Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Trevor]

I am going to go teach winter camp for a month and I currently live in San Francisco. I was going to buy a cheap guitar to travel with for my trip but it occurred to me I could just as well get one there. There are actually a few good guitar manufactures in Korea but I don't know if I will save naything by buying one in Seoul.

Can anybody weigh in on this pressing question???

[uberscheisse]

i say yes because you can get a fairly decent k-made guitar for about 300 bucks, and you don't have to carry it on the plane.

[Grotto]

One guy I worked with (James) was a guitar freak. He ended up buying over a dozen guitars here because they were so cheap compared to the states.

Check near Insadong....they have a whole area of new and used musical instruments and of course guitars.

[peppermint]

What they said and send a pm off to a guy who posts here as Harpeau, he's got a little guitar shop thing going.

[uberscheisse]

and again, i think i should add that the "k-made" guitars in that price range are american brand names such as alvarez-yairi, fender and gibson (epiphone) and such - outsourced labor a la the mexican fenders.

they called mexican stratocasters "tacocasters".

would a korean strat be a "kimchicaster"? that would be sweet.

[Harpeau]

Some of the good guitars in Korea include:

Bug's Gear http://bugsgear.com/ Mr. Park is located in Incheon and can make you an awesome custom made guitar. I've got a 6 & 12 string and they're incredible~ all real wood~ made to your specs. Can take a month to build.

In addition, he has others around if you want to just buy one. Great bang for your buck. Ask if there is any laminated wood or not for the back n sides. Some some have them and some don't.

Some Sigmas are pretty good in Korea. If they have plastic nut and saddles, try and take them into a shop and change them into bone or ivory or some synthetic material~ if it's ethical.

Cort are pretty good. Go for a high end model~ they're really nice!

Crafter are pretty good, but be careful~ on some, looks can be deceiving.

On Epiphone, Washburn, etc. be careful since some of them the quality isn't always the best.

I've got a few for sale as well. Contact me, if you're interested.

[Swiss James]

I know Harpeau's all about the high quality gear, but even if you spend a few 100 dollars you can get a great little guitar.

I got this one for a little under 300,000 won which included spare strings, a gig bag, and a little tuning whistle.

[Harpeau]

Hey Swiss James. It's all good. Nice Fender bender there brother!


Cheers!

[khyber]

i got some korean brank (hessod? Is that right?)
For the value, it's a REALLY good guitar.
Good playability
a nice even tone (not too tinny, not too hollow)
well put together
perfect action.
sounds wicked...just...wicked.
I bought a straight up one in the guitar market in busan for 160G....if you wanted a pickup in there, it was a measely 190G.
Depending on the sound of that pickup (had i known what the gift reciever wanted) i'da done that for SURE.


One thing you REALLY REALLY want to be sure of is that you give the guitar a GOOd looksy. When i went to the guitar market, a couple of shops had like 40 or more guitar.
But as you play them and find the ones you like...inspect it CAREFULLY.

While I was shopping around, i noticed a few things that most of the iffy guitars had in common. Now all of these guitars had good sounds but some problems
(in my opinion)

1) Wail on it with a pick a few times to see if you get the 1/8th tone bend
that's on acoustics....)... Ideally it's not there.
2) make sure the wood is all good. For eg: One of the guitars at the shop sounded SOOOO good but had this off coloured stripe of wood (like a replacement piece) right through the front of it. It wasn't meant to be a design and it looked terrible. that can be a sign of trouble.
3) the MOST important place to look (IMO) is right where the back of the neck meets the bottom of the guitar body. Inspect that joint out like you're gonna lick it. Make sure that finish doesn't even have a HINT of a crack or discoloration.
4) if you see a Gretch and it play like crap don't buy it. I found a REALLy great gretch...super classy lookin'. Good pickup, AWESOME tone, but it felt so crappy. the finish on the fretboard, the action of the strings...all garbage.
DON'T be sold on a name and a sound.
5) paint chips..

Korea can be a good deal but some of those cheap shops have cheap guitars in there for a reason. You CAN find good guitars in there....just be careful

[Harpeau]

Great advice! I've got 7 for sale at this time. Check them out on my website:
www.harpo.ca

[Hollywoodaction]

I recommend a Swing Classic 2. Best Les Paul clone I've played...and it's only 450000won. Flawless workmanship that rivals the original. It probably sells for 3 times that much in North America.

http://www.swing-guitars.com/english.html

Or you could always have a Fender type guitar custom made for 3 to 400000won. www.guitarparts.com
Their Sky pickups line are identical to the Kent Armstrong pickups. They are the one who manufacture the OEM version of his pickups for him. Real cheap.

[paperbag princess]

if you're playing folky type stuff, i my guitar was 100,000 (actually i got it for my bday, so it was free-thanks babe). other than the fact that the low e buzzes a bit, it's fine. it's a cort...