Samick AV3 Greg Bennett Avanti

Bought new $400 in August of '02. Flamed top, les paul copy, tune-o-matic bridge, standard Grover tuners, 22 frets, rosewood (I think) fretboard, Indonesian made, two vol., two tone, one 3 way toggle,
passive HH, not certain of woods. After close look, the top almost apears to be a printed on flame. Back is a nice transparent red.

I bought this guitar because I thought it played well, looked nice, and at low volume sounded pretty good. I didn't turn the amp up much in the store. A mistake. After I got it home and turned my Peavey transtube 212EFX' dirty channel up to just over 1 with high distortion the cheap (not duncan designed) bridge pickup fed back horribly. At the time I played mostly hard rock and metal so I never even used the neck pu. I replaced the bridge pu with an Seymour Duncan Distortion model and man it was a 100% difference! Hence the 9 rating. The guitar sounds very good now. I just purchased a Peavey Valveking 112 tube amp and it makes the little Samick sound almost another 100% improved! I'm done with transistor amps!!! With the new pickup I can get a great sound for the Sabbath, Pantera and even van halen stuff, or roll off the guitar volume and get an acceptable skynard southern rock sound. Also with the Valveking I've found myself enjoying the stock neck pickup, on both modestly distorted and clean channels. Stock, I'd give the Samick a 5 at low volume. With some choice modification it becomes a completely different and enjoyable guitar.

My Avanti was set up well when I bought it. The action was comfortably low with no fret buzz. I've read some horror stories about fret condition on some of the Avanti series, but I honestly have no complaints. My neck feels good with no rough fret edges to be found.
The binding is creme and actually looks very cleanly applied. For that matter the entire finish of the guitar is clean. My Grovers stay in tune pretty well and I bend my strings a lot. No broken Earnie Balls to date with the tune-0-matic.

This may be the kicker. I'm don't gig at all so I can't comment on the Avanti's road worthiness or lack thereof. I've owned it close to five years and it's led an indoor life serving regular playing by a closet guitarist. It's given me no trouble at all short of my hateing the stock bridge pickup. The neck and finish are still just fine and no scratchy pots.

I havn't needed them. I've not read anything positive about them though which is a shame. If you can't back your product, don't sell it! Based just on what I've read, I wouldn't even bother. So BOOOOOOOOO!!!

I've played now for 17 years. I currently own an ESP Vintage Plus strat with prigional Floyd, an Squire Stagemaster, and an Yairi DY85 accoustic and have owned a Charvel fusion and middle of the road Ibanez RGs. My current amps are the Peavey transtube 212EFX and my Peavey Valveking 112. No pedals.
I play my Duncan loaded Samick more than my EMG-81 and Duncan rail loaded Vintage Plus if that lends any credit to the possibilities of the Samick. I'm upgrading all four pots to 1meg and installig a Duncan Jazzbucker in the neck, and I can't wait! Thank you.

Same as most two pickup guitars and from ten feet it looks just as good as any Les Paul on the market. I guess thats why I was dumb enough to buy it.

The sound is not bad but, I would suggest changing the pickups.

This is where this guitar really shines, Ha! I had this guitar sitting around the house a couple of months before I really tried it or I would have taken it back. After straightening the neck I tried to get the string action down a bit low, only to discover the eleventh fret was low and the strings would buzz like hell in that area. The fret wire is very poorly filed on the ends and the tuners are of poor quality. Also the inlays are very cheap looking and the low E bridge saddle is very sharp and will almost puncture your skin. This guitar is now only good for strumming a few chords on now.

I don't know if this guitar is reliable or not, because it ain't worth playing. I would not gig this guitar without a backup.

I've tried contacting the manufacture about the low fret problem, but they never returned my E-mail. I guess Greg bennett does not stand behind his products.

I've being playing guitar about 25 years now And have owned quite a few guitars. This one takes the prize for the ultimate worst. I bought this guitar based on looks only and boy was I wrong.

See all the others.

Sounded fine.

All the frets were pulling away from the fretboard on the HIGH E SIDE of the neck making the guitar unplayable.

It started unplayable and samick won't respond on how to get it fixed or replaced.

This is the big one. Samick (or the guitar side of SMC) won't respond to emails, return calls or smoke signals. They NEVER answer their phone. They are not helpful in any manner. The guitar was shipped directly from Samick and I feel it should be replaced with one that has the frets properly set but they won't respond.

I'd like to at least have a guitar with the frets properly set into the fretboard or have Samick fix or replace this guitar. They won't respond, so I'm stuck with a guitar that is worthless. This guitar was purchased for a child for a christmas present. Merry Christmas!

Made in Indonesia, 22 frets, 2 volume 2 tone controls, h/h pickups, said to be mahogany...(i can't be sure) LP body style, Non-locking grover tuners, stop tailpiece bridge style.

I play classical and metal. Im using it w/ a rogue 50 watt, and a BOSS SD-1... I was using it on a Fender De-Ville tube amp and it had a really buzzy sound to it, therefore im planning on buying some duncan designed pickups because this model doesnt have seymour duncans. I dislike the stop tailpiece, im planning on getting a floyd rose speed loader.

The action was extremely high, I couldn't find anything else w/ it.

I haven't played this guitar live, I wouldn't. The Strap buttons are solid but i've only had the guitar for abbout 6 months now. I'd highly recommend a backup guitar at a gig for sound reasons, sturdy body though.

N/A

I've been playing 5 - 7 years, I own an Epi LP, Yamaha Starter, Fender 15 Watt amp, Rogue 50 watt, Boss Super Overdrive. I like the sturdiness of the body but the neck is to big for me. i like having 2 volume and 2 tone controls for more control over the sound.

I bought my Samick AV3 in November of 2002 new. I purchased it a local music store Make n Music in Frederick, Md. Very nice people to deal with. LP style, 22 frets on and 24 3/4 inch scale lenth (Typical of LP style I'm told). Solid body of unknown wood. If you have been researching you will notice that Samick plays games in the lit for this whole line. In the overview of the line they state that they use Mahogany bodies and Maple tops. However if you read carefully you find that they only claim to use these woods in the top end of the line, AV4 and higher. They make no claim to use these materials in the AV3 so I assume they do not. So in the case of the top I will assume that the very nice looking maple flame on the top of my AV3 is a picture on plywood. Controls are also pretty standard to the LP style, separate volume and tone for each pickup. As for the Pickups here again we find Samick's love of the fine print. They claim in the overview of the line to use Duncan Design pickups. But here again they don't use them in the lower end of the line. So I assume they are generic Korean or similar. These are on of the low points of the instrument. I find them to be very tinny sounding and have little punch. If you are look for good attack they are going to have to come out. Mine will be out as soon as I decide what I want to replace them with. They also feed back badly when you push them with the tone wide open. The neck is, for me, very well made with a rosewood finger board. I don't have any idea what the neck is made of. Bridge is tune-o-matic and of decent quality. Tuners are Grover which seems to be true through out the line. Frets are medium and nice. Nothing was included with the instrument. Just as well thought from what I have seen of the stuff that comes with instruments it just would have wound up in the junk pile. The high light of the instrument is that it looks very good. The finish is very well done.

The instruments sounds good until you plug it in. Tone off the amp seems to be full with good sustain. But the pickups just aren't getting that good sound to the amp. To bright and tinny sounding for my taste and they feed back something fierce when you try to wind it up. As I stated before they will be coming out as soon as I decide what to replace them with. I will say that I knew I would be replacing these when I bought the guitar. I didn't expect to get good quality pickups in a $300 guitar.

Action out of the box was to high. Rick at Make n Music set the action on the table as I watched. He cut the nut and lowered the bridge. So as deliverd the action is awesome. The finish is very nice with only one flaw that I could find. The other thing is that the inlays on the neck are not done as well as they could have been. Lots of filler around were the finger board was slopply cut away. I thought pretty good for a low end guitar all in all. I did have a problem with a loose wire that I had to take it back to the store to be repaired. It was only out of my hands for one night.

I have had this instrument for about 3 months and I don't play out so its hard for me to say much. It does seem well built and should hold up well.

I have not had to deal wiht Samick. I don't think I ever will unless the instrument has a major structural problem. I will likely void all the warranties when I change out the pickups. It has been repaired under warranty once with no problems. The shop I bought it from is super though and I have had no problems with them.

I rate this guitar an 8. I have been playing for about 20 years mostly just for fun but have been around a number of other people who play out and have been around a number of instruments. I currently own a Washburn 4V-WD and a Marshall 8100 valvstate half stack. I run my guitars through a BOSS digital delay, super chorus and HMII distortion. Lastly a DOD distortion. I think this would be a great instrument for the beginner or intermediate player who is looking for a fixed bridge instrument. I bought this guitar mostly because I had only instruments with Floyd rose tremalos and wanted something that would be easier to tune down. If someone stole it I would hunt them down and feed them their testicals just because they were A!*holes! Other wise I think I would try a Raven RM2000 just to see how they compare. Lastly and importantly if you are looking on spending the extra $150 on an Epi LP, don't. I sat the Samick beside the Epi and if the headstocks weren't different you could not tell them apart. Rumor has it that they were made in the same factory.

very nice features the glued in neck the cocked back headstock grover machines nice bridgeand duncan design humbuckers.

remarkible sound and tone I play it on a crate gfx15 sounded great both on treble and rythem the arched top made it sound sweet good for any type of music

set up great a solo or rythem guitar the pick ups are perfect routed great loove the wire channels instead of the pickguard covering all the electronics great body beatiful finsh the machines have a 1 to 13 ratio meaning every 13 turns is one turn of the stem very accurate

have only had it a mouth giged it twice live it

great guitar all around i recimend it for beginers or if you've been pplay'n for years

i baught this guitar off ebay through guitar web out of tennesee it is a transperent red with cream binding on top and neck like a les paul standard it looks like dean icon almost.I have a samick artist series les paul also both play great i had made some changes to the pickups in both they came stock with chrome covered humbuckers they had a real ac\dc aerosmith sound clasic les paul sound.action is great sustain is great grover tuners keep it in tune.two vol. two tone one 1\4 inch jack standard lp features i give this guitar 9 for features it would have a ten if it had a floyd rose trem.

sounds like a gibson plays like a gibson price of a epiphone. this guitar is stock sounds like led zep, or lynard skynard. i got it out of the box and all i did was put on a set of ernie ball super slinky and i played walk this way sounded just like areosmith through my kustom amp and ibanez super lead distortion very full robust sound with the mid turned upon my amp. i replaced the stock bridge pickup with a dimarzio super distortion because i play heavy metal mostly. i change the electronics on every guitar i get no mater what it is or how much i pay for it but this guitar didnt need it it sound great i just like the sound of good hotter sounding humbucker

guitar was well made its not solid mohogany but wood is wood i have all kinds of axes ash nato maple mohogany this play sweet action is low where i like it pickups are fully adjustable. frets are great the neck feals at home in your hand very comfortable . i baught guitar stamped used it was almost new plastic still on all covers no scratches . only flaw is paint smir on neck joint runs on the binding a littleabout the size of a cig. butt purely cosmetic cant hardly notice no chips nicks or seperating of binding a very solidly made guitar.

i play and 84 ibanez desroyer II with seymore duncan active pickups on stage before i got this after playing my samick i retired the trusty almost 19 yearold ibanez. it will last al long as a fender or gibson with proper storage dont leave any guitar in extreme temps it with compromise the adhesive intergrity. it will last as long as my ibanez at least it will last till the finish is weathered and worn from years of on stage abuse and nicked and chiped for being knocked off the stand of droped when drunk . strap buttons are standard i use schaller strap locks levy leather strap iwould gig with this as my only guitar no problem as long as it had new strings and was tuned once with my korg tuner my strings last as long as most tooth brushes a few months of daily abuse only broke one string on stage and the strings were six mons old.

baught of ebay dont know if the warranty is transferablenever had to have any repairs it is less than a year old

been playing over eight years since i was twenty i own samick les paul custom flamed cherry herritage sunburst gold hardware it has bill lawrence xl 500. I also have a 84 ibanez destroyer II red seymore duncan matchig set active {metal live wire} neck and bridge humbuckers, jackson dinky reverse floyd rose emg 81 in bridge i put this guitar up against any of my guitars and any of any body i know and i know alot of guitar players put it this way when i get new pickups installed the techs are allways playing my guitar ya got to tell them to come off my guitar.

Well this is first in about 20 years that I have picked up (or even had one) to give a review on. I 'm an old school guy. Started off with the Fender Strat, then went to the Gibson Les Paul. Now those can make a guitar. I will notput this one with those guys but I must say for a nass production guitar I find no faults with it so far. The finish is fairly good, could have lined up the tiger stripes a little better. Cut the pick guard a little closer. Overall has good fert placement, nice pickups. Very easy to play and that is what I look for, well that and the sound of course. It gets a 8.

I play a lot of classic rock, some country and some classical. The sound is had good as any I have heard. My liitle amp I have for the house puts out a rich fuul sound. I lke the three switch,two volume, two tone comtrols. Very easy to work and there is a difference in the sound that each one does. Going from rock to country is a breeze. I give it a 9

The set from the factory was unknown to me. I got this has Christmas gift. According to my wife the sales person did very little before he was jamming away. Other than being massed produced I like the finish. I really like the feel of the neck. I have big hands with long fingures there is no problem of "crowding". The neck and cutof the body give you plenty of room to hit the 22nd and lower ferts. score is 8

I've playing it since I open the case and set the amp up. Can't put this boy down. Right now couldn't really say as to long term playing, but you can bett I will find out. Put this at 8

The placewere my wife got the guitar said they were great. even gave her a discount on the case. will do all repiars if and when they are needed right here in my little town. That alone say a lot to me. A BIG 10

The Samick I got for 380.00 has real maple and mahogany. I dunno how kvwin.com sent him that but it wasnt what I got. REAL maple top i looked to. pure maple. Falcetti u rok

Nice Sustain, and fits great with Beatles music that I like to play

Set up great with a set neck, Grover Tuners, And Duncun Humbuckers

IT WIIL LAST

They were very friendly and comes a warremty

I own a yamaha strat Id buy something else to open my horizens

New version, 2002, Les Paul style, 2 humbuckers, 4 controls, the usual. Nice darkburst finish.
Grover tuners, multi piece mahogany body, multi piece set mahogany neck with scarf joint.
I was told by Samick the top was real maple but guess what? It is NOT!!!!!! I pulled a pickup and looked, the top is a paper thin flame maple laminated to a 3 ply 1/8" thick plywood set over a 3/8" nato wood top all set on top of the mahogany body!

It arrived with dirt, scratches, rub spots. The factory packing is woefully lacking to protect the guitar. It also had the neck snapped in half, so I guess I woun't be able to comment on the sound!!!!

It was supposed to come with a free case too, but that never showed up.

Hard to play with a snapped neck.

The guitar even without the snapped neck is a POS. The inlays have huge amounts of filler around one side, the nut was badly cut, frets appeared very rough. Finish was very uneven.

Couldn't even withstand shipping. And there was no visible damage to the box either!

Samick lied to me, I e-mailed them about the top and was answered back that the top was real solid maple, well as I stated above it's not! It's plywood! So certainly you can't trust them.

Been playing over 20 years. I own dozens of different brands, on the surface the Greg Bennett line looked great, but I'm finding out the hard way the bulk of it is trash.

This is the last Greg Bennett I will buy. I have a JZ-133 which is fairly nice, but most others are plain poorly made. I had a Bennett Torino that was really bad too. I suspected that to be made in their Indonesia plant, and guess what, this one came with a made in Indonesia sticker on it. I can only assume the better ones like the JZ133 semi hollow and hollow ones are made in their more upscale Korean plant.

I bought it from Kwim-V.com, whose service was terrible. It took 10 weeks to finally get it and over a dozen phone calls and e-mails. Now I got to send it back and wait for my refund.

I cannot in good conscience recommend most of the Greg Bennett line or Kwim-V.com anymore. Look elsewhere is my advice.