Samick RL-3 Royale

I own the rl3 and it has great features. See the Sammick website for all the features. They don't lie about what goes into this guitar.

I play some jazz, blues, rock and country and this thing fits them all. I use a Traynor all tube 15 watt amp and a 60 watt Hughes & Kettner edition blues with this. The sound is rich, full, and brilliant.
The only troubles with this guitar, as far as the tone, are the tone pots. The dialing down into mellower tones is somehow kind of shallow. I love the tone of each pickup but when you want to make it a bit more mellow it will do that but just in a shallow way. Don't get me wrong, thing sounds amazing already, I just happen to like the freedom to dial down a bit more. It's just me.

The action on this thing is better then my Epiphone Les Paul. and the finish is like an expensive piece of furniture. The pup and the setup were dead on when I got it out of the case the first time. Our music store ordered it and the day it came in I saw and bought it. There were no flaws in the finish anywhere. I hooked it up and started playing and immediately fell in love with this thing.

This rl3 and the av3 that I have will be the only guitars that I will ever have to buy, at least, that is how they feel. The finish seems to be the kind of furniture like thing that you could actually hand down to your children or grandchildren.

I would use either one of these guitars at a gig without backup and I have.

I have not had to deal with this company, but from friends who have it is a good company to have to deal with.

I have been playing for 44 years. I have an Alvarez acoustic guitar that I play a lot. I have the AV3 and a no name banjo. I have two Roland amps: the cube 30 and the Microcube. I have a Traynor all tube 15 watt amp and a Hughes & Kettner 60 watt amp. I also play the DI through a Kustom PA that I carry with me.

I did compare this to the Fender, Epiphone, and Gretch. For the money, this was the buy.

2005 Royale RL-3, amber color. The top is laminated with a curly maple veneer, not quite bookmatched but very nice looking. Back is sapele (beautiful grain), neck is mahogany, fingerboard rosewood, cream binding. Grover non-locking tuners, wired ABR-1 clone bridge (not nashville) with large (.25") import sized posts, etc. Same features as listed elsewhere, it's all stock. I gave it a 9 because it has every feature that a guitar like this should have, but nothing extra or special. Nothing on this guitar "needs" to be upgraded, the hardware all works well, electronics sound and work fine, etc.

I reach for this guitar when I need a lightly overdriven, open singing tone with a lot of depth. Think Robben Ford. Standing next to a very loud overdriven amp, I can channel Ted Nugent Double Live Gonzo. Same fiesty, hollow woody 3-D tone with controllable, singing harmonic feedback. I love it!
I first tested this guitar unplugged. The first thing that struck me was the balance of all of the strings in a given chord, and that the sum of those notes played together was greater than their parts, if that makes sense. The same chord played on any other guitar that I own (this is #10) does not have that same mojo, that extra something that the guitar adds to it. Acoustically, it's a very hi-fi tone. I like a guitar with personality, with it's own tone. This guitar has that. Plugged in, it has obvious similarities to a Les Paul tone, but a bit thinner and more open. Les Pauls can easily get too fat and muddy, this doesn't. My feeling is that these pups have a lower output and less magnet strength than typical humbuckers. There are a lot of famous players that use semi-hollow guitars, and all of those tones are potentially in this guitar- Larry Carlton, Robben Ford, Ted Nugent, Pat Metheney, etc etc.
The best thing I can tell you is this. Ive been gassing hard for a Gibson CS-356 custom shop guitar. List price around $6k, fully hand made, etc. My local shop has one at a discount price due to some damage- I've almost pulled the trigger on it many times and have played it more than 6 times. This RL-3 has every tone that the custom shop guitar has, every bit of nuance, sustain etc. I saved myself thousands and cured the gas.
I give it an 8 because it could obviously sound better with better pups, but it's very usable as is. Most players that care about their tone will swap the pups for ones they like anyway, regardless of what came stock. The base platform of the guitar is excellent, an excellent base to mod with the pups of your choice.

As others have said, the fit and finish on this guitar for it's price, for ANY price is phenomenal. Anyone that tells you that "made in Korea" or made in Asia in general automatically means lower quality is a fool or a liar. Sure, there's a bunch of bargain priced cr*p produced in Asia, as there is in the USA. This guitar is not that. You will not, for example, find a better built, better finished guitar produced at the USA Gibson factory. In fact, this guitar is better than most USA Gibbies that I've played and seen. It has a glossy poly finish that feels good. I've played Epis with the same type of finish that feel cheap and plastic, this doesn't. I usually have to play the heck out of a guitar for at least 6 months to get comfortable with it, the RL-3 was immediately comfortable.
The top is not bookmatched, but looks good anyway. The neck is straight as an arrow, relief and action are spot-on, truss rod works well, no obvious fret buzz, no dead notes. It came with very heavy (to me) strings, 12s maybe. I swapped for 10s and re-set the truss rod, it plays perfectly. The binding is beautiful, well applied, properly finished, smooth and no flaws can be seen.
One flaw I can see, is that the sapele back, right at the neck heel joint had two chips (2 mm each) on those corners that were patched with other pieces of wood before it was finished at the factory. It's hard to see, but it's there.
Also, the interior of the hardshell case that it comes in is pretty cheap. Not even close to what Gibson offers. The padding is thin and the guitar fits loosely and can move around inside. Fine for around the house or carefully carrying it to the studio or a gig, but not for regular use where it needs to protect the guitar. It gets an 8 for that reason.

One test that I do on a new guitar to check the neck's and neck/ body joint's stability and strength, is to pluck the open low E string so it rings, then fret and bend up the high E string at the 12th fret at least a full step, silently. I listen to see if the pitch of the low E string goes down, indicating that the neck is bending from the force of the bent note. Despite the nice thin neck on this guitar, it holds that pitch rock solid. No neck flex, the neck body joint is solid. Try that with a $2000+ USA Les Paul or import Epiphone. Good luck.
If I were going to gig with this guitar (I use it in the studio), I would replace the pickup selector switch and volume and tone pots with Switchcraft and CTS or similar. Probably the output jack as well. If any part of this guitar feels slightly lacking it's these parts.
Bridge, tuners, straplocks, nut, etc all feel very solid.
8 for the electronics that should be replaced. With proper name brand parts it would get a 10.

I have no experience with customer service, other than the Greg Bennett web site. I am very impressed with the video that Greg Bennett did talking about this guitar. Very thorough and complete, it should serve as the template for every on-line guitar review. That's a form of customer support, so they get a 10.

As I said earlier, this is the guitar that I bought instead of a $3000+ Gibson Custom shop guitar, without reservation. Sure, a Korean made guitar does not carry the panache or bragging rights of a custom shop guitar, but you can't play those things, and besides, I own a 2009 Custom Shop Historic Les Paul R0 so that scratch has been itched.
Most players will upgrade or customize hardware and electronics on their new guitar. The important things are the wood, the finish and the construction- the end user can't really change these things so they have to be right from the factory. With this guitar, they are.
Myself, I will swap out the electronics, maybe the pickups and will install a set of Grover vintage open back Sta-Tite tuners for that old-tymey mojo.
I paid $350 for this guitar barely used. Even with a few hundo invested in parts that suit me, no other semi-hollow guitar on the market will touch it, at any price.
I looked for one used for over 6 months, this one came up and I snatched it immediately. If lost/ stolen/ broken, Id start that search all over again and get another, absolutely.

What a lovely budget axe. It's a matched maple top with a transparent wine red color.

I found this guitar on ebay for $400 with shipping.I suggest looking below for more info on features. One of the ideas I gained from previous reviews was to replace the pick ups. The originals were a little muddy when overdriven.

I found a Manlius Guitar Pickups Fullrange PUP on ebay. I contacted them and requested a slightly less hot PAF PUP for the neck. We decided on a 5% overwind on the Hot Rod 59 PAF.

I get every sound I would expect and then some. The Fullrange PUP alone in the bridge setting gives a slightly compressed tone when clean and is very nice for all the styles I play. The middle selector is great for rhythm and lead. At the end, I have a 335/les paul style that sounds like a professional guitar. All told $750 after the mods. It's not that the original hardware sucked. Far from it. see below for more.

I play progressive punk verging on new metal with a dash of California hardcore and agressive classic rock.


This guitar sounds exceptinally smooth,warm and sweet but is also great for huge-fat tones when I hit it with tons of gain. Or sweet leads when I use the neck PUP and turn the gain down. The cleans are dark but lively. The Manlius pups are absolutly silent even when driven hard. The original PUPs were quite good. I'd give this section 8 stock. I use a MIM Strat with duncans to catch the bright end of the spectrum.

For amps I own a '65 bandmaster 40 watt head, a '74 twin reverb and a 2003 THD bivalve 30 watt head. I use the THD for distortion and either the twin or the bandmaster for cleans depending on my headroom needs.

I would suggest that stock this guitar is mainly a blues/rock axe. With the manlius PUPs it can do open g/drop d tunings with gobs of blistering distortion ala THD bivalve.

This guitar was factory fresh though lightly used. I changed to 10-46 strings and adjusted the action. I found the truss rod somewhat frozen and had to apply an uncomfortable amount of effort. Otherwize the guitar is setup and finished very well. Although the "matched" maple top is pretty it lacks somewhat compared to more higher price points.

I've used the guitar for many projects: live, studio and practice. It keeps the setup very nicely. The stock hardware is good. I plan to replace all of it though. Only because I've not finished my sub $1000 pro guitar yet. Every thing has held up well. It's close to a $2500 guitar now. All archtops are somewhat fragile. I don't treat this guitar rougly. I feel like this is the archtop for me.

The site that desined the Royale series does not have an email contact listed which makes me think they may be out of it. Or?

I didn't want to spend $2000 plus for a semi-hollow electic. I did want the quality in tone and setup. I'd be wrong to say this guitar would stand up to a Gibson in everyway but tone. I spent $750.

The tone is lush and lovely. It can growl like Nugent or sing like BB. With light strings I can do bends that soar like Carlos or like Trey. I'd do this all over if I had to. The price/value is super.

Jazz/Blues semi hollow body guitar. Very nice looking guitar...I have the amber version and it is gorgeous. Standard Tune-O-Matic bridge, two Duncan designed humbuckers, 3-way switching, great body construction. Very nice feeling neck. Laminated top, which is fine for a Semi-Hollow guitar.

Body construction is very good! No flaws, binding is great looking, just a fantastic looking guitar!

I play a Taylor acoustic guitar, and I wanted a neck that was a similar size and feel...this hits it right on. Mine is about 3-years old

Stock version; very good! The neck gives a nice mellow sound and a great lead rock and blues tone. The bridge pickup is very rocking sounding, but no ice pick here. The middle position is a very nice sounding combination of the pickups. There was nothing I did not like about this guitar. I have owned american Strats, Teles, Jacksons, and a host of other electrics. I got rid of all of them and this is all I use.

Upgraded version; Over the past three years I have slowly made the guitar my own...I'll put this against any guitar now for quality and variety of sound. Upgrades I made are as follows:

1. Replaced the volume pots with CTS volume pots.
2. Replaced the tone pots with ToneStyler by Stellertone pots. You owe it to yourself to check these out. They give you incredible tone control and never muddy!
3. Replaced the bridge and stop tail piece with Gotoh model #168 tail piece and #1511 bridge from StewMac. Highly recommended change. These are much heavier and solid. Much better sustain with the new parts. Drops right in.
4. Replaced the tuners with Grover locking tuners. The guitar had standard grovers...this is a nice upgrade. Does not make it sound better, but the tuning ratio is 18:1, so it makes tuning more accurate.
5. Replaced the pickups with Lollar Imperial Humbuckers...WOW!!! This is a clear, airy, never muddy pickup. I cannot say enough about how good these pickups are. Both the neck and bridge have sound that are a pleasure to listen to. Sure, they were $300, but it is a whole new guitar.
6. Replaced the jacks and switch with switch craft products.

So what do we have? With my total investment of the guitar and all the add ons, were around $1100...but I challenge anyone to find another semi-hollow guitar with TOP name components and incredible sound like this has.

The stock was great sounding for what I paid...the rating is based on the stock set up that I bought for $550.

I got the guitar from Jeff Hale music in Wisconsin. His guitars are set up by Denny Rauen (Rauen Guitars)in Milwaukee, so the set up was very good. It came with 13's on it...I switched to 11's with a non-wound G-string and took it back to Rauen's to have it set up again. Top notch work! There were no flaws on the guitar.

For $600, you get what you pay for. Mid-grade electronics, Mid-grade bridge, Mid-Grade pickups. Nothing wrong with them, just don't expect you are getting the best. It would have not had any problems, I'm a tone freak, so I upgraded.

I don't use a backup...Play live often with no issues. Great guitar as it came stock.

No dealings with the company directly. The rating is for dealing with Jeff Hale (J Hale Music). He is a top notch guy to work with and only deals with quality products. I highly recommend getting product from him to anybody!

I have been playing guitar for over 30-years...not real seriously until the past 10-years. I have a Taylor Acoustic, Lakland Bass and this guitar. Thats all I need. I play into a Valvetrain 205 and some analog effects when needed.

There is nothing I did not like about the stock guitar. I love EVERYTHING about my modified version. As stated earlier, I have owned many guitars and only have this one now. It's that good!

I am lusting for one of the new Taylor solid bodies, but that will have to remain a lust, I must remain unfaithful to my Samick! I like it so much, thats my main email addy...

Finish- Amber Quilt
Laminated top

H/H

Single Cutaway

Grover Tuners

Great Guitar For the $$!! I've been playing Guitar for about a good
20 years on and have had ( still have) Strats, Gibson 335 / Ibanez.
Right now I have a couple of Fender Basses & 3 Ibanez RG's( One with
a Roland synth Pickup that is my main Gigging instrument, Durable Axe!)
And some Acoustic/electrics...I picked up the Samick in Dayton Ohio at a
Pawnshop & Bought it on the spot for $300 with the case just on the Neck feel alone....the setup was perfect, and the guitar looked brand new!
Took it to Sam Ash & Played it thru a Roland Cube 30x at the store and at home thru my 10 yr old Line6 AX212 and was completely satisfied
with the tones....Especially playing thru the Cube30! I'm an R&B/Funk
Neo-soul/Southern Soul/ Acid Jazz Kind of player, so I like that
Bright Heavy Chord rhythm sound ( examples of this can be found on countless James Brown, Zapp, Isley Brothers, Bootsy, Prince, B.B. King, Toni-Tone'-Tony & EWF records) Nice George Benson style sounds
as well when you back off the tone a little bit @ the Neck Pickup.

No Flaws whatsoever...I thought about putting some Real Seymour Duncans
in the guitar but decided against this as I'm inspired to use it as is...the neck is fast...very comfortable to play...I'm thru w/buying
1000.00 guitars to play $150.00 a man shows...Top notch construction.

So far so good...I've only played this on studio gigs & @ church as well
as a Backup on Funk shows...I feel like I could depend on it.

No issues....

This thing plays like a Vintage 335 circa '65-70 era....nice rhythm sound!! Especially thru that Roland...Brite, Jangly rhythm!!!

Beautiful quilted maple amber color single cutaway - I'm pretty sure it is a laminated top, most semi-hollow archtops are, and that's ok. Looks to have real good craftmanship. Mahogany back and sides makes for a nice mellow tone.

I play Jazz and Blues and this really fits the bill. This was the first night I played in with my big band and it really performed. Both the keyboard and bass players said the sound was the best of all my guitars. The sustain is awsome. Chords would just ring on, took a while for it to die down. and the tone was so rich and mellow, I was blown away. The ensemble I play with is at a local college and the room is a basic classroom with cinder block walls and lowgrade carpet on the floors - not good for accoustics and this axe really cut through the horns and the tone was golden. Very nice indeed!

My friend owned it first, and he already had it all setup. I can't tell if any flaws exist on this. The finish is beautiful. I really like the look and the smaller body size (compared to a 335 type of semi-hollow body). Electronics are solid, seem like they are quality.

I haven't had it long enough to know if it is durable, I'm sure it will be. Seems sturdy enough.

N/A

Excellent value and great tone, even with the stock electronics. Looks classy and sounds excellent - what more could I ask for? I would definately consider selling some of my other equipment in order to buy another one if this was lost or stolen.

2005 Samick Greg Bennett Royale RL3
22 Frets
Solid quilted maple top(vintage burst)
V,V,T,T 3 Way
Duncan designed HH
Passive electronics
Single cutaway
Tune o matic bridge(Chrome)
Grover Tuners, non locking, chrome

What can I say? What a fantastic sounding instrument! Versatile range of quality tones, well balanced, with good attack/sustain -really nails that range of sounds that I particularly like - Larry Cartlon, Robben Ford, John Scofield, but could be used for just about any style. For me it suits the jazz / blues spectrum fanstastically, and sits as a great addition to my other guitars: Strat with David Gilmour EMGs, 1979 Yamaha Lord Player (sensational LP copy), and my most loved 1981 Ibanez AS200 which sits closest to the Samick in style and sound.
So far I'm very impressed with the Duncan Designed pickups - nicely balanced, warm but clear, just the right ouptput for me, as I lean more to cleaner / mild overdriven tones. Given the comments other have made about the improvement gained by adding quaity pickups and my personal success (after much agonising) with replacing my AS200 Super 58's with a Seymour Duncan Jazz and a JB, I will seriously consider a pickup upgrade, but not yet. I want to sit with the originals for a while yet. They work well with my current setup - Early 80's Boss SD-1 and DS-1, Digitech Bad Monkey, Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive, with Digitech Delay, Dunlop Volume Pedal and Berhinger Wah runing into a Roland Cube 60 (great amp).

Stunning quality finish. Figured maple top with vintage (not honey)burst looks absolutley glorious. Sapelle back also very good and compliments the instrument nicely. The comparisons other reviewers have made to other more expensive brands bears repeating. This is right up there with the best, and better is many cases.
Action was too stiff and high for me out of the box. It was strung with 13's. Lowering the action at both the nut and bridge, an intonation adjustment, and replacing the strings with initially D'addario 11's and then 10's revealed a fantastic playing neck, now almost perfect for my taste. No rattles or buzzes, no fretting out.
I am a great fan of Grover tuners and have them on all my guitars. Holds tune very well.
Less impressed with cheap ABR style bridge which was immediately replaced with a Goto model, with immediate improvement in tone and sustain. Also put on a spare Goto stop tailpiece I had lying around.
Pickup height adjustment to suit my personal state. I might try a tusk nut at some stage, but the original is fine in it's lowered state.

Certainly seems robust enough. Only time will tell.
I will definitley use this live

No problems. My local music shop owner reports the company are great to deal with.

This would definitley be replaced if lost / stolen etc. It is a very versatile guitar, and lives up to the advertisng rhetoric of being a fine semi-acoustic with a bit of sold body feel. I'm more intersted in tone than price, but it's hard to see how this guitar is anything but sentational value in both regards. It is so close to my AS200 in character of tone and quality of build that frankly it's a bit scary.
If you are interested in a quality semi-acoustic, I seriously suggest you have a look at one of these before trying anything else.

see manufacturers website

I am a guitar amateur with lots of guitars and amps, drums, and other music instruments. I play mostly blues, Jazz, and some rock.
Although have been playing for about 22 years I do not play profesionally. The sound on this guitar is perfect: Rich, full, Bright, balanced. Iam surprised that the stock Duncan humbuckers sound this good. There is nothing not to like about the sound. Also very flexible when you tweak positions with switch.

This guitar is the only guitar I have not tweak from factory. Even my deluxe strats, some gibsons I've purchased recently needed proper setup before I could play them. This guitar is perfect in this category. CIntonation, action, finish, craftmanship, quality, all there. I have spend 3 to 4 times the money for other guitars and have never been so impressed. This guitar has changed my mind about korean made guitars. Comes in a beautiful case too. Excellent job!

solid

no opinion. Haven't had need to call.

A bought the RL3 at a local shop in South Florida who special ordered it and paid $499 for this beauty. After I received it and experience the joy of owning and playing this baby I bought a Jazz hollowboby by Samick (not setup as perfect but sounds great) for another $550 including a beautiful case. Both of these two guitars are now selling for almost double its price. I wish some pros out there would try the RL3, there is no reason why it could not be selling at a $1500 price point.

2004 Samick Greg Bennett Royale RL3, made in korea.
22 Frets
Solid quilted maple top(honeyburst)
V,V,T,T 3 Way
Duncan designed HH
Passive electronics
Mahogany neck and body, maple top
Single cutaway
Tune o matic bridge(Chrome)
Grover Tuners, non locking, chrome
Wide thin neck
No accessories included

With a change of pickups, and new pots, it absolutely screams. Best sounding guitar I have ever heard, at any price. The duncan designs were decent, but with a Duncan JB in the bridge and 57 classic at the neck, and the cheap chinese pots and jack switched out for CTS pots and a switchcraft jack, it sings, it cries, it snarls, it's alive! I play it through a '64 Bandmaster, and it's SQUEAKY clean, the purest sweetest tone you ever heard. Set your bridge tone and volume at 10 and roll the neck back to taste, I usually leave it on 7 for volume and 4 for tone, then adjust the snarl factor with your pick attack. Sometimes I practice with a little portable 1 watt battery powered Marshall, unbelievable! The little marshall breaks up nicely due to a gain control. Leave your selector switch in the middle for blues, and flip on the JB for leads and rock. You can't appreciate "Clean Crunch" until you've heard it.

Flawless craftmanship has changed my mind about Korean products. Everything on this guitar is top notch, with the exception of the electronics and plastic nut. I see $700 and up Epiphones in the local music stores that look like crap when compared to the Samick. I played several vintage Gretch's and Es-335's the day I bought the Samick, and the Samick won. The amazing thing?, none of the Gibson's or Gretch's was less than a grand, I got the Samick for $360.

So far so good, time will tell....

Haven't dealt with Samick. Haven't had to.

I've been playing guitar 2 years, drums 20.
I also own a lake placid blue fender strat clone with a warmoth body, moses graphite neck and OLD emg sa prototypes, next to the Samick, it's my favorite guitar.
A black Jackson Dinky with floyd rose
An Agile burst LP clone
An 80's Epiphone 12 string acoustic
A Washburn acoustic
A custom Warmoth 12 string electric with a macassar ebony neck

If it were lost or stolen, I would play several other RL3's to make sure they had the same "magic" this one does. If so, I would buy one again.
I love the tone, the feel and the responsiveness to my attack.
I hated the pots, and was lukewarm towards the pups.
My favorite feature is the neck, it just feels right.
If you can find one, buy it, you won't regret it.

The usual Korean fare here which is not a bad thing. I picked this guitar up on a whim. At the time I had a B-Bender Tele and a circa 1950's Harmony "Western Auto" archtop and being the guitar slut that I was, why not? Features, make, model, etc... were not even remotely considered. I had never even heard of a Samick. As it turned out, it was a buy of a lifetime and I didn't even see it coming. The only feature I vaguely considered, might have been the style/shape/construction which looked a little unique: high points for these things. The pots look a little vulnerable as does the selector switch but I'm not a professional, play it mostly acoustically, and really couldn't care less; easy enough to replace if something goes awry. Fit and Finish: good and smooth Scale: Gibsonish Wood: outstanding Neck: wide but thin i.e. perfect Tuners: Korean Grovers and smooth. Overall style: upper bout of a Tele, lower bout of a Les Paul and the rear end of a Gibson 335 (or more specifically a Fender Robben Ford); which seems to cover a lot of stylistic ground but it is smooth, well integrated and has an individual identity all its own. The headstock though is another matter entirely.

As 30+ year guitarist/collector/slut, I still lack any discernible skill or talent but have owned and played many guitars through many amps. I may not be a conniseuer of fine tone but I know crap tone if I hear it. No crap tone here. Distorts very well. Good clean sounds are best achieved in the neck or middle positions and will cover 90%+ of any music I want to butcher er... I mean play. The only effect I use is the Bigsby that I added, and this guitar was MADE for a Bigsby: very cool, should be a factory item! This guitar can cover just about anything in its stock form.

This is where this guitar really shines. Who cares about the factory set up? All of the action and adjustability are there. I think this guitar was one of the first batches so I don't know how represenative of an example it is. I bought it in early 2001 and had never heard of a Samick before. After I got it home I was (and continue to be) well and truly impressed with the craftsmanship. Superb, no flaws whatsoever. the wood quality, grain and bookmatch were absolutely perfect. Every join and transition was crisp and well defined. The finish was as smooth as any finish I have ever seen and did not look Korean plasticky at all. Fret work was also superb: smooth and even, well finished on the ends and well polished with no buzzes. The routing and the inside chambers were all clean. The guitar still continues to impress me 4+ yrs later. I sometimes just pick it up and admire the absolute execution on it. I've owned over 100 high-end guitars in my life and was a luthier's apprentice for 2 years, and I would stack this one up to any guitar regardless of price. The only guitar I might want to look at more would be a PRS McCarty hollow body with a trem or, an old DeAngelico; value aside, it would be close.

I may not be a conniseuer of tone but I am a conniseuer of structure and design. Short of purposely trying to break it, I would be shocked if it didn't survive several lifetimes of normal/professional wear and tear. Very stout. I would wager you could drop it from 4 feet at any angle and only incur cosmetic damage. The only speculative weak spots might be found in the pots and switches (hence the 8), but again, easy enough to replace and probably should be replaced if you play live frequently.

Short of a major assembly line or a design reduction issue emerging on this model, who needs it?

I have been in recovery from my guitar slut-lust and addiction for 4 1/2 ys. and it is due primarily to this guitar. I guess I had been searching for a one-size-fits-all guitar and with a few modifications, seem to have found it. It should come with a Bigsby but that is a fairly simple mod. The guitar responds well to this. Stock frets here are reasonably tall but I like alot of air under my fingers so I scalloped the fretboard and laquered the rosewood. Extreme, but very happy with this mod as well. Unfortunately the HEADSTOCK was a stylistic low point. So I stripped it and re-shaped it to a more PRS-like shape. This seemed to balance-out the guitar better both physically and aesthetically and was a way big improvement with the added benefit of now being able to see the striped mahogany underneath. It transformed a very good looking guitar into an absolutely beautiful one. I still own the Western Auto archtop and have a rosewood Tele but this is the only guitar I play anymore. I keep hearing that it is a good guitar "for the price" but as a 37 year player with a fair amount of experience, it is a good guitar period.

This is an update on my previous review. I've been playing this RL-3 about 6 months now. There's no way around it - this is a terrrific guitar - at any price. The longer I play it, the better I like it! I've had no problems. As I noted, I changed the strings to Ernie Ball Power Slinky 11s when I bought it - my personal preference. Playing through a Line 6 Flextone III with Short Board Controller, a Vox AD15VT I use for when I want to throw a smalleramp in the car and go, and Monster Jazz Cables, Dunlop 1mm picks. I play jazz - mainly Standards -some blues. Good clean tone is critical to me, altohugh I have been playing with the Flextone III's capabilities more and more, as I settle into both the guitar and amp. The RL-3 delivers the goods! It is articulate with a very nice tonal palate ranging from sweet and mellow tones on the neck pickup to good snap and cutting tones on the bridge pickup. I find that, for melody and lead work, I like to use both pickups. It is comfortable to play - either staiding or seated. The neck and action are very nice - nice action and play. I've had many more expensive guitars that didn't sound or play as well. This one is a keeper and has proven itself to be 'GAS proof' at this point. Next guitar probbly will be a Samick JZ-4! But this one is staying!

2004 Greg Bennett Vintage Burst - hard to find finish - Duncan designed pickups, Grover tuners, silver hardware, all creme pickguards, pickup plates, creme binding.

This guitar has incredible tone - the pickups coupled with the unique body construction bring out the ideal tone in a thinline series guitar. I get excellent ringing bell tones , or a "chime" on the high end with lots of clarity, and a lot of bottom end and mid range warmth. For what I play (mostly clean sounds, or light overdrive) this is the ultimate guitar. I have a very creative contemporary jazz tone that incorporates some sound effects with the music I write - not your typical thing. However, this guitar brings to the table the sound I long to hear; a classic tone reminiscent of old jazz sounds but with my modern writing. This guitar is as classic as it gets and honestly, when I hear it, something comes over me. It is very consistent, yet not so tight that it lacks expressiveness. It even sounds awesome unplugged!

PERFECT! It is as good as it gets!!!! The neck is "laser beam" straight, and finished as slick as a babies butt with baby oil on it. Ice is not as slick as this thing. It is just perfect - no joke.

No problems here - I have had it a year. Again, nothing compares. I looked at gibson and epiphones - they were good, but this RL3 grabbed me.

Have not dealt with Customer service.

This is the only 10 I can recall handing out on a guitar. It is perfect. Other people have made comparisons in tones of this guitar with different styles of guitars like strats and what not. In my opinion, that is irrelevant somewhat. On the other hand, if you are comparing it to all guitars as far as quality of craftsmanship and performing as it should as a slimline jazz guitar, this is as good as it gets as a jazz guitar, and it has the best craftsmansip, feel, and appearance I have ever seen. If my wife left me for dead and took all my money, I would ask that she atleast leave me this "babe", my RL3. She would probably say - "you might as well take, you spend more time with it than me anyway!"

Neck thru construction, quilt top, monoframe body construction, Grover tuners and the Duncan Designed PUs sound great. This guitar needs nothing as opposed to every other axe I've ever gotten except PRSs don't seem to need any tweaking.

The neck is a little thin for my taste so I put heavier strings on it so it fights me a little bit. I can't find any flaws in the construction, no buzzing or other tone sucking problems I can find.

For the rpice this axe is incredible.

This guitar has a really warm sound. I own 9 other electrics and this one is the wamrest by far. It is the only hollow body I have which is why it might be warmer than the rest. There are times when I think it's to dark but I'm really liking the warmth and finding it addicitive. I sue it with a variety of amps and it sounds superb with all of them. The bridge PU which I rarely use has a nice cut with distortion. I would like the tone and volume controls to have a more useable range. They don't respond to subtle tweaks very well.

My guitar was set up with 13s ugghh!!!! To big for most styles in my HMO. I put 11s on it and it plays great and sounds even better. This guitar is perfect- no defects.

It's kind of heavy but lighter than any 335 I've played and I think it sounds better than my friends '65 ES335.

This axe seems solid. Seriously, what guitar can't stand life on the road. I doubt the finish will hold up like on my PRSs but should do fine with some care. I intend to do a side project with my Keyboard player slamming bass lines and chords doing some lighter jazz for casuals.

This guitar may be the most inspirational I've purchased. I'm using it with a Mesa Boogie Lone Star with a Mark4 slaved to it for outdoor gigs. The tone I get from this rig is warm and comfy. It's a little dark and may not cut like my other instruments but being the only guitar player, I don't need a real cutting sound.

In fact, you can play louder without hurting your audience with this axe. I love the way it feeds back and kind of get's resonating with your music. This axe is a prime example of the benefits of world trade. This axe costs one fourth as much as several of mine and it's at least as good as most.

The tuners are very solid as are the strap buttons. The pots seem like a weak link and I suspect they'll give me problems down the road.

I have no idea and think this should not even be needed with any instrument. Samick's QC seems very good based on my observations.

I've been playing for over thirty years and have many nice guitars. That said, I pick up this guitar first for acoustic couch picking or low volume practice. I love the fullness of the notes at low volume. I'd been looking at Gibsons and feel I got something better than anything out there in the up to 2K range for 1/4 the price.

I do wish the pots had a better taper or usable range but that's my only gripe. I think the PUS sound very good.

This is the one that calls out for me and it has a lot of competition in my stable. It could be lighter but that would affect the tone; probably adversely. If you don't have a hollow body electric and want one, this is the perfect instrument for you. What an instrumnet for the price!!!

This is a new (i.e. 2004) Royale-3. Vintage Sunburst on quilted maple top. Very pretty. Top is laminated maple arch top. Sides and back as sapelle ("stiped mahogany"). Two 'Duncan Designed' humbuckers, tone and volume, and 3-way switching. No coil splitting - no trem - pretty basic, albeit adequate, elecronics. Grover tuners - nice,solid, and precise. Neck is mahogany. Nice set neck/body joint - trim with good higher fret access. Frets are medium jumbo - very nicely finished - 22 frets. No case. The optional case is just "ok" - adequate for everyday - but I wouldn't trust it for travel. Bridge is standard tunomatic, standard stop bar. the guitar came with pretty heavy (and stiff!) strings (13s ??) with a wound G. I replaced the srings almost immediately! The features are pretty much as I expected/wanted. As others have commented, the design and construction of this guitar is very unique (arched top over 'monoframe') and gives it its own character - somewhere between a solid body and a typical semihollowbody. This is not a light guitar to anyone but Les Paul players but it is comfortable to play. I found the neck to be very comfortable, trim, and fast. Rosewood fingerboard - "Crown" inlays... Well, I'm not nuts about big inlays, aothough they're adequately done and well-fnished. I prefer the Gretsch styyle "thumbnail" type markers - but thats just my taste.

I'm generally not a "Designed" fan. Based on other DD equipped guitars I've played, I expected the pickups to be kind of 'generic.' But the DDs on this guitar sound very nice with good definition. The bridge can be VERY bright, if not cutting - rivaling my ASAT Special for balls! The neck pickup can be very mellow... without being too dark. Combine the two ('midedle position') and you have a really bright, clear, tone - great melody/lead/jazz tone. I don't play with distortion or a ton of effects - so the "clean" sound of the guitar is critical to me. The electronics seem very adequate. The 3-way is positive and quiet. Tone pots actually produce tonal variation! Overall, I'd rate this very, very, good. When I bought the guitar, I expected (based on other reviews) to replace the pickups, but I've decided that I will keep the stock pickups. I'm primarily a jazz player - I think the guitar sounds very, very, nice and has a wonderful tonal palate. Amazing for the price.

Outstanding! No flaws. The top was very nicely book matched. The finish is beautiful (vintage sunburst.) Everything fits tightly. the set up was very decent. I found the stock GHS strings to be too heavy and stiff for my taste. But I generally expect to replace strings anyway for those that I prefer. I replaced them with Ernie Ball Power Slinky 11s - wow - major difference.

Because of its construction, it really is a unique sort of guitar. I also like te fact that the hardare was not gold - again, just my personal taste - but durability is important. I think that the Vintage Sunburst is a particularly pretty finish.

The guitar feels rock-solid. It seems that quality components were used. The basic design and construnction is very solid - much more so that typical archtops either hollow or semi-hollow. Strap buttons seem very substantial. Gigging without back up is probably asking for trouble - no matter what your primary guitar is.

Don't know. Decent warranty.

I've been playing for well over 25 years. I play Jazz. I've had a ton of guitars - many of which I didn't keep for long (GAS problems)- Gibson, Gretsch, Fender, Godin, Ibanez, Ernie Ball, etc. Curently, I have only this Samick and a G&L ASAT Special Semi-Hollow - that way, I have both the single coil and humbucker thing covered. I play through a Line 6 Flextone III amp. My opinion...In the semi-hollow category, the RL-3 more than holds its own. At the price, its absolutely amazing!I think it will be a "keeper". If I lost it, I'd replace it.

you know the specs...a kind of cross between a Les Paul Std and an ES 135..in theory at least. That said, this guitar is its own kind of beast. Just looking at the guitar you get a sense of the quality. The single piece, carved mahogany body (RL3) is exquisite and the quilted top is stunning. The pu's, as others have said, tend to be average but the middle position gives ring and chime to boot. It is lighter than a Paul or even the Avion, The Greg Bennett rendition of a Paul. But it is not a featherweight to say the least.
Great neck, good playability. A nice, somewhat unique guitar. I might replace the neck pu...most likely will...but with which alternative has not yet been decided. My other guitars are an Ibanez AM73T, removed the Ibanez "Bigsby" (yuk) replaced with a Gibson trapeze as on the ES 135, a Fender B Bender Tele and an old Guild F30 acoustic amongs others...and this Royale is on my front line. I have almost 40 years of playing time...and have seen them all...and this is one nice guitar...

I'm reviewing the Samick RL-3 guitar. I bought all my Samicks on eBay.
This RL-3 is made in Korea and was made in 2003. I also own an RL-2 and an RL-1.
I think most of the folks who have posted reviews on this guitar have covered the basics. Semi hollow body, cross between a Les Paul and a ES 135. Two PUs (Duncan), 3 position toggle switch, tun o matic bridge , etc. The RL-3 comes with a quilted maple top. The Rl1 & Rl 2 are'nt as pretty, but the feel and sound of the guitar is practicaly the same.

The sound of a stock Samick guitar is pretty darn good. For someone on a limited budget these guitars will sound fine! For my tastes though the PUs seemed a little muddy. Especially the neck PU.
I put some Fralin PUs in my RL-2 and split the coil on the neck PU. I am doing the same set up on my RL-3 right now.Wth the slightly hotwired Fralins I have a good blues and rock guitar. If I need to clean up the sound for finger picking or for a more Tele kind of sound, I just hit the split coil on the neck PU. For a more jazz sound I use the neck PU and back off slightly on the volume control
I play through a Mesa MarkII w/ a 1 12" extension cab for large venues. For small clubs I play through a hotrodded Princeton through 2 10" speakers.

All of my Samick Royales have come set up very well. As I stated I bought them off eBay, so the previous owners may have done a good job.
I have found no finish flaws, and all electronics worked fine. No buzzes, static or pot noise was noticed. I play with light gage strings (.009-.042) and there is no fret buzzing.

I've only had these guitar less than 6 months, so I don't know how well they'll hold up. They seem well contructed though. I play pretty loud at some clubs and these pickups don't feedback (unless you want them to). If you stand right next to your amp you will get a squeal if the guitar is at full volume. I always take 3 guitars to every gig, so a back guitar is always available.

No contact with the company has been made.

I've been playing for 40 years. I have 2 Turner guitars, A 72Les Paul Goldtop, a 65 Firebird 5, a Samick RL-2 and RL-3, a 69 Thinline Tele, a Dean Sarasota 12 string, a Takamine acoustic/electric, and a Martin 12 string. I've sold more guitars than I own right now over the years. For ease of playing these Samicks rank right up there with my Tele and Paul. I would definately look for another one if I somehow lost one of these. It's lighter than a Les Paul, but with the same sustain. And if you use coil splitting you will have an excellent rhythm sound.

2003 model. Got a killer price of $358 brand new from Music 123 via E-Bay auction. Korean made Thinline semihollow jazz fusion style archtop. 22 frets, typical 2 humbucker 4 control setup with Duncan Design pups, good quality full size pots. Nicely quilted laminated maple arch top, laminated mahogany back, solid carved out mahogany monoframe,( I have no idea exactly how many pieces it is made out of but all I can see looking really close is 2 seams which indicate the monoframe was a 3 piece block of mahogany) set mahogany neck with headstock scarf joint. Rosewood board with fairly bland looking crown inlays. 2 F holes, Gibson style ABR type bridge & stoptail. 1 ply well done front and back and neck binding. Real Grover tuners, nice vintage sunburst top, dark heritage cherry/maroon back. Came with free hardshell case too.

Impressive sound considering the Duncan Designed pups are usually average sounding at best. Unplugged this guitar is reasonably alive and has a nice voice. Plugged in clean it's warm and jazzy sounding, very articulate and clean. Kick in the overdrive and crunch and grind is delivered in satisfying quantities,but don't expect it to behave like a Les Paul because it's not built like one nor is it built like an ES335. A good set of pickups would make this an even better guitar.

As usual, typical Korean fret work, frets/neck were nice and level allowing very low clean action but the fret material is a bit soft and the final polish step is missing leaving a gritty feel, easily enough fixed however with a quick fret polish job. Surprisingly the ABR-1 copy bridge didn't rattle on this one and it actually did provide enough travel to intonate the G string. A Gotoh tune-o-matic bridge copy from Stew Mac would still be a good upgrade. The vintage burst finish is very attractive looking. A finish glitch was easily found, 1 small finish run on the side of the neck, it certainly shouldn't have gotten past inspection, I'll have to sand it out. The nut which seems to be bone or tusque was reasonably well cut for optimum 1st fret action. I like it low and clean and this guitar delivers that. Action is set at a low 2/64" both sides 12th fret and it plays clean and fast! One area of concern I have with these Samicks is the fingerboard inlays, they are your typical plastic as almost ALL inlays are, and well fit with minimal filler but more often than not on these Bennetts they vary too much from inlay to inlay, some are very nicely figured and others are bland looking. It came strung with 12 or 13's with a wound G which made the action WAY too stiff. I set it up with 9's and now it's a fast, easy player. That run gives it a 6, otherwise I'd say a 9 for this catagory.

No reason not to think it won't hold up. Well put together and solid.

Don't know, haven't tried to contact them. One serious problem that persists for Samick is info and availability. I don't know of too many dealers I can go to to try these, I have to scour the net to find them for sale online and prices vary dramatically from site to site IF you can even find them. I've seen models that are not even listed anywhere too. SAMICK, wake up, get a good dealer network, and good info available!

Been playing 25 years and repairing, teaching guitar too. I have A LOT of guitars. Anything from 1939 Gibson archtops, 1950's Les Pauls to 2002 Historics, a Guild X700, Strats, Teles, and everything inbetween. I've been watching these Greg Bennetts from the start, I have an RL4, RL5, AV7, JZ2 and a 1999 factory prototype AV6 that is very nice too. Early on they had some serious QC issues on many models, I got a really bad SG TR2 Torino a few years back but they seem to have gotten things fixed up now although you still need to look close and cherry pick for the best. They easily are vastly better than Epiphones and careful shopping will get you one for almost 45% LESS money than an Epi. Agile guitars from Rondo Music are the latest, greatest buzz in cheap guitars, but IMO these Bennetts are easily better overall and usually cheaper too. The jazz box models, JZ 2, 3 & 4 are killer for the price too. Although I own some very expensive guitars I find myself grabbing for this RL3 on a regular basis I like it a lot, and that says a lot to me when I can play anything I want but my gut preference many times is for this budget guitar. Typical street price varys between $498(no case) low to $629 (with case)high. I'm not so sure I'd spring $630 for one but certainly $500 still would make it a good value. At the $358 I paid it's a steal!

***One warning, the lower models RL1, RL2 are junk. Although they "look" very similar to the RL3,4 & 5 they are built out of cheap nato wood! AVOID ALL the cheap Bennett lower models of the entire line at all costs, total junk IMO.

has six strings and some wood among other thigs. I give it a 7 because the wiring and pots are cheap but I expect them to be as this is an inexpensive and well made guitar.

This guitar is amazing. I am replacing the pickups next week but I think it sounds great as it is. very versatile. Everyhting from punk to country to jazz. This thing has an amazing country sound.

The guitar was set up well. I put some 12's on it and it just feels great! I don't notice any flaws, it looks like a $2,000 guitar and plays and sounds like a $1,000 guitar.

Don't know yet, just bought it recently. It feels solid

na

I have been playing for @9 years and I play everything from punk to speed metal to jazz and country and new age etc. This guitar is what I have been looking for. I will never sluff off a cheap guitar again. It is the most versatile guitar I have owned. I own and have owned Parker fly, Ibanez Pat Metheny prototype(coolest guitar ever!), Hohners, etc. For the money I have to say it would be hard to beat!

Samick RL3 Royale with mahogany back and sides. Quilt Maple top. Set in neck with rosewood fingerboard.Grover tuners and Duncan Designed Humbuckers. Two volume and two tone controls. Three position selecter switch.

The bridge pick-up is fairly strong with out being trebley. When you kick in the distortion in really wails. The neck pick-up is very smooth, Mabye just a touch too dark. With the right adjustments on my Amp, the Duncan Designed pick-ups come to life.I play in a band that covers just about all styles of music. I can go from Hank Jr. to ZZTop and then to Beach music. The RL3 doesn't bat an eye. I use a Peavey Bandit II with the 112s Cabinet. I run though a Volume pedal into a CryBaby Wah then to the Bandit. Balls deluxe is all I can say.

The action wasn't bad right off the rack. I always set up my guitars myself. I also adjust the pick-ups to my liking. The quilt top is wonderful as is the peal inlays on the fretboard. It has a honeyburst type finish that is very pleaseing to the eye. All hardware seems solid and tuners work great. The quality of this instrument for the money is just unbelivable. I will never badmouth Korean made guitars again without checking them out.They could have used better pots, wire,Switches, BUT hey then every one would have to pay Gibson type Prices.

Yes it will withstand live playing.
The hardware seems tuff.
I belive the fit and finish will last as long as you keep it clean.
Strap buttons are rock solid.
I have set my Stratocaster down for now and am just playing this.
I could use this guitar without a back up and worry not.

N/A

I have been playing for almost 30 years. Most of that has been in working bands of one type or another. I have owned so much equipment over the years even I can't remember it all. I love Fender Stratocasters and until now that's all I have been playing. This guitar has definetly got my jucies flowing. If it were lost or stolen I would not hesitate to buy another one. You could pay Hundereds more and not get the vibe you can from this axe. You all owe it to yourselfs to try one out.

Mahogany back and sides, maple top semi-hollow guitar with two Duncan Designed humbuckers. Two tone and two volume speed type knobs.

Prior to adding different pickups I would give it an 8. I put in Dimarzio pickups (one Bluesbucker and one Fred) and the sound is excellent. I also add new GHS strings (10s with wound 3rd string). I would now put this guitar up against any certainly in the price range and even against many costing double the price of this guitar. I have had the guitar for a year now and am very pleased. I also have a Tele (again highly modified) and split my time between the two guitars according to the style of music I am playing (blues, jazz and 70s rock)

The guitar was set-up fair when I bought it. Of course with the changes I have made I have had it set-up again. It playes like a dream. I have a friend who owns a Studio Les Paul and he said it played as good as his. Pretty good company.

So far so good. Hope to never have any problems. Again, I have had the guitar about a year.

Never needed it.

For the money it is an excellent guitar. You could pay a lot more and get a better guitar but you could pay alot more for nothing because it wouldn't be any better than this guitar. According to how much more you paid and what for.

RL-3 Royale semi-hollow (came without case), Korean-made, 22 thicker/harder frets, chrome hardware, quilted mahogany sunburst top, 2 PAF-type pickups (individually controlled, vol and tone), 3-pos selector switch, passive electronics, single cutaway, double f-holes, block bridge, non-locking Grover tuners, medium depth neck with slight radius and rosewood fingerboard. Came with no external accessories.

The sound of this axe is the real selling point. The tone I get is warm and still edgy enough to cut through a heavily-synthesized band's mix. The pickups differentiate distinctively with the sweetest sound being attained with the selector in the center mix position (I am not sure whether that position cuts the coil, but it does roll off some low-mid). The sustain is amazing and the feedback is minimal even in a hot distortion channel. I love how non-microphonic it is, despite the great wood-tone it generates.

The factory set-up was good except for a slightly-too-macho action for me. The neck was tensioned properly and there was no buzz at all even after I dropped the action some. The pickups seem to be adjusted just right. The frets were finished so perfectly I can't imagine how they did it, however there was a small amount of surface corrosion on them, probably due to long storage in high humidity. The controls and switches are all tight and noiseless. It plays super fast now.

I tend to baby my axes, but there are moments of live insane aggression from time to time. I had several such moments the same night I bought this thing and it laughed at me. The finish is so pretty that you tend not to want to mar it even with fingerprints, but the laminate seems tough enough. I took off the too-visible ivory pick guard to give it a better presentation, but I may opt to install a black one or even a clear one.

Too early to report on customer service. Hopefully I'll never have to deal with them for anything other than new orders.

I've been playing for 26 years, mostly classic rock and blues. I switch between guitar and bass. I have a red Strat, a Fernandes Black Rain (like a PRS), a Fender P-bass, and a Steinberger headless bass. This RL-3 is my prettiest toy. I put it into a Peavey Classic 50 with a Digitech RP-10 pedal processor. So far, I have come to regard it as my current favorite instrument.

Shortcomings: I wish it had a blend control for the pickups, not just a selector switch. And I wish it weren't neck-heavy, but them's the breaks with petite semi-hollows, unless you want to lug a big ES-335 around all night.

2002 model...contains strings, wood, glue, etc.

i play jazz. i bought this to use while waiting for my gibson herb ellis to arive...i planned on using it as a backup later on. well, after waiting 4 months for the gibson (it was supposed to take 1-2 weeks) it finally arrived...the $3,000 gibson was a complete p.o.s. this $300 guitar sounds and plays better than the gibson. the gibson is a full hollowbody...this is a semi, but it sounds so much better than the p.o.s. gibson. I'm currently looking for a new hollowbody that doesn't suck...so the samick will eventually be my backup, but it's doing just fine now. I should mention though, i'm playing it through a fairly expensive amp (evans je-150). i give the sound a 10 for the price

its a cheap korean guitar..it needs a real setup to play well. there are flaws in the binding, etc...but it's a cheap korean guitar....and actually, the gibson was setup worse and had more flaws

ive had it a number of months now...gigged without a backup (this was supposed to be my backup!!!!) seems pretty sturdy.

n/a

this is great for the money!!!! especially considering the crap that gibson sold me for three grand. i set it up with 13 guage thomastick infeld flats, and i play it through my evans je150. I use monster cable and 1.5 mm picks...this sounds great. the pickups are decent, the tuners are grovers (better than the grovers on my p.o.s. gibson).

This is an update to my first review. I am sending the guitar back. While it really is a nice guitar, it's really not up to what I expect out of a guitar. The monoframe is made up of about 6 pieces of wood. It is neck heavy and I don't like that.

A 2002 model made in Korea. Has 22 frets. Laminated maple top. Standards controls; 2 vol, 2 tone, 3-way selector switch. 2 full-size humbuckers. The pickups are Duncan Designed models. These pickups are They're made in a small pickup factory in Incheon, Korea which we hand-selected after visiting just about every pickup factory in Korea. These guys are not a guitar factory. All they do are pickups. And they make them slowly, by hand, one at a time, just like we do. That's what sold us on them.

The designs are based on Seymour Duncan and Basslines designs, but the tone is not exactly the same due to metric wire gauge. However, if you put a Duncan Designed pickup up against many USA-made after-market brands, you find the Duncan Designed to be a superior pickup.

Notice:

Polycarbonate bobbins vs. high-impact styrene
Primarily alnico magnets vs. ceramics (the really cheap ones)
Studs on one bobbin and screws on the other vs. using the same bobbin (with allen screws) on both sides of the pickup
Nickel-silver bottom plate with bent legs vs. flat brass
High-quality cable vs. cheap, poorly insulated and poorly shielded

The HB-102 set came stock on the RL-3. It's the Duncan Designed version of the popular SH-4 JB/SH-1 Jazz combo that Seymour himself favors.

The guitar is advertized as have a quilted maple top, mohagany back and sides as well as a mohagany neck. This is all true except that the guitar is not the standard semi-hollowbody build. It's built on a monoframe. This means that there is a solod frame that is the shape of the guitar. This constitutes the sides and block down the middle. When I ordered this guitar, I thought the monoframe would be one-piece. It looks to be about five.

The finish is beautiful. It's a trans amber quilttop. The neck, back, and sides are light mohagany. As stated before, it's a semi-hollowbody thinline. It is a single-cutaway model which was a selling point to me. I didn't want just another ES-335. Plus it's just a little smaller than an ES-335.

It has a tune-o-matic style bridge and a stop tailpiece. The tuners are Grivers and are very nice; as is all the hardware. The neck is 24 3/4" scale and is a pleasure to play. I have a Gibson Les Paul Deluxe and the Samick's neck feels identical.

The real caveat here is the lack of accessories and/or info that you get. I got a guitar in a box. I could have bought a case but didn't it didn't come with a gigbag or anything like that. I also received no warranty info. I don't like that kind of thing...

I play mainly Jazz and Blues. Think Larry Carlton, Robben Ford, John Scofield, Pat Letheny, Fourplay, etc... This guitar plays and sounds like a $2000 guitar.

I play through a Peavey Classic 50/410 with a bit of delay overdrive just past the breakup point and chorus when needed.

Because of the humbuckers, it's not noisy at all.

It has a very rich, full sound.

The guitar was set up very nicely from the factory. I ordere this guitar and it came from FedEx as I was leaving from my gig. I played it the whole evening. That alone, should say something. I did change the strings however. It came with 12's and a wound G. I switched to Ernie Ball Power Slinkies. 11-46.

I have to do just a little adgusting to the action as well as the pickups. So far, I can't find any flaws with this guitar.

Even though everyuthing on this guitar is topnotch, it is a Gibson-type semi-hollowbody. It feels very solid but is fragile at the same time. I do not gig without a back up ever...

I hope I never have to find out. But I have called Samick quite a few times while it was on order to check the order status. They were always willing to be very helpful.

I have been playing over 20 years. I also own a 2001 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe and a 2001 Fender American Nashville B-Bender Telecaster. If it were stolen, I'd have my insurance company get me another one.

Until 2001, this guitar would have been called a JZ-112. It is a Korean-made semi-hollow with laminated quilt top, single florentine cutaway, chrome hardware, and cream binding/pickguard/pickup rings. You can see the exact same guitar (including the amber color) by going to www.samickguitar.com and following the links to the Royale guitars.

Came with 2 Duncan Designed humbuckers (which I replaced with Rio Grandes), stopped tunematic bridge, good Grover tuners. Constructed with a unique mahogany skeleton, with a wide spine down the center that the pickups are mounted into; the web site also illustrates this better than I can explain it.

The sides, back, and neck are mahogany and are stained a medium brown. The headpiece has a PRS-like flare and is black on the face. Cream binding on top, bottom, and along the neck.

Two F-holes, and the lower bout is almost 15" wide.

A well-made guitar with a nice feel; I also liked the unusual design that was not just another copy of the ES-335.

If you envision a scale with a Les Paul solidbody on one end and a good twin-humbuckered archtop jazz hollow body on the other, the sound is a lot closer to the LP.

The original Duncan designed pickups actually sounded pretty good, but I replaced them with the Rio Grande BBQ/Genuine Texas pair of uncovered zebras and the improvement was significant.

No feedback or squeel problems. Pretty much achieves any sound and style you want; I usually play blues, classic rock, and acoustic-based stuff. My son has used it to play Creed, Rage Against the Machine, and other more contemporary thing and is pretty satisfied with it. I play it through a Fender Cyber-Twin and Reverend Hellhound 112.

I give it a "9" with the Rio Grande's, so it must be a "7.5" with the original pickups. Call it an "8" overall.

This one came to the dealer right from the factory and there was actually very little done in the way of setup; had to tighten the truss rod, adjust the action, and the pickups.

Everything is constructed well, and when I had the pickups out I could see that the unexposed parts of the guitar were well-made with good wood.

Only flaws are cosmetic; the places where different pieces of wood come together are pretty obvious, especially at the neck joint, and the brown stain on the sides, neck, and back does not have a uniform color.

The quilt top is bookmatched very well down the centerline; however, the quilt pattern is not too consistent; it gets compressed and pretty much disappears as it reaches the f-holes. Doesn't really look bad, I guess, but it just doesn't have the uniform quilted waves that one would normally expect.

I took off the pickguard, and as mentioned installed zebra pickups. It now has a non-stock appearance that I am happy with.

Strong, solid instrument. Finish, strap buttons all good. No problems yet. Only thing I worry about is that if the jack ever comes loose it will be nearly impossible to tighten or reinstall (it is on the face of the guitar about 5" below the f-hole; no way you could ever get your fingers, a wrench, or anything else down there).

I think Samick has improved in the past year or so. They actually have a decent website now, for one thing (however, it seems to indicate that only the "Greg Bennett" series is actually offered now; I'm not really sure that's the case). I got the guitar from a Samick dealer in Korea who was very helpful, patient, and accommodating. No complaints here.

It gets confusing, though, when they keep changing the model numbers around.

For the money (even with the new pickups) this guitar was a great value. Retails for about $1000, you can get them on e-bay for a little less than $500 (plus shipping).

A good choice if you're looking for an inexpensive, distinctive semi-hollow; I'd get the same guitar again if I had to.