dose of overdrive or distortion and these pickups deliver the goods. I'm sure there are better sounding humbucker pickups out there, but these Korean Duncan-Designed units are very good, and are staying until I'm absolutely convinced that shelling out more money will vastly improve the tone. No mush or flab anywhere, even with the neck pickup. But keep in mind I'm running thru 4-10's. But it also sounded fine thru the single 12. Not quite the cripsness I'd like for some crunch stuff, but that probably has more to do with the EL-84 tubes than anything else. To check, I experimented a bit with the Boss Turbo Overdrive pedal. Not only was the crisp attack there, but this pedal took on a whole new personality being hit with humbucker power. Add some compressor with the overdrive and single notes sustain until my finger gets tired. Crunchy chords retain fairly good string definition...but remember, I'm a long time single coil guy who hasn't used humbuckers in over 2

Here's the major selling point of this particular guitar. I'm not sure if it's the Samick factory set-up (which their catalog claims they do with every guitar at the Samick plant in LA), or whether the store I bought it is responsible (Light's Music Center - Eugene, OR). But everything is RIGHT ON. As soon as I picked this thing up, I knew. I also played a Samick Les Paul model at the same store for a real, real long time...same story. Perfect. Every string is perfectly intonated...try to find that on a Guitar Center guitar. Pickups are perfectly adjusted...bridge slightly hotter than the neck.

The only flaw I could find on this guitar is on the "thumb" side of the neck at about the 20th fret. There is the slightest bit of excess glue which minimally discolors the binding. I had to look real, real hard to find it. Doesn't affect playability or overall visual appeal at all.

This guitar comes with GROVER tuners. Top of the line. Smooth, solid and beautiful. Perfect.

Guys routinely buy a $350 or $400 Korean guitar knowing that the pots, switch, jack, tuners and pickups will be replaced - and in most cases, rightfully so. But with this Greg Bennett Design Samick SG, I don't have to change anything. Premium components are used on this series of guitar and absolutely leave Epiphone quality stuff for dead.

I honestly was looking at a Gibson Faded SG. After I played a couple, I was having a real hard time thinking I was going to offer almost $600 for a guitar of marginal quality. To me, the finish just looks bad, although I couldn't find a brown one. One I played was nearly unplayable. The other one played okay, but the quality just isn't there. You hear me, Gibson? I really don't like the looks of the exposed coil pickups, with the ribbon sticking out like somebody's underwear. I much prefer the clean, crisp look of the Samick Torino's nickel pickup covers. I then played a $799 Gibson "American Classic" SG. Much nicer than the Faded. But still pales in comparison to the Samick visually, and especially tonally. The Gibsons sounded too harsh and hard to me.

As I mentioned, I bought this guitar for classic rock style stuff and for slide playing. The action is perfect for both. I'm still getting used to the string spacing, but have come to appreciate the extra room I have when bending strings. I like to "get under" the string a bit, and it's easier to bend than the Strat. And the action is quite conducive to slide playing already...I wouldn't change a thing. I play with a fairly light touch, so no adjustments are necessary.

This guitar is one classy instrument for a workingman's SG. Far superior to the Gibsons I played. I won't even comment on the poor quality of the Epiphone stuff I saw...and for the same money I paid for this Samick...pitiful. This particular Samick deserves a solid 10 in this category.

This guitar has withstood a fair amount of playing already. The hardware on this thing is top notch all the way...switch, pots, wiring, and GROVER tuners.

The amazing "high tech" photo quilt finish is gorgeous and seems very durable. Time will tell, as I've not had a guitar with this type of finish before.

The strap buttons are very solid. Because the guitar is a bit neck heavy (as all SG's are), Samick included two strap buttons on the bottom of the guitar...I use the one closest to the floor, which nicely counterbalances the neck heaviness. A nice touch.

I really will depend on this guitar. It's really my backup/slide guitar, as I'll still use my Strat for the majority of my playing. But everything on this guitar is top notch, and the overall impression is one of elegance and quality. Anyone looking for an SG style guitar would be well advised to seek out a Samick "Torino." Stupid name for such a great guitar.

I'm not sure what happened to the guy named Greg, who posted a review that was not favorable at all. He must have got the prototype or something, because the guitar I bought simply blows competing Epiphones out of the water, and is better built, better looking and better sounding than any of the 3 Gibsons I played. It's easily one of the best guitar values on the PLANET right now. When I get ready to buy a semi-hollowbody guitar, it will be a Samick Royale.

Yeah, I'd depend on it, as I've depended on my MIM Strat for 3? years. I'm very amazed at the build quality/cost ratio. Hear me, Gibson? This baby deserves a 10.

I've e-mailed the company a few times, and they responded promptly. The staff at the store I bought it at is top notch. It's a small store, but very nice folks.

The Samick has a limited lifetime warranty, and I got a 2-year maintenance warranty from the store. Good deal.

I've been playing 30+ years. I also play a MIM Strat with Fralin Vintage Hot pickups, Peavey Classic amp, 3 Boss pedals.

If stolen or lost (how do you lose a guitar?) I'd certainly buy another one.

I love the VALUE. It's gorgeous to look at, a joy to play and sounds great. My favorite feature is the FAT, RICH humbucking tone. And the great fingerboard access.

I hate nothing about it, but it takes some getting used to how it feels hanging on the strap due to placement of the strap button in the neck joint on the back of the guitar.

I compared it to Epiphone SG's. Not even on the same planet as far as quality and sound go. I played 3 Gibson SG's (2 $579 Faded SG's, one $799 American Classic). The Samick came out on top in all areas. And I saved money!! I chose this because it looks better, plays better and sounds better. The fact that it cost less is icing on the cake...a whole lot of icing on a really big cake!

Check out the Samick "Greg Bennett Design" series. I also played a Samick mahogany body Les Paul that I simply could not put down. But ended up with the SG because it crunched better (though the LP had better clean sounds) and cost less. Note how Epiphone has launched their "Elite" line of guitars and basses. Why did they do that? Because their stuff is built at the Samick factory. They realized they really could build a quality instrument if they wanted to. Except the Elite will cost a lot more than the Samicks...for now. Better grab a couple Samicks fast before the prices go up.

Easily the best quality/cost value going.

I own The tr2 vs version . The guitar is noise free and sound very good . Fretbuzz after only 2month and half

I play black sabbath , acdc , metallica and it's sound like heaven . I use a peavey bandit 2

When i knew that my quilted top was a fotofilm top i was very disapointed because he is just wondeful . The paint seems cheap
the laquer is starting to remove near the down cutaway and on the down of the guitar

Works fine but for how many time

I would assume it to be a 2002.It's brand new to me and new to the shop I bought it from.The features seem to be well covered in previous posts.Standard SG features.Dual-Hums,set neck,tune-o-matic bridge,blah,blah.In my opinion very well built for a korean guitar.I give it a seven only because basically it doesn't have "tons of features"but the features it does have are great to me.Grovers and gold top-hat knobs are nice touches as well as the set neck.

I play all sorts of styles but mainly into classic rock and good heavy metal stuff (70,s and early 80's metal).I'm currently running this beauty through a JCM2000 DSL 100 watt Marshall with the 1960 4x12 cabinet and it really kicks.I'm not big on effects.Maybe a chorus or phase shifter here and there but as far as gain and clean sounds the JCM2000 covers it. (for me anyway)One of my main concerns before puchasing this guitar was the Pick-ups.I've had seymour duncans in my other guitars and always thought of them as great pick-ups but never tried the lower cost Duncan design pick-ups that this one has.These pick-ups, for those who don't know, have the same specs as the real duncans they are just made with cheaper parts over seas.With my rig, they are really quiet at high gain ,high volume settings so I can't complain.I think they sound really good.I would like a little more kick but for the price the fit the bill just fine.Both pick-ups sound good in clean and high gain settings.

Well in my experiences I haven't found a guitar that was set up good from the factory ever.Especially an over seas model.I spent a little time with it setting intonation,action,pick-up height and neck adjustment but I expect that from the get go.I also replaced the strings right away to my liking.The controls, bridge, pick-ups and strap buttons seemed really tight.The finish is what Samick refers to as a "High-Tech" type of curly maple.It's not real but it look good anyway.This specific model is to me a blood red color.Looks really good with the creme pick-up rings and scratch plate.No flaws in finish and polished up really nice.I would have given it a 6 for the fact I had to set it up properly but now it plays like a dream so I'll give it a 9

I will probably switch back and forth between this and my Les Paul Gold top Deluxe when I play out live and I think it will hold up just fine.However I just got it so I won't rate this catagory at this time

As with all the Samick Greg Bennets it supposedly came with a "Limited Lifetime Warranty" whatever that means.I've e-mailed the company a few times and they seem pretty cool so we'll see in the future how good the support is going to be.

I've been playing for over 20 years and I've had my share of guitars.I would like to say that this one really is a great deal in the ever popular high priced guitar market.I've played alot of high end guitars such as fender,gibson,prs and the usual and this one really keeps up with them at a fraction of the cost.I currently own a strat,explorer,87 Kramer whatever that has been totally redone as well as my Gold-top and I'm happy to add this to my collection.It's a great guitar at a great price.If it was stolen sure I'd buy another one why not.

A Correction to someone who commented below, saying that all the Samick guitars are photo quilt, which is simply not true. If you go to the page the reviewer listed, you will see that only the guitars which Samick specifies as "high-tech" quilt tops are actually photo quilt, and there is an explanation there as to why. Some of the Samick product is still real quilted maple top, and I know this to be true, not only from the information on the linked page (kwim-v's website), but because I am a Samick dealer myself, and have been for nearly ten years now.

Mine is transparent red w/ fotoquilt top. Nice thin neck, 22 frets, Dual Duncan Designed humbuckers, Not sure of woods used in construction, SG style, Tune-O-Matic style bridge, Grover tuners.

I love the sound...The Duncan Designed pickups really hit the spot. The neck pickup is suprisingly bright and clean sounding. This guitar has a lot of tonal personality. I play thru an older Marshall Lead 12 micro stack and also occasionaly thru a Peavey Classic VTX. I also use an original tube screamer. This thing really rocks! Not noisy, very rich and full sounding (for an SG copy) Nothing to dislike so far. I play older heavy metal and some bluesy stuff and this guitar is very capable.

Action perfect as delivered, set-up with 9's (will be changing to 10's soon) Pickups adjusted fine. Nut was cut correctly. No visible flaws. I ordered this from KWIM-V.com AFTER I read greg's review and I honestly expected to find something wrong with it. Man, I can't even get nit-picky with this guitar. It is very nice! (ok, the strings were too light for my liking - but no big deal) Inlays - well done (don't know what they are made of, though), Fit - excellent, Finish - pretty darn good (fotoquilt is growing on me). I don't see what greg saw (earlier review). I don't doubt him, but mine is as nice or better than the $1300 SG's I was looking to buy. Even the switch and pots are high quality pieces.

YES it will withstand live playing and it will hold up. The hardware looks to be high quality. Chrome may be thin like a lot of Korean stuff, but I guess time will tell. Dual strap buttons on tail are cool too! I feel that I can depend on this instrument, it has not let me down yet. You don't gig w/o a backup!

Don't know.......Lifetime warranty....

I've been playing for 18 years. Other equipment: Washburn A-10, Fender Fat Strat, Kramer Farrington, Peavey T-60, Westone Electra, vintage Silvertone. I would kick somebody's ass if they stole this guitar!!!!! Yes, I would absolutely replace it. Favorite feature - THE SOUND. I love the neck (nice and thin) and the weight (or lack of) and the sustain this guitar has. I have no dislikes (other than the quilt top on an SG - I am getting used to it though). I did compare to quite a few real SG's, some Epiphones and Washburns....I liked this one better. I chose it because it has an excellent sound and was considerably less expensive than the others.

UPDATE TO MY EARLIER REVIEW:THIS SECOND REVIEWER IS TOTALLY WRONG, SEE THE NEW SAMICK CATALOG WHICH JUST CAME OUT, EVEN THEY STATE NOW THAT THIS IS A FOTOFILM TOP, THEY CALL THE FOTOFILM "HIGHTECH" NO REAL QUILT MAPLE IS USED AS PER SAMICKS OWN ADDMISSION!! DON'T BE FOOLED BY THIS REVIEWER WHO HAS INCORRECT INFORMATION!!!!!!
HERE'S THE ADDRESS:
http://www.kwim-v.com/content/companies/samick/elecfeatures.html

This is a Samick 3120 Greg Bennett series Torino model guitar, with AAAAA Grade REAL quilted maple top, Grover Machines, Seymour Duncan design pickups, set neck, tobacco sunburst finish, rosewood fingerboard, overall a very sharp looking SG copy. This guitar was made in Korea, and included a cable and neck adjustment wrench along with a little guide on how to adjust a truss rod. Purchased from Cowabunga Music in Anna, IL. LOTS of features for the money, and I'm sorry folks, Epiphone makes NO SG that looks or is made even close to this nice. This is one classy instrument.

This guitar sounds really great, the Duncan pickups sound way better than the ones in the Epiphone. I play styles ranging all over the place, through a Mesa studio preamp, power amp, and a pair of CGM 1X12 cabs, and I also use a Rocktron Replitone 212. Some sounds the guitar is better on than others but it doesn't sound bad on any. It really nails the SG sound if you like to play stuff like AC/DC. This guitar is really quiet, too. I haven't had any problems with the input jack, although it appears from some of the reviews that a few folks have had problems with them. Time will tell.

This guitar was set up really well at the factory, action could have been a little lower, but overall a pretty nice setup right out of the box. Pretty impressive. The AAAAA Quilted maple top is stunning....I get all kinds of comments on it, and I don't know where the reviewer above came up with the idea that it's fake, but I can tell you that this one is REAL, and it's BEAUTIFUL. The Grover tuners work really well, as Grovers always do. The nut is cut well, the inlays are nice and neat, no filler in sight. The cavity plates all fit nicely too, and NO loose screws. Again, I don't know what the deal was with the other reviewer's guitar, but this one is virtually flawless. I would buy this guitar over a Gibson any day, and laugh all the way to the bank. I think it's a better guitar for WAY less than half the price. Sure, a real nitro lacquer finish (like a gibson) is preferable to poly if you are a COLLECTOR, but it's also very delicate, and you don't generally baby a guitar you play out with, so I'd rather have the tougher poly finish. Samick is the world's biggest guitar manufacturer, and their experience shines on this guitar. If you want information on their guitars, my dealer tells me that there are new catalogs soon to be available, and they have alot of the new models on their website now at www.samickguitar.com.

This guitar seems built to last. I've only had it a short time but I have had no problems with it at all. Grover machines and Duncan Design pickups are known for quality. I doubt I'll be taking it in for repair any time soon. Dual strap buttons are a nice touch, you can hang it at either angle you like. They seem rock solid, too. I would use it without a backup with no hesitation. I can't give it a ten in this department, though, as I've only had it a short time, but again, I don't think I will be taking it for repair ANY time soon.

Never needed it. Our local dealer is fabulous, though, so I don't think it will be a problem, should I need support. He speaks very highly of Samick's customer service. This guitar has a lifetime warranty.

I have played for over 20 years, have owned numerous Fender (a couple different USA strats)and Gibson products (Les Paul Deluxe, Les Paul Signature, EC10-e, 1959 J-50) all of which were fine instruments, and I have owned numerous other Samick guitars as well as several other import guitars, and I currently use a Larrivee' OM-02E acoustic. I have a Boogie studio preamp, alesis midiverb, a power amp (cheapie but it works) and a pair of 1X12 CGM speaker cabinets (a VERY underrated speaker company) in my main rig. I also use a Rocktron Replitone occasionally, and I have a pignose practice amp too. I would replace this guitar without hesitation if it were stolen, although I might have to severely hurt whoever took it from me first. I love the finish on this instrument and the fact that it costs a lot less than a Gibson guitar but I get WAAAAAY more compliments on the looks of this guitar than I EVER got with any of the Gibson guitars I owned. And, more importantly, this guitar just flat-out sounds great. It isn't versatile enough to replace a whole arsenal of guitars, so don't get me wrong, but it does what it does very well, and I can't seem to coax a bad sound out of it. Only thing I could think of that might make it better would be coil splitting, but then it really wouldn't be a true SG copy, would it? Samick is going to rule the guitar business if they keep making stuff like this!

2000-2001? Says Korea on it but I suspect it was made in Samick's low end guitar shop in Indonesia. A top of their line SG style, with 2 "Duncan Designed" humbuckers, 3 piece (or more) mahogany body & set neck with scarf joint with rosewood fingerboard, very cheap, bland poor fitting block inlays, real Grover tuners mounted on a nice, newly designed Greg Bennett headstock, "quilt" top. Vintage sunburst, chrome hardware. Bought from Kwim-v, they threw in a gig bag for free.

Sound is ok at best with the Duncan Designed pickups, the typical noisy, cheap Korean mini pots & switch really kill it however.

Set up???? None, typical Korean guitar, needs total setup, cleaning and buffing out, tightening of all hardware. Quite oddly, given the overall poor condition of the guitar the nut was actually fairly well cut, it looked to be micarta and not a molded one and the Grover tuners are a godsend, very smooth but that's where the good news ends. This guitar is a total joke overall, the type of quality reminiscent of 1970's imports. Fingerboard inlay is very loose fitting and they didn't even attempt to cover it up with filler!!

Samick lists it as a maple quilt top, well folks its NOT, it's fotoquilt. The fretwork was among the worst I've ever seen, file marks, gouges in the frets and fingerboard & the 22 fret was completely unlevel. I decided to dig deeper. I went to pull the pickups off and the screws nearly fell out. Most every screw hole was drilled 2 sizes too big and then stuffed with a wood sliver to fix it, what is that????!!! I removed the pickguard and the same deal, as a matter of fact there were 2 sets of sloppy oversize holes, it was obviously put on crooked and then redrilled & repositioned!!!!! Upon pulling the pickups there was some large strips of duct tape pieces half burried in the finish around part of the pickup cavities, what is that? There are some stress cracks in the finish at the bridge posts. The finish is the usual too thick high gloss Korean. The control knobs are annoyingly cheap with sharp edges on them. The small strip of trim plastic mounted above the neckpickup(like some older SG's had)was falling off, again due to oversize screw holes. I pulled it off and revealed a very lumpy, unfinished neck/body joint. the pots and switch are noisy. This POS is going back!

Delivered in a nearly unplayable condition.

Samick makes over 1/2 the worlds guitars under 30+ names like Epiphone. Very little info is available on their own name branded ones however, and local availability is at zero. Their web site is in Korean and 3 years old. They just got a site online for this "new" 2 year old Greg Bennett line, but the site is sadly lacking information, has mistakes on it and outright deceptive specs. Warranty, should I send it back to Korea?

Been playing 23+ years, jazz, blues, rock....I repair as well as teach too. I own everything from a $4,000 Guild X-700 to a $75 Hohner Strat, as well as a new JZ-133 thinline semihollow body jazz guitar from this same Greg Bennett series, that guitar is nice, ok for the money, prehaps Samicks best offering, made in the highend section of the Korean plant, my fairly positive expirence with that one caused me to buy this one,what a mistake. See my review at this site on the JZ 133.

I strongly suspect that this solidbody was made in their lowend Indonesian plant. I don't think I've ever seen such a total, overall disaster. The only 2 good points are the Grover tuners and a well cut nut, which oddly are usually the 2 worst items on a Korean guitar. List price is $729, no case, I paid $297 with free shipping and a gig bag from kwim-v. I've see em on E-Bay for $475 and on the net for $439.

IF it was made right, BIG IF, and the stupid fotoquilt taken off, it would be a nice SG style at the street price of $439.

Samick has made some very serious mistakes with this "new" 2 year old line. Lack of accurate, timely available info, lack of local availability, deceptive specs, and outright QC failure doom this line to complete, total, failure.