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Samick or Peerless???


WannaBeatle

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Ok, I'm sure this question has been asked billions and billions of times, so here goes.

 

I've got an '89 Epi LP Custom with the serial number 9050895. Did Samick and Peerless ever make Epi's at the same time or did they move production at a certain point?? My main reason I'm asking is, I want to know if mine is a Samick or Peerless made. I'm guessing Samick, but ya never know.

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Ok' date=' I'm sure this question has been asked billions and billions of times, so here goes.

 

I've got an '89 Epi LP Custom with the serial number 9050895. Did Samick and Peerless ever make Epi's at the same time or did they move production at a certain point?? My main reason I'm asking is, I want to know if mine is a Samick or Peerless made. [b']I'm guessing Samick, but ya never know[/b].

 

Around that time, some Epiphones had stickers on them with printed numbers, instead of a decal under the finish,

and no factory code like "S" for Samick.

The sn on my Samick made Epi Emperor II is an indication of the format they used in the late 80s and very early 90s. Y/MM/xxxx (production number)

My samick made Emp II is a 91 made in Oct, ( 110xxxx) , so if you have the sticker on the back of the headstock,

I would support your hunch that it is made by Samick.

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yeah, mine had a sticker, but the print wore off very very quickly..the first time I cleaned it, actually.

 

I'm about 99% sure that it's a Samick, anyway. I have a couple of friends that used to work as QC for Samick when they were here in LA. They would say, they saw pretty much every brand in that factory..tons of Squires, Epi's, Danos, etc.

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-I've never played a Samick built Epi, but I have a Samick/Valley Arts SSM1 Strat copy that I bought back in '94-'95 when Samick first came out with their own line. They had ads in Guitar World where you could win one of their Strats signed by a bunch of blues artists. So I went to a little shop about 20 minutes from me that sold Samicks to try one out. I walked out with a white SSM1 and SKB hardshell case for $300. This guitar played better than any MIM Fender Strat that I got my hands on. The neck on it is almost an exact copy of the Carvin AE185 my Brother-in-law bought a few years later. This is the one guitar that I will NEVER part with. Sure I did a couple mods to it. Like putting Carvin S60 single coils in the neck and middle spots, and a Bill Lawrence L500-XL in the bridge. Just dremeled out the pickguard to fit that beast in there. Updated the pots about two years ago. Not bad for having the stock pots last for at least 12 years. Sorry for the ramble, but yeah, I love that Samick!

 

Picture001.jpg

 

L8R,

Matt

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I believe Peerless did mostly hollow and semi-hollow guitars. If you check out this site:

 

http://www.peerlessguitars.co.uk/#/guitars/4523582253

 

you will find that they make mostly acoustic, semi- and hollow-bodies today. Note that almost all are guitars that they built for Epiphone or Gretsch, and that they even advertise using Epi pickups. Also note that there is no North American dealer. I would think that if they ever did make LP's, they would be doing a copy of them now. The closest I found to an LP body looks more like a Gretsch Duojet to me.

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Oh yeah. That's Samick. They only had that headstock for ONE (1) year.

 

 

really??? That's kinda cool, actually. I didn't know that. It's an '89 for sure. I bought it new in '90, I'm sure it had been on display at the store where I bought it for a while.

 

thanks kids, I don't post much on this forum much, but, I like ya guys here, too.

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Nice 4003!

 

I want a Rickenbacker 4003 so bad.

 

yeah' date=' it's cool as hell. funny lil story about it, too.

 

I bought it on an impulse buy from a fan/friend of mine that wanted to sell it to someone that would use it. So, he sold it to me for 500 or 600 dollars. So far, so good. So, about six days later, I'm trying to fix the Grover tuners that kept on popping off by tapping them back into place...this goes on for a couple of hours or so.

 

So, after getting so frustrated with it, I throw it on my bed really really hard and it bounces off and hits my floor and wall at the same time!!! HULK ANGRY!!! CRASH!!! BAM!!! BOOM!!!! The neck breaks away from the body!!! [crying [crying] [crying]

 

I did manage to get it fixed a bit later from a so-called well respected luthier. I wanted to have at least look a like Schaller tuners put on and asked for them, too (Hipshot used to have a Ricky set). So, the luthier goes and puts these super modern looking tuners on it..they work very well, though, but kinda lose the vintage look of it...oh well.

 

But, I'm over it now and actually dig the Ricky quite a bit...I use Thomastik-Infeld flatwound strings on it...instant McCartney tone. Between the TI's and Pyramids, ya get super Beatle tones from anything...I love em.

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