A new cheap archtop!
oasysco
a used Samik HJ650 on the 'net. Didn't really mean to buy it; bidded
$305 as a lark and ended up "winning" it, so now I'm stuck with it. I
haven't bought a guitar in a long time and probably won't again for a
long time.
Anybody remember DickO's HJ650 threads from a few years back?
And to make the circle complete, I do have a cheap Fender amp
(Frontman 25R) that I can play this cheap archtop through :) Actually,
the amp sounds excellent with the Emimence Lil Buddy speaker in it.
Cheers,
Greg
Derek
arrangements again.
What bad luck. :-)
Michael L Kankiewicz
> Resurrecting the old cheap archtop threads from 10 years ago, I bought
> a used Samik HJ650 on the 'net. Didn't really mean to buy it; bidded
> $305 as a lark and ended up "winning" it, so now I'm stuck with it. I
> haven't bought a guitar in a long time and probably won't again for a
> long time.
>
> Anybody remember DickO's HJ650 threads from a few years back?
I had a Samick JZ4 Greg Bennett. It was very heavy, acoustically it was
absolutely dead, and the frets were uneven, and the inlays looked like
cheap toilet-seat plastic.
Mark Guest
Hi Greg,
Nice to "see" you again. I had one of the early HJ650 models. The
fingerboard/frets needed leveling, the wiring & PU's replaced, but
after that, it was a decent box. No L-5, but I got compliments on the
tone (I put a recent P-90 into it... and yes, I had to cut the top to
make it fit). I sold it for $650 during the glory days of eBay.
All the best,
Mark Guest
Jazz Guitar
www.markguest.net
www.cdbaby.com/cd/markguest
Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do
without."
Confucius (c.551-479 BC)
Gerry
I played 3 Samick archtops in a store once and was flabbergasted with
the frets, they were sticking out the side where running your hand up
the neck could cut you to pieces. There were a couple on one guitar
that were raised up out of their slot enought to see daylight. They
remain the three worst fretjobs I've ever encountered. What's
surprising, really, is that the store even put them out for folks to
look at, and were selling at full price.
I'm sure Gregs "accident" doesn't have these problems or he would have
mentioned it. I don't know Greg got lucky or whether the store was
very unlucky.
--
Dogmatism kills jazz. Iconoclasm kills rock. Rock dulls scissors.
Joe Finn
news:cf07e2f2-ad82-437e...@s15g2000yqs.googlegroups.com...
I play a couple of those and they were pretty good, too. ....joe
--
Visit me on the web www.JoeFinn.net
335
I had a somewhat different experience with the Samick JZs. I played a
few of them at JHale Music and all of them were pretty good guitars
for the money with no obvious fret or neck issues. Hale sets up his
instruments before offering them for sale though, so that might
explain the difference. I'm not sure if Samick is Korean made any
more; they might be made in China now. Not totally sure about that.
oasysco
Hey, Gerry. I haven't gotten it yet so it may well have issues. the
last Samick JZ archtop I had played like buttah but it had been setup
by Jeff Hale and in fact he actually used it in a performance or two.
I've got to admit that when I tnik fo Samick I think of that guitar
and how well it played, but now I'm back to reality and will have to
wait and see how bad or good it is.
Greg
Charlie X
7 string. Of all my guitars (i have tons) this is my main gigging and
go to guitar. One thing i did was change the string spacing a bit to
make it wider. No other changes...in fact, i ended up buying 2 more as
back up. The tone is great with the cheapass pickups.
It was an ebay factory 2nd for $300. Ill never sell them!
Good luck !
chas
Carl
'50's (ok, how many of you have ever heard of that company???). Someone told
me they were great sounding amps. I collect Fender amps and have quite a
number of them, and while I had some curiosity about this, I didn't really
want it. The seller had a "Make an Offer" option, so I made one at half of
his starting price thinking he would blow me off or counter-offer. To my
surprise (and a little to my dismay), he accepted my offer immediately. Boy,
was I slick or what??? :-)
Anyway, I own it now. It does turn out to be a neat little Champ-like amp,
it works well, seems to be all-original, and it does have good tone.
Unfortunately, It just will end up sitting around being used only
periodically.
Did I tell you it's the perfect amp for a Samik HJ650? ;-)
oasysco
>
> - Show quoted text -
Heh-heh and I was about to tell you the same thing about thew HJ650!
Greg
Gerry
> No other changes...in fact, i ended up buying 2 more as back up.
That might have been a mistake. What happens if all three of them get
crushed or something? I would recommend buying them by the gross.
joel fass
I had one (Samick) for a long time. Nothing wrong with it all. A few
years ago I sold it to Chris Flory---who wanted a backup---for $300,
and since it was gotten in a trade it was all profit. Chris probably
still has it.
It's a good, dependable, cheap archtop. They're making scores of 'em
now----in China, Korea, Canada, and the US of A.
pmfan57
Avi Rothbard told me he played an Ibanez Artcore on a recent sideman
session (the one with Jeremy Pelt on trumpet I believe (the drummer
was the leader)). He plays and sounds great on it. It's the player
more than anything.
Phil T
> Resurrecting the old cheap archtop threads from 10 years ago, I bought
> a used Samik HJ650 on the 'net. Didn't really mean to buy it; bidded
> $305 as a lark and ended up "winning" it, so now I'm stuck with it. I
> haven't bought a guitar in a long time and probably won't again for a
> long time.
>
> Anybody remember DickO's HJ650 threads from a few years back?
>
> Cheers,
> Greg
Nice to see you post again Greg.
Phil T
Phil T
> I played 3 Samick archtops in a store once and was flabbergasted with
> the frets, they were sticking out the side where running your hand up
> the neck could cut you to pieces. There were a couple on one guitar
> that were raised up out of their slot enought to see daylight. They
> remain the three worst fretjobs I've ever encountered.
No such issues with my HJ650. But I do remember a Harmony Central review
where the guy had no end of trouble with one of these guitars.