Korean Job Discussion Forums

[robyn1882]

Like many, I left my acoustic guitar at home. I am looking to find something in Seoul. I've seen brands like Hessod and Cort come up on postings. I'm not looking to spend much more then 200,000-300,000. Can anyone point me in the right direction to find a good guitar. I live in Apgujeong, so like everything, I might have to look elsewhere to find a deal. I've been here for almost two weeks and haven't touched a guitar. You musicians can feel my pain.

[freethought]

What you should do is look for a company called Crafter.

They're a korean company, but are respected and sold around the world. The guitar you'll buy in korea will sell for twice and in come cases three times the price elsewhere. Just type in Crafter into google and check out their webpage, but also the online store prices.

As to where to buy one in Seoul, of that I'm not sure. I lived in a different city, but if you find any store that seems to sell all kinds of instruments, they'll likely be selling crafter as well.

[robyn1882]

Thanks alot for the info on the Crafter guitars. I checked out the site www.crafterguitars.com. There are some really nice acoutics. I am going to go on a music store hunt around Seoul. Do you have any idea what a decent Crafter would cost?

[freethought]

well, I bought mine for 298,000, and in Canada(where I'm from) the nice accoustic shop in town sells essentially the same guitar for 820 bucks.

When I bought mine there were all kinds of crafters in the store, ranging, if I recall, from 120 to 298,000 won.

Their low en guitars are standard low end fare, but if you go for something in the 220 range you'll be fine. There higher end stuff have nice cut-aways, and pretty good built in pick-ups.

[lion]

As for where, you probably want to go to Nagwon Sangga. Get off the subway at Jongno-3-Ga (exit 1 or 5 if I recall, but you have to walk a bit) and check the neighbourhood maps. You will find a scattering of music shops on the street around here, but ignore them. There's a wierd, large, 5-storey concrete drive-under building near Insa-dong. There's no indication from the street, but the second and third floors are chock full of music shops where you can buy anything from a tambourine to a Neumann microphone to a computer audio interface to... well, anything, and there's many many guitar shops.

I wasn't aware of that particular brand of guitar but somebody likely has it there, and anyways it would be a good place to start looking.

[bobbyhanlon]

nakwon sangga is good, but be damn careful.. keep your wits about you or you'll end up paying the waygookin price. if possible take a korean friend with you who also knows about guitars. or, just use the place to find a model you like, and then buy it off the internet.
i've seen a few ovations around, which i like, and as the others said, i think crafter is probably a good brand to go for too.

[robyn1882]

Thanks for the info. I will check it out tomorrow. Do you have any idea which internet sites are best to go through. I found the crafter site, but I can't purchase from that particular site.

[lion]

nagwon's closed on Sunday!

[robyn1882]

I went yesterday, and searched around. Outside of exit 5 there were about 6 music stores. They were all open on Sunday. I saw the concrete underground parking, but couldn't find the "good" music store. They had Yamaha, Cort, Epiphone, Washburn, etc....but no Crafter. I asked, but because they were all looking for my business, nobody would recommend where to find one. Any other ideas...I might just get a Cort or Yamaha. But I would really like to test out one a Crafters first. Thanks again!!

[lion]

You were so close you're breaking my heart. Go into the big ugly concrete building and up some stairs to the 2nd or 3rd floor next time. On a Sunday you would have been treated to the sight of row upon row of closed music shops.

(I don't much like Cort but Samick seems to be a good deal. They make a lot of "american" guitars such as Fender under license.)