Best S Korean guitars

**Bach5G** · 03-30-2020, 02:11 AM

It seems that S Korea makes a lot of guitars under contract to other companies. Cort, Epiphone (at one time), and others.

What are the best S Korean guitars? Peerless?

**Little Jay** · 03-30-2020, 03:09 AM

With S you mean Samick?

**Gitterbug** · 03-30-2020, 03:31 AM

I'm not sure anyone can reply without sweeping generalizations. My partly speculative comments are submitted as a bait only, to invite the real experts to join the discussion.

With Korea, we're talking of a country with 2000 years of history in musical instruments. With guitars for the Western market, the time horizon is 40 years at least. While Samick may have been the only major manufacturer at the beginning, there's dozens of others now. Over decades, individual companies and units are likely to experience ups and downs in their quality - just think of Gibson!

I think it's fair to say that the Korean manufacturers have been more successful as OEM producers than in building their own brands. That's a pity. In today's competitive environment, an OEM manufacturer is expected to adhere, precisely and consistently, to the quality specified in the contract. With China and Indonesia all over, Korean manufacturers have probably faced tremendous cost pressures and lost market share.

My personal MIK experience is limited to a few acoustic and electric guitars.The Peerless-made Epiphones from the 1990s are generally considered well-made, and my '99 Emperor Regent is absolutely perfect. Some, but not all, Forum members seem happy with the more recent Peerless archtops. A German archtop specialist, Liberty Music, no longer carries them, citing quality issues and poor customer service on their website. They also have discontinued D'Angelicos (the more expensive line coming from Korea).

**arielcee** · 03-30-2020, 03:54 AM

The old Samick stuff is certainly solid, built for battle.

**Bach5G** · 03-30-2020, 04:23 AM

Originally Posted by Little Jay

With S you mean Samick?

I meant South.

**Mecena** · 03-30-2020, 06:14 AM

Schecter C1 Hellraiser.
Shame it has EMGs, but that guitar is insane.
And price is like - are they serious or? XD

Edit:

If it had some PAFs instead of EMGs.
And tiny bit different neck shape.
That would be my guitar for life, without a problem.

**Mecena** · 03-30-2020, 07:02 AM

Here you go, Hellraiser repacked with Seymour Duncans.

Amazing cheap instrument.

Shame that I hate very narrow string spacing also ......

If it had wider string spacing, and Duncans instead of EMGs ....

Perfect guitar.

If you like narrow string spacing necks, and if you get across to Schecter C1 Classic for 550-600$ price.

Take it , no brainer.

**Mecena** · 03-30-2020, 10:51 AM

Another lovely guitar which comes to my mind.

Korea Cort M900 - M Custom.

I bet this is lovely guitar also.

**Mecena** · 03-30-2020, 11:21 AM

Another lovely instrument. Washburn X50 Q , made in S. Korea.

Very similar to Schecter C1 Classic.

Grover Tuners, Duncan PAFs, Tone Pros bridge.
Okey wood quality, okey build quality.

Ofc there are tons of "metal guitars" from South Korea.

But I picked ones that could work for Jazz / clean players .....

**lammie200** · 03-30-2020, 11:46 AM

I have had a Danelectro 12 string, a couple of Peerless models (Jazz City and Monarch 16,) a Guild X-150 Savoy Newark Series, and an Epiphone Zephyr Regent that were all Korean built. They were all excellent player grade guitars with flawless craftsmanship. My favorites of these were the Guild which was designed and built to be a very convincing reissue in every way, and the Epi which just ticks off all the boxes for a very affordable ES 175-type Epi reissue version with the exception of maybe the pickup.

**Tom Karol** · 03-30-2020, 12:18 PM

I've owned a couple of Crafter Guitars - very well made and a good value.

1) A Taylor T-5 clone - very nice mix of a lipstick and a piezo pickup; 25.5" scale.
2) A 335 clone with a 25.5" scale - superb neck, but a bit dull sounding and very heavy.

Don't know if they're still available in USA; USA website doesn't work.

Here's a 'Video' (Audio with a couple of still pictures) of the T5 clone:

**Mecena** · 03-31-2020, 11:43 AM

Korean PRS SE should be okey guitars also.

Especially more jazzier models.

Like this one for example.

They moved now production to Indonesia, but year ago it was in Korea.
Older years are in Korea.

**Marinero** · 03-31-2020, 11:57 AM

"They also have discontinued D'Angelicos (the more expensive line coming from Korea)." Gitterbug

Any idea why, G? I'm looking to add an Excel-1 for gigs I won't bring my Gibson. Good playing . . . Marinero

**jumpnblues** · 03-31-2020, 12:03 PM

Strange I don't see current offerings from D'Angelico, Guild, Gretsch, Ibanez, Epiphone, and other budget Musician's Friend, GC, and Sweetwater, archtops mentioned much here. Maybe some aren't S. Korean? But I think most of these brands yield great bang for the buck and decent quality. I don't seem to see very many comments regarding them on JGO. Are they not considered good guitars?

I was set to purchase a D'Angelico EX or Guild 150 model jazz archtop. But a person that sold both brands along with Eastman steered me toward the Eastman line. He didn't come right out and say it but he made it pretty apparent that he felt Eastman was a superior guitar. I ended up buying an Eastman AR580CE and haven't looked back. I love it. A heck of a lot of guitar even not considering price. But I just don't see the others discussed much here. They sure look nice to me.

**Mecena** · 03-31-2020, 12:11 PM

Ibanez is Indonesia for lower, they have their own factory there.
Prestige is Japan, Premium is Indonesia.
I didn't even knew they had Korean guitars.

**Mecena** · 03-31-2020, 12:20 PM

Dean Guitars are also made in Korea.
But shame they are too much metal, same as Schecter.
But I guess their build quality should also be descent.

**Doctor Jeff** · 03-31-2020, 12:32 PM

I had a Samick-made Epi JP, and currently have a Peerless Sunset. Great guitars--flawless construction.

The only weak points are cheap gold plating on the metal parts, which fades and tarnishes easily, and subpar electronics to some extent.

These guitars both have Epi Classic 57's as pickups, which I think work particularly well for the Sunset.

I would buy again in a heartbeat--great bang for the buck.

**Mecena** · 03-31-2020, 12:50 PM

If Schecter and Dean wouldn't build just EMGs high output metal guitars.
They would be sick in terms of price to value ratio.
This guitars for like 950$ price is just a joke to see ... In a good way ofc.
Shame they are like, 95% of models EMGs.

**Gitfiddler** · 03-31-2020, 12:56 PM

Originally Posted by Mecena

Korean PRS SE should be okey guitars also.

Especially more jazzier models.

Like this one for example.

They moved now production to Indonesia, but year ago it was in Korea.
Older years are in Korea.

When I bought my 2020 PRS SE Hollowbody II, I assumed it was built in Korea. To my surprise it was built in China. The quality, tone, playability far exceeds its price. Plus PRS loads it with their premium 58/15 pickups. GREAT guitar for jazz or any other genre.

**Mecena** · 03-31-2020, 01:27 PM

I think they moved it to Indonesia in like, mid 2019. Last 1 year production was moved from Korea to Indonesia.

I did see some statemants from few people, in style of that Korean models are tiny tiny tiny bit better then Indonesian.

But I can't confirm it personally.

**John A.** · 03-31-2020, 02:20 PM

Originally Posted by Gitterbug

... They also have discontinued D'Angelicos (the more expensive line coming from Korea).

No they haven't. They added a less expensive line that's made in Indonesia (Premier), but kept the MIK Excel line, dropped hollow-body models from the MIK Deluxe line, and replaced those with the MIK "Throwback" models.

John

**John A.** · 03-31-2020, 02:32 PM

To the original question -- all the Korean OEM companies (and the Chinese ones, and the ones from other countries ...) make guitars under contract to a price point and to the specs of the brand the manufacture for, so you can't really answer that question directly. The Korean made D'Angelico stuff (which has been made by several different OEMs) is very nice. I have a very early semi-hollow (from what serial # sites suggest, 2005, made by Samick), which is, honestly, one of the best semi hollows I've ever come across. I recently played an EXL-1 Deluxe hollowbody, and it was really, really good (better than the older ones I've tried, but a hideous finish). I haven't played any Peerless guitars, so I can't really compare. Older MIK Ibanez Artstar semi-hollows are really nice. The MIK D'Aquisto-branded hollow-bodies are really good. I had a Samick HF 650 hollow-body for many years, which was very well made and sounded really good, but the neck was really skinny, and I wound up preferring other guitars to it. Some of the MIK Aria stuff is nice, but most people say the MIJ stuff is appreciably better.

John

**Tom Karol** · 03-31-2020, 02:56 PM

Here's the blurb for Crafter's Taylor T5 clone I mentioned above. It's from their UK website; the USA website is DOA!
Crafter Guitars UK SA Series.pdf

**lammie200** · 03-31-2020, 03:24 PM

Originally Posted by Tom Karol

Here's the blurb for Crafter's Taylor T5 clone I mentioned above. It's from their UK website; the USA website is DOA!
Crafter Guitars UK SA Series.pdf

Kinda short on actual specs. Personally, I would proceed with caution.

**Gitterbug** · 03-31-2020, 04:01 PM

Originally Posted by Marinero

"They also have discontinued D'Angelicos (the more expensive line coming from Korea)." Gitterbug

Any idea why, G? I'm looking to add an Excel-1 for gigs I won't bring my Gibson. Good playing . . . Marinero

Sorry Marinero, I only saw your post now. It's more about brand philosophy than quality. Early MIK Excels didn't excel in quality, which is why Jeff Hale dumped them around 2009. Although nowhere near the original hand-made D'As, the Japanese Vestax versions were good and rare enough to uphold the image of an exclusive jazz guitar. The current D'A strategy is to appeal to everybody, exploiting the noble family name and history despite being an upstart with no pedigree. All the recent D'As I have held have been quite ok, but so are virtually all budget+ guitars today. Personally, I like the looks but could do with a little less heavy paint job. As for Liberty Music's clientele, it appears to consist of mature, wealthy amateurs why mainly play alone at home. Eastman is their absolute favorite today.