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Woo hoo! After much research and driving, I found a beautiful acoustic guitar for dirt cheap ($400), which I LOVE!! It's a Made-in-Indonesia Samick OM8-CE. It has a very comfortable "Orchestra Model" (OM) body style. SOLID cedar top, gorgeous (though laminated, I suppose) rosewood back and sides, rosewood fretboard and headstock overlay (the overlay is beautiful - I'll try to post a close-up of it soon), very cool little slotted square inlays, Fishman Classic 4 electronics, and some beautiful touches of marquetry and abalone (I understand the abalone is synthetic, but if this is what synthetic abalone looks like, leave the shells alone, you can fool me anytime.) [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
I love the sound, the action is good, the neck isn't too big, and the body feels just right. This isn't the all-koa J12-CE I wanted with its cool Florentine cutaway, but I couldn't resist the siren song of cedar and rosewood. (The store had an OM12-CE, which is the exact guitar I bought but rendered in koa, but it seemed kinda muted compared to this cedar and rosewood version).
Here she is:
. . . and the back:
Now all I need is a case (they didn't have one that fit it), a front strap button, and maybe a set of those snazzy ebony/abalone string pegs, and I'm ready to headline the living room. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]
Mark my words. This company is up and coming. I wanted to buy about 3 of the Samick acoustics they had in the store, and for these prices, I thought about it. They had a spruce top/ovangkol bodied OM that was great, and, as noted above, the all-koa OM that is just a knockout and still sounds good - just too warm/muted/quiet to my ears. The store owner told me he also has one of their OM15-CE "Rio Grande" models on order, which looks amazing on Samick's site. And, like I say, I'm still crazy about the one I wanted in the first place, the J12-CE, which NO ONE has in stock. (He also had a bunch of non-cutaway dreadnaughts, etc., but I wasn't interested in them and had to get back on the road for the 3+ hour drive home with my new toy!) [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
The bottom line is, I'm very, very happy with this purchase. I've been trying every acoustic around lately, and while I think there are many great deals to be had (e.g., Alvarez), for my money, this is by FAR the best deal going. It's tough to find a dealer (at least in WI), but it can be done with persistence, and the end result is worth it, IMO. Feel free to ask me questions if you wish. I had a helluva time finding out about these, but I'm lovin' it now.
I love the sound, the action is good, the neck isn't too big, and the body feels just right. This isn't the all-koa J12-CE I wanted with its cool Florentine cutaway, but I couldn't resist the siren song of cedar and rosewood. (The store had an OM12-CE, which is the exact guitar I bought but rendered in koa, but it seemed kinda muted compared to this cedar and rosewood version).
Here she is:
. . . and the back:
Now all I need is a case (they didn't have one that fit it), a front strap button, and maybe a set of those snazzy ebony/abalone string pegs, and I'm ready to headline the living room. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]
Mark my words. This company is up and coming. I wanted to buy about 3 of the Samick acoustics they had in the store, and for these prices, I thought about it. They had a spruce top/ovangkol bodied OM that was great, and, as noted above, the all-koa OM that is just a knockout and still sounds good - just too warm/muted/quiet to my ears. The store owner told me he also has one of their OM15-CE "Rio Grande" models on order, which looks amazing on Samick's site. And, like I say, I'm still crazy about the one I wanted in the first place, the J12-CE, which NO ONE has in stock. (He also had a bunch of non-cutaway dreadnaughts, etc., but I wasn't interested in them and had to get back on the road for the 3+ hour drive home with my new toy!) [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
The bottom line is, I'm very, very happy with this purchase. I've been trying every acoustic around lately, and while I think there are many great deals to be had (e.g., Alvarez), for my money, this is by FAR the best deal going. It's tough to find a dealer (at least in WI), but it can be done with persistence, and the end result is worth it, IMO. Feel free to ask me questions if you wish. I had a helluva time finding out about these, but I'm lovin' it now.
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