Samick AV3 Greg Bennett Avion

As per a Les Paul, I won't mark it down as it has all the right bits in the correct places

Very good, I've played a variety of styles and it performs well, the humbuckers are bright and aren't too muddy

Also very good, this one was 2nd hand but in very good order, a couple of turns on the bridge and truss key and all was good

Looks solid, not too heavy though

Plenty of information on their web site, 2nd user guitar so won't be contacting them

I paid $300 Australian for this guitar, but I bought it for a friend,if I can find another I'll buy it, IMHO a much nicer guitar than the Epiphones...

Asian import Greg Bennett design. Basic features as a Les Paul standard. What more could you want, unless you are one of those guys who HAS to have a tremolo to survive.......

This guitar sounds really good, but it does all depend on your amp and your playing style. I use vintage Marshall all tube stacks so about any guitar I use sounds good though my rig. I own two Gibson Les Pauls and this guitar sounds about the same. I am an old school player so this guitar suits me fine. I plan on replacing the pickups soon with either Gibson or Duncan.

OK.. The finish and hardware are great, no complaints. Someone had stated the the finish is a photo flame, but the Greg Bennett website clearly states that these guitars have a real flamed maple top. Mine looks pretty damn good so I am not gonna worry about that....Comes stock with Grover tuners which is a plus and a white graphite nut which is an even bigger plus. The pickups sound pretty good, but not as good as Gibson or Duncans. The only problem I see is with the toggle switch and the volume/tone pots. The toggle switch is one of the cheap square type that costs about $5 at the local music store and the pots are the cheap small ones that tend to crap out after a while. So really, all you would need to do is replace the toggle switch with a quality Switchcraft toggle and replace the pots with quality full size pots. After that small upgrade this axe will be as good as any. The Switchcraft switch is about $15 and the pots will run you around $8 each. Not too bad........

Rock Solid is just the word I was looking for. Built like a tank!

Never Needed it.

Great value considering what a Les Paul costs these days. Don't worry about what's wrote on the headstock, if it plays well, play it. I am goign to use the Greg Bennett Avion right along with my Gibsons...........

Les Paul type guitar, two volume two tone , three way selector, tom bridge with stop tail, 22fret, grover tunners, arched top I'm pretty sure the top is fake flamed though it looks good I also doubt the wood is mahogany, the guitar is lite with a nice fat neck, bound body and neck.It has everything I need

I play hard rock and metal, I judge a guitars sound unpluged and it sounds great like other Les Paul type guitars I've played, plugged in the pickups are lacking and have some feed back problems as others have listed.for clean and moderate distortion it sounds ok , I need more power so the pickups will be changed with a Dimarzio Drop Sonic in the bridge and a Humbucker from hell in the neck. these are the pickups I have in my other guitars and they work great for me

I always do a set-up on any guitar I get, that said the factory set-up was playable but not what I would call good, there was no tension on the truss rod and the neck had more than a 1/8th " bow in it, after adjusting the neck level the frets where checked and they where level with each other they did need a good polishing and there were some very sharp edges on the fret ends that had to be filed down.This is a lot more work than any guitar should need, the ends were sharp enough to cut a finger on some of the frets

I've only had the guitar for a short time, for a player that gets it's share of abuse I think it will hold up ok.

Don't know.

I've been playing for 20+yrs for what I play with the mods I've made it's a good player that I use and leave the high dollar guitars at home.It was cheep enough that If it were stolen or broken I would get another one. I looked at the Epiphones before buying this and found them to be about the same quality and needing the same mods I made to this one so I saved myself $200.00 and bought the Samick

Grover tuners, set neck, 22 frets, rosewood fretboard. Looks like a les paul but the non cutaway part is a little bigger. I got a tobacco sunburst-ish finish. pickups look like the ones epiphone puts in their guitars. didn't come with anything though.

I play hard rock, heavy blues,hardcore punk, and sometimes some thrash or metal. The pickups are really good for the blues stuff and for classic rock, but you have to put on really heavy distortion to get a decent hard rock or metal sound. for high pitched solos, the treble setting sounded great, and the neck pickup gives a nice dark sound, great for heavier stuff especially when you plug in a distortion or overdrive pedal. I even tried some jazz stuff but it took me a while to find the right sound, same as with the metal sound. Clean it sounds good, but it gets a little muddy if you turn the knobs to 10. im gonna replace the stock pickups with emg's once i get some more money.

The guitar has fantastic action. tapping was really easy and loud. the neck pickup is a little lower than the other one though, but that's not even a problem. great factory setup.

I play this guitar live without a backup and nothing ever happens to it except a little scratch on the side. The knobs have fallen off though, and several times the input jack got loose and the washers fell off.

Ive been playing for two years, and my first guitar was another samick, a malibu(strat copy). I got this guitar because my other one is a piece of crap and only good for rythm if anything, and im a lead player. If this guitar were stolen, id beat the robber to death with the same guitar he stole. I love this guitar.

Set neck
Grover tuners
Printed film flame top (middle joint is at the pots area)
Beautiful head stock design
Bridge & Neck Humbuckers
Neck and body binding
High gloss finish
Honey/Amber burst

The pickups are pretty decent. They sound pretty clean and get muddy above 8. I plan to switch to Gibson Antiquity for neck and EMG for bridge later on.

The top is actually a printed film, not a real flame top. But it's beautifully done. The flame joint which typically runs in the middle, is somewhere around the pots area. The printed film may be cut from a larger sheet for economical reasons. It would have been nicer if it's in the middle. But looks to me come second. The back is tranparent red. The quality of this instrument is very good considering its price of about USD200 w/o case. I put it on he stand and it sits beautifully inside my bedroom. The guitar seems to have been set-up quite well in the factory and inspected by a person named Hadi in May 2008. It's good to see the quality Samick is putting into their Made in Indonesia instruments. I also compared this guitar with an SX Les Paul (bolt-on model) at the shop and the SX's set-up was totally out with unacceptable fret buzz. The intonation was good except for the 5th string which I had trouble adjusting. After a careful inspection, I later found out that the intonation screw was not seated properly on the bridge. I had to remove thebridge, oil it, and press the screw down with a flat-head screwdriver. The bridge has a "Sungill, Korea" mark underneath. Tuners are Grover and they feel smooth and firm. Pots and toggle switch work perfectly without any electronic crackling sound that you would normally find on inexpensive instruments. The plastic toggle switch had a tiny mold runner leftover and had to be filed off. Epiphone is also selling one bolt-on LP model for about the same price as AV3 but the quality of the electronics is terrible. Epiphones of the same quality cost about 3 to 4 times as much. It is also very light compared to SX LP or Stagg LP. The neck is also very nicely finished and feels very smooth. Its seems to be made of 3 pieces of wood glued together. One for the headstock, one for the neck and the other one for the heel. The action set-up by the factory is quite low and you can hear fret buzz on G-string on certain notes but I will let that be for the time being.

Just got it for 4 days. So far so good.

I am convinced that this is the best instrument at this price.

made in Indo i belive,

superbly done =) bought it in 2008 ( still new )

cant even compare epi with this star if u included the price it offer.. XD

very Rich sound but .. yeah the stock one dint see too good but its good enuff to get the job done =)

action were fast.

mine were totally in great shape. everything were good the time i bought it!

the colour? hahah mesmerizing!

=)

very solid! weighing about 3.5KG

strap button were solid! very dependable!

a gig? sure! would love to use it without backup =)

never had to go for 1!

xD

Fantastic Value For the MONEY!

Highly Recommended! for a 1st guitar or even a collection! Grab it!

why get a Epi/Gibby while u can get the same guitar with 1/3 lower price =)

Typical "Les Paul" clone done well,nice medium large frets, bound neck & body . both Mahogany, the body has a laminated Maple top( done well)
two "PAF" clone Humbuckers ) strong bass and mids !
tuners are grover type (actually pretty good!)

great classic rock sound , can get well "bluesy" too. personally I'm pretty happy with the sound ! may also consider something with a little more bite but good as they are! I use it with a 120 watt valve state "Peavey" Deuce 212 with tube main end , and a totally solid state "Peavey" Renown 120 watt it can ROAAAAAR! through both!

Bought it on FLEABAY for $140 and the guy did me HARD!! I had to replace the first three frets because of an obvious FACTORY FLAW that was attempted to conceal by wedging the nut up higher. "CREEEEP"!,........
anyway after replacing and diligently replacing filing the frets it play s wonderfully!
Pick ups adjusted well Top is book matched perfectly.
There is no pick guard, But,......there are no screw holes from it's removal either ???
All selectors and controls function well , Tone pots really work well
Other then the frets I would give it a 9.5 but considering the work and damage this could've been for someone else I guess I'd say a 7
because this was a factory BOO Boo!
by the way if there is a "Greg Bennet" all he cares about is his royalty check A..H.le!

I have plenty of confidence in this ax now save the strap buttons which I'm soon to replace, I haven't but will gig with it! I always bring a spare!
The hardware is fine!and trustworthy

Don't Know bought it used from a FLEABAY CREEP!

I'm playing 45 years, have an arsenal of guitars
If stolen I'd try to replace it
Love most features.
I wish it had Bigsby on it , may add it later

Well the Avion is your standard Les Paul copy. Arch top guitar, HH pickups, maple top on a Mahogany body. Mine has grover tuners, and everything else is pretty much standard. Made in Indonesia.

Doesn't really have much features, but then again there was nothing else I wanted on the guitar. I just needed a good LP copy to keep me occupied, this was spot-on.

When you compare the features to price ratio, no one else gives you a mahogany body with a solid top at this range.

It sounds good. I wouldn't say excellent, but for the price nothing comes close. I tried out the Epiphone Les Paul Ultra 2, which was slightly more expensive, and trust me, you wouldn't want the Epiphone if it was free. This is comparable to Epiphones more than twice the price.

I'm playing it on a Roland Microcube, and get great 'bluesy' sounds with the brit combo and the black panel. With a moderate amount of delay, setting the guitar to treble and setting the tone to somewhere around 8.

The guitar doesn't really have a lot of sustain, but that may be because it's new. I don't expect the sustain to increase too much, so I guess that's a drawback. That's why it's a 7.

The pickups aren't that great, but I would change them anyway.

Other than that, playing around with the setting, you can get pretty decent and even great sounds from this baby when paired with the Microcube. If you pair it with a vox ad30vt (like I did at the shop) you'll get some really great tones.

Well the pickguard was loose, though that was easily fix.

The guitar feels solid, but there's some wax-ish material on the higher frets, and it was hard to remove that.

The finishing isn't that great, a quick look, and you'll find some paint 'mishaps'. Mine is the blue avion, so the color is a bit off here and there.

Action is moderately good for a stock guitar. No Buzzing at all, but the higher frets, have high action, which when lowered may result in buzz. But the stock setup had no buzzing whatsoever.

The feel of this guitar is great, and I love the fact that it's heavy and really feels like a quality instrument. I felt 10 times better than a similar priced Epiphone. I wouldn't buy that epiphone with this guy in the same shop. The Avion is really much better at the same price.

I played for about 3 hours and already beginning to hear some backgroun noise.

I think it's more to do with the cheap cable I got, rather than the guitar. The guitar looks solid and feels solid, I would perform without a backup, but I'm not much of a performer.

I wouldn't feel afraid letting my niece have a go at it, it's got quality materials and feels solid. Can't believe it can't be built at the price.

Never Tried.

I own a Norman B20 and a Microcube. I've been playing for about 6 years now, and wanted a Les Paul to start my electric guitar playing.

If this was lost, I wouldn't get a new one. But I have no regrets buying this when you compare the price to anything epiphone has. It's a quality guitar with good sounds and tone for a FANTASTIC price.

I think if you're going for a Gibson, get one. If you're going for a high-end epi, then maybe this isn't it. But the Avion will hold it's own with any mid-range Epi that cost 3 times as much as it. It's a good guitar for a great price, so I would definitely recommend it to people who are playing for the first time or want to start learning, or need a back up guitar.

Not something to play professionally, but I'm not a professional, and I'm VERY VERY happy with it. Get one, you won't regret it.

My Samick is a 2006 lefty, i bought it about 6 months ago, new at a local music store. was set up poorly by the tech at the music store...decided it would be okay for a backseat hauler.....boy was i surprised. did what it was supposed to do, until i really got it set where i wanted it.

I play a little of everything, and it did great with the stock pickups. I play a Peavey JSX combo, and a Vox AD15VT, for practice and around the house. It sounds great with either. it's quite heavy, but the sustain makes the weight worth it. neck pickup was kinda naked sounding clean, but cheap guitar....cheap pickups, ya know.

the setup was bad. the pickups were perfect, as was everything else(except the finish. the first thing i did to the guitar was install strap-locks, and as i was unscrewing the strap peg, the clearcoat chipped almost effortly. got one other chip between two tuning machines(how???). other than that, a good setup by someone who knows what he wants, and we were all ok.

the one major complaint i had was the pickups. after less than 6 months, the pickups went microphonic on me. no problem, i replaced them with a set of dimarzio's(Mo Jo and PAF Pro), and all was well in the camp. all in all, i couldn't be more impressed for $190 dollars. I installed a Gibson Fine-Tune stopbar tailpiece, mostly because i had one lying around and i liked the convenience of one. made a decent improvement in tone and sustain...might have been the setup adjustments.

Never had to deal with Customer Support

I have been playing a few years, and I think that bang-for-the-buck, this guitar is exactly what it claims to be. I installed a good set of pickups and a gibson fine-tune tailpiece, and have never in my life picked up a better playing, or sounding guitar. When you buy a cheap guitar, the most likely things you would expect to be cheap are the pickups and hardware. with that stuff fixed. i would never part with my 'paul copy.

Features: mahogany body with flamed maple cap, set mahogany neck with rosewood fretboard, body and neck are bound. Red/gold transparent sunburst finish. Les Paul single-cutaway style.

Tune-o-matic stop-tail bridge. Grover tuners, non-locking. 22 frets, jumbo or medium jumbo. Generic Les Paul controls - two tone and two volume for the two humbuckers (PAF-style, nickel covers).

Made, as far as I know, in Indonesia.

That all being listed, I'd easily give the AV3 a nine for features - because despite being a rather uncostly guitar, it doesn't skimp on the really necessary stuff - good woods and a set neck. All the rest - hardware and pickups - can be easily exchanged, but the wood is the bottom line, and it's very fine quality here.

It has the generic Les Paul sound to me - the neck pickup has a nice "chunk" to it, a big warm sound (some might say muddy, but it does have a punch) while the bridge pickup has a bright squawky sound. The mahogany body and neck provide a lot of girth to the sound, and the maple cap adds a lot of high-end clarity. It's a very well-defined sound, if perhaps unspectacular. The sustain is superb.

Sounds very good and with surprising volume with unamplified.

Importantly, chords ring out with thickness but with each string clearly defined - something often missing in Les Paul copies. Also, high-fret sustain never cut out or choked - another telltale flaw of Les Paul copies.

In short, it almost exactly cops the classic Les Paul sound.

I've played it so far out of a small Vox practice amp and my Marshall JCM2000 half-stack - so two ends of the spectrum. It sounded good through both, but really shone with the Marshall.

I would deduct a point only because the stock PAF-style pickups aren't quite as rich or dense as stock Gibson pickups or any aftermarket pickups. Despite their good, above-average, solid sound they don't excel in any particular area either. They do what they're supposed to do but don't go above the call of duty.

No problem at all with microphonics.

Here is where the points get deducted. The guitar was setup well in every way except one - frets 18-22 were not level, and caused buzzing, choking and other major problems. I had to carefully level and polish each fret to get the problems to ease and then disappear, which took the better part of two hours. Out-of-the-box, solos and chords from 17th fret and above would be pretty much impossible, or sound terrible. Took a lot of TLC to bring the guitar into proper shape.

Otherwise, the guitar was good - tight jacks and knobs, fret-ends were straight with no sharp edges, tuners were good, nut was good, everything aligned, neck well adjusted.

The color is very pretty, and the flamed top is well-matched and also eye-catching.

Like all Les Pauls, it's damn heavy. Very solid feel. I would play it live, certainly - the clearcoat on top of the paint seems extraordinarily thick and would withstand a heavy blow or scratch.

Hardware seems on the same level as Gibson, as far as durability goes - it feels and actuates exactly the same.

I've only played it a few hours, but it hasn't exhibited any symptoms that would make me doubt it.

Warranty is non-transferable from the original owner - I don't like that. I haven't needed to contact them, so I'm not sure what they do about subsequent owners (like me).

On the other hand, for that original owner, it's a lifetime warranty on body and neck flaws - which is nice.

This is an excellent copy of the Les Paul - it really gets pretty much everything right, at about one third the price.

The only drawback was the fret issue - but I'm assuming that it's not a problem on every individual guitar, and everything else was fine.

If you wanted a really fantastic Les Paul copy, you could take a solid AV3, add a couple high-end pickups and call it a day. All the other pieces are already in place.