Samick Greg Bennett Guitars

[rickshapiro]

I still own one and it is wonderful. I do not play it often though because of the size, I've found a 14inch archtop that works for me. The build, playability and sound of the Samick far exceed expectation given the cost. If you are in the tri-state area and would like to try one, let me know.

Regards,

Rick

[DeArmond]

I'm interested in purchasing a JZ4 and have a couple of questions (I googled for the info and got conflicting answers from the Samick website and the article Jazz Boxes Under $1200):

1) Is the scale 25.5? If not, do you know what it is?

2) How thick is the body at the edge? I've read 3.5 and 3.75 inches. Can you tell me which is correct?

3) The nut: is it 1 5/8, or 1 11/16?

Thank you in advance

[sparkhall]

Scale is 24.75 I believe and nut is 1 5/8ths. The latter being one of the reasons I didn't pull the trigger. Not sure of the body depth.

Hope this is useful.

[Sonnyboy]

The review that tomems posted claimed the neck was 25.5" and 1 11/16 nut.

[John Link]

The JZ 4 I had had a 25.5" scale length, 1- 11/16" nut width and the body was 3"or 3.5" deep. It was a very good guitar but too big for me.

[sparkhall]

I could be wrong about the scale length but the neck felt narrow to me. Although Greg Bennet website suggests 24.75 and 1 5/8. One possibility is that newer models are a slightly different spec. I guess its a possibility that Samick changed production facility. In the end the main reason I didn't buy it was that it just didn't feel comfortable to me but YMMV. I really would recommend playing before you buy.

[Sacco]

I think the neck is basically what you find on a Gretsch 5420t. Which I also own. It has a tad more material (just checked). Pretty comfortable.

The guitar is not as deep as a classical, but not as thin as a Gretsch. It's like double it's depth making it sound real good acoustically.

No rattle besides the pickguard (resonated on some notes), I've put some folded thick black rubber band between the body and the pickguard and now I hear only the strings.

Lacks 2 frets from a standard Gretsch. no biggie, I can still reach very high notes. Overall is a guitar that feels very comfortable if you wanna play fast.

[Sacco]

Here's a clean example of it's pickup:

[arno_byr]

Here is mine. A 2003 samick Jz4 I've bought new in 2006. As Mambo have said before, it's a good jazzer as it comes stock. Although, through the years I've done some mods to it (including a set in Kent Armstrong paf) in order to fit better my taste.
Acoustically, it's very loud, and its tone has improved as the instrument has aged. Plugged in a Fender Twin, or a super champ x2, it has a great tone.

[sparkhall]

That's a really nice example. The one I found at my local store was much more recent output of China/Indonesia and nowhere near as nice as that. No quilting, nasty binding and weighed a ton and was really dead to play.

It seems to often be the case that early Samick produced examples of cheaper archtops are nice and then the quality drops when production is farmed out to other factories. Same thing happened with the Epiphone JP.

[Sacco]

Mine is rattling around the pickguard quite a lot. Even with a rubber band pushing from behind. Getting quite frustrating.

I'm now considering a pickguard redesign out of wood.

[arno_byr]

Under my l5 allparts pickguard, my luthier have stuck a felt pad, which inhibit unappropriate vibrations of the pickguard, allowing the laminate spruce top to work freely, however.

[arno_byr]

I have never played samick GB guitar since the production has moved to Indonesia or China. My Jz4 has been built in South korea, and it's the same level of quality of my second archtop, a 2014 D'Angelico exl-1, which I believe have been built in the same factory. I've read somewhere that the former samick workers have bought their factory from samick, when the latter decieded to shift its production to South-est Asia. It's now called spg musical instruments. They are working for several US well known guitar brands, including Gretsch, Guild, D'Angelico, and Comins.

Edit : here is the whole story http://http://samick.wikia.com/wiki/SPG_Musical_Instruments_Co.

[Sacco]

Under my l5 allparts pickguard, my luthier have stuck a felt pad, which inhibit unappropriate vibrations of the pickguard, allowing the laminate spruce top to work freely, however.

Any chance for a picture from that?

[Rhythmisking]

Any chance for a picture from that?

Different guy, different thread, but same idea. Felt is attached to underside of guard, but making contact with top. Here's how I did it:


My recent fingerrest mod

[Sacco]

That's what I have, but I still hear some rattling. I need to inspect it better.

It stopped ratting with one folder rubber band just like in your picture. But started again.

I'm considering building myself a better, thicker pickguard.

[arno_byr]

Here it is

[Sacco]

Do anyone knows if the bridge is pinned or floating?

I ran out of saddle movement space on the D string and the only ways are 1) Move the bridge or 2) Replace the strings (flat wound 13 thomastik)....I'm hesitant to replace the strings tho, they aren't new but are totally fine.

Brings me to the question, how often do you change heavy gauge flatwounds? I doubt they worn as quick as you average wound 10s.

[TH]

Not pinned. Lots of space to move around. It may be stuck a bit at first, they sometimes get settled over time but it will move.
David

[Sacco]

I was wrong, the rattle is caused by the screws in the tuneomatic bridge. Pretty annoying indeed, any ideas how to fix that? Otherwise I might need to buy a wooden jazz bridge.

[Sacco]

mmm a rubber band around those screws might fix that. Let me see. EDIT: Solved it, you just need to tap the screws and find out which one is loose and screw a bit in either direction (without changing the intonation) until there is a bit of resisting force, that keeps the screw from rattling.

Mystery solved....was driving me nuts. It sounded all over the place, I even thought there was a loose piece of wood inside.

[DeArmond]

I was wrong, the rattle is caused by the screws in the tuneomatic bridge. Pretty annoying indeed, any ideas how to fix that? Otherwise I might need to buy a wooden jazz bridge.

I've heard it said that a drop of clear finger nail polish at each screw will stop those wired tunomatics from buzzing, but have never tried it myself.

edit: I see you figured it out but thought I'd leave this here just in case it helps someone sometime down the road.

[DeArmond]

So I did not get the JZ4, yet, instead I found an Agile and an Aria. The bodies are nearly identical: the lower bout is 3.5in thick and the upper is 3.75in, and the F holes on the Agile are slightly larger. The Agile's scale is 25 1/4; the Aria's scale is 25 5/8. Both necks are 1 11/16. (I remade the Aria's pick-guard and put thumb wheels.)

The Agile sounds flat acoustically and the pickup needs replaced. The Aria sounds beautiful, there is a shimmer of tone around every note and it vibrates into the breast-plate, plugged in it sounds good as well. Both are Korean made and although I don't know for certain I would think both made by Samick?

I also got a Guild a150 and the Aria sounds better, both plugged and acoustic. I believe that is me and my preference for the longer scale, the Guild is 24 3/4. So the Guild will probably be getting traded into Guitar Center...

Anyway, still have my eye on the JZ4. Wish I could try before I buy, as I think the Aria and JZ4 might overlap in ways that would make one or the other redundant.

[arno_byr]

I've read Somewhere that the Aria and the Greg Bennett Jz4 were the same guitar, made on the same spg Korea company, with the same specs. It have only different inlays and headstocks.

Here is a sample of your Aria from a french musician :

[DeArmond]

I've read Somewhere that the Aria and the Greg Bennett Jz4 were the same guitar, made on the same spg Korea company, with the same specs. There have only different inlays and headstocks.

Thank you for the info.

Can I ask what pickup you put in your archtop? The cosmetic enhancements you've had done to it look great. I want to replace the one in my Agile, and given the guitar's similarities, I bet if it sounds good in the JZ4 it would also sound good in the Agile.

PS I just saw that you mentioned a Kent Armstrong PAF. I have a Kent Armstrong that I took out of an Eastman AR371, I believe its a Korean model. Is that what you're using, or did you get one of the real pickups from Kent himself?