Anyone played a Samick LaSalle archtop?
Jerry Carden
series archtops, specifically the LaSalle JZ2 (embedded humbuckers) or
JZ4 (single floater)? They look pretty nice from a distance (except
that nightmarish headstock!), and I am fiddling around with picking
one up. Any info or feedback would be much appreciated. Thanks!
Jerry
IvanDRodriguez
before I got a reply. After about a month, they finally sent me a reply. All it
had was a link to "search for a dealer near you". I haven't looked up the
dealer yet.
Didn't find much online review for it, but you can do a search on SAMICK JZ4 to
see what's out there.
Ivan
RA
They're probably pretty busy, since they make half the guitars in the world.
For what it's worth, I have a Samick Dreadnought with a mahogany top
and it's built well and plays and sounds very nice.
(made in Indonesia)
best regards,
RA
IvanDRodriguez
>
Im sure the folks who make the guitars, and the folks who provide the support,
are two different dept's. I just wrote it off as not good support.....
Ivan
Don & Heidi
"Jerry Carden" <gri...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
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Skip Moy
Samicks
Skip
"Jerry Carden" <gri...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
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Don & Heidi
"Don & Heidi" <hsa...@epix.net> wrote in message
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Jerry,
I have the LaSalle JZ-4. It's really a very nice looking guitar, my biggest
complaint about the looks would be the antique natural finish which is
close to classical guitar orange being the only stock finish but it's a
lovely guitar.
The headstock is actually nice. It doesn't even say Samick on it, just the
suavey 'S' in
a circle logo and Greg Bennett Design in gold and 'LaSalle' on the neck
adjustment cover.
It came with an ebony bridge and a tunomatic, the ebony one installed. I got
it from
J. Hale Music Supply in Hartland, Wisconsin ...
http://jhalemusic.com for the homepage and
http://jhalemusic.com/Samick/Samick.htm for the Samick stuff. There are
nicer
pictures here than at the Samick site. He has an email address for getting a
quote. I found his service timely and pleasant, but then the guitar was fine
on
receipt...
and he had the LaSalle set up by
a luthier named Denny Rauen. The string height for the TI swing flat 13s
that came on it was about 5/64 at the 12th fret.
The neck is a rounded profile but still fairly slim, it doesn't get in the
way up high,
frets are all dressed, no anomalous buzzes from frets although there is some
sympathetic high ringing from the strings between the bridge and the
harpstyle
tailpiece with the tunomatic in place. This is solved by a ribbon or string
or hair
tie (what I used) run through the strings in front of the tailpiece.
This guitar has nice definition and volume, it cuts through nicely in
acoustic situations. The sound is well balanced, it's not a flat top
so the bass isn't boomy but it's well represented. I've played acoustically
with a a guy playing a Gibson J-45 and another playing a Samick 9-string
and the LaSalle just had a ton of sound and seemed to dominate thoroughly
with a pick. I'm learning to play lighter again after years of trying to get
more
volume from my right hand (with plectrum).
I can hear all the notes fingerstyle too. The flatter bass response doesn't
seem to translate to being unable to hear the 5 and 6 strings in multi-
guitar settings, and I liked the way it recorded through the cheap
internal mic in my 20 year old Panasonic boom box.
I tried round wounds and also the tunomatic bridge (gold plated, lovely),
and the tunomatic is actually a mellower sound than the ebony, but it
doesn't cut through acoustically as well , the high end seems to lose some
of its sustain. It would be a nice choice if you
were going to play more in electric situations. The round wounds seemed to
be too harsh and the definition was lost (again this is in unamplified
mode).
The floater is a mini humbucker which seems to mean it allows a
little hum, but nothing like a P-90. It's not as quiet as the humbuckers in
my Epi Sheraton though.
The tonal adjustment via the knob (knobs are on the pickguard) is smooth
over the entire range. You don't turn the knob a little at one spot and go
through 80 percent of your tonal spectrum. I like that. If you roll off
the tone all the way it still retains some highs, the sound doesn't become
completely dark and muddy. At the same time the it doesn't turn into
a twangy thang at your brightest setting.
The guitar has a 17 inch body, that's 17" across at the lower bout, it's
12 3/4" inches at the upper bout. It's 3 3/4" deep from edge to edge
of the maple sides. The 6 ply binding is 1/4" wide.
This guitar has some heft to it, it weighs in at about 8 lbs on the bathroom
scale, about the same as my Epi Sheraton which has a wood block running
through the center ES-335 style. My SG Pro weighs about 5 lbs and
I have a Harmony Patrician that weighs between 2 and 3; the weight must
be in the maple sides and back of the JZ-4.
The top is select spruce. It may not be a laminate but it isn't carved
either,
or the promotional material would be rife with 'carved top' comments.
All in all a nice guitar, there's a spot where the binding ends in one of
the middle layers that there's some overlap but it's not really noticable.
The only other finish flaws would be that the wipe of one of the coats from
the binding extended just a hair beyond the edge of the top.
Don - who's still playing this guitar madly all night long...
Bill Casady
I always swear that if I ever get any money I'm gonna buy a guitar
from Jeff. When I was desperately trying to find a good-fitting case
for my DeArmond X-155, Jeff went out of his way to provide me with
info (as opposed to my local California dealers). Talk to him about
the Samicks. He posts here, btw.
Regards,
Bill C.
dovelover
year and a half (since the blowout) and I still don't / can't find one.
Right now the X-155 hangs on the wall / stand when not being used. I'm
not very comfortable with that (5 kids / 2 BIG Alaskan Malamutes), it's
a accident waiting to happen...
I'm leaning towards the Summit Dreadnought Plus. It's strong, and has
lots of room / pockets / straps. I could use it with my other similar
sized guitars (Dove, ES-335, D-35) for local gigs or parties too.
-dovelover (barryc)
--
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D.Onstenk
#####
"Jerry Carden" <gri...@earthlink.net> schreef in bericht
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Don & Heidi
"D.Onstenk" <d.on...@chello.nl> wrote in message
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Don & Heidi
And no coffee. I can only change one of those.
$750 US to my door set up with the TIs. I didn't have
to change a thing except I like to fuss a little and check
out different strings and then there's the two bridges
to check out with different types of strings. One of
the things I've noticed is that now that I have an
archtop with a floater I find I want one with routed out
humbuckers.
"D.Onstenk" <d.on...@chello.nl> wrote in message
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D.Onstenk
do you mean?
My favorite combination is solid top with routed humbuckers too ...
#####
"Don & Heidi" <hsa...@epix.net> schreef in bericht
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Max Leggett
Samick to the Epi?
On Sun, 13 Apr 2003 04:14:19 GMT, "Don & Heidi" <hsa...@epix.net>
wrote:
Bill Casady
> So what kind of case did you find for yours? I've had mine for over a
> year and a half (since the blowout) and I still don't / can't find one.
> Right now the X-155 hangs on the wall / stand when not being used. I'm
> not very comfortable with that (5 kids / 2 BIG Alaskan Malamutes), it's
> a accident waiting to happen...
>
> I'm leaning towards the Summit Dreadnought Plus. It's strong, and has
> lots of room / pockets / straps. I could use it with my other similar
> sized guitars (Dove, ES-335, D-35) for local gigs or parties too.
>
> -dovelover (barryc)
>
mine, and it's been a good fit. They were marketing one expressly for
the X-155. That's not on the website anymore, but I think it's the
same case that they sell for the L5. I paid a little over $100 for
mine. BTW, I first bought a jumbo case, and the back of the upper
bought didn't reach all the way to the bottom of the case (the neck
rest was too high); it looked to me like that was creating pressure on
the neck joint, and it made me too nervous to keep the case.
Regards,
Bill C.
Don & Heidi
humbucker. The JZ2 and JZ3 have the routed humbuckers.
One has a Florentine cutaway, one a Venetian.
"D.Onstenk" <d.on...@chello.nl> wrote in message
news:b7bnud$bsirn$1...@ID-105352.news.dfncis.de...
Don & Heidi
I liked the Broadway though. Epiphone just came out
with Elite Byrdland and Elite Broadway, the ES-165
now comes with a floater...
I have a lot of "work" to do.
Max Leggett" <mleg...@nospam.ca> wrote in message
news:3e99879a...@News.CIS.DFN.DE...
dovelover
-dovelover (barryc)
Nick Carver
Jack Grassel stopped in. Jack is a monster player who writes a column
in Just Jazz Guitar and is a Hofner endorser. Well I was standing
there when he saw the Samicks and picked up several. He played the
archtop with the floater and then the double HB model; he played the
latter a few minutes and stopped and said to Jeff: "This is a great
guitar. How much is it?"
Jeff has each Samick set up by a well respected guitar tech and sends
back anyone that can't get within spec.
I think they are really nice instruments for the money.
BTW, I am just a satisfied customer of Jeffs.
For info on Jack Grassel, click:
http://www.jackgrassel.com/front.html
For info on Samick's from Jeff's site click:
http://www.jhalemusic.com/Samick/Samick.htm
On Sat, 12 Apr 2003 13:42:15 GMT, gri...@earthlink.net (Jerry Carden)
wrote:
IvanDRodriguez
I liked the Broadway though. Epiphone just came out
with Elite Byrdland and Elite Broadway, the ES-165
now comes with a floater...
I have a lot of "work" to do. >
I looked high and low for these "Elites". Where have you seen them?
Ivan
Don & Heidi
the time.
http://www.epiphone.com/elitist
"IvanDRodriguez" <ivandro...@aol.com> wrote in message
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