Found the Les Paul of my life!

yoyo,

I'm not familiary with the guitar. However, I checked out harmony central to see about reviews, couldn't find any there. There were reviews for other products of Ed Roman however. He gets a lot of positive reviews. But quite a few bad ones as well. However, I feel the bad ones are done mostly by the same guy, who seems like a stupid kid, that has a personal grudge with ed roman. Just a hunch I have.

My advice: Take an EXPERIENCED guitar player (if you have a teacher, that'd be the best) with you, and ask what he/she thinks.

Taso

His guitars aside, it's not really too surprising that someone has a grudge against Ed R. -- it's fairly well known that he's ... well, let me keep it to "opinionated." And those opinions tend at the rant and rave end of the spectrum. A lot of Ed's ideas seem well-informed -- especially to the unexperienced and technically naive, but the grounding is often questionable and simply a matter of his unsubstantiated opinion. His guitars may be okay, but the word on the street is that doing business with the man can be "complicated." Of course a pawnshop is at least once removed from the maker.

Yoyo, that guitar looks identical to my Samick Avion 3 except for the inlays.

I love the Samick and use that guitar most. Since I got this guitar, the others are collecting dust and I have 2 'marked' to sell. Samick is maybe a name you could trust. They are priced well also, won't break the bank. 8)

As you've probably seen by now, Ed Roman's site says they're Korean made and reasonably priced. As you know, the Koreans are more than capable of making a competitively priced off-brand guitar :). And it's perfectly possible it's a rebranded Samick. So yes take someone more experienced if possible. Just check if it's a set or bolt on neck as that'll affect the price. But if you like it go ahead. The one on the site looks like a flat model, but that's a personal preference. I like the archtop, Arjen can't stand them :D

I agree with you on the standard epis, never much liked them myself.

but the word on the street is that doing business with the man can be "complicated."

I've bought 2 guitars from Ed. One low end acoustic and my USA Jackson and never had so much as a single problem. His prices were cheaper than GC or any place I found on the net.

If your looking to buy from Ed's place, give me a shout and I will hook you up with the sales guy I dealt with.

I am referring to Ed himself. The stories are now the stuff of legend.

As far as prices go, I hope people realize that MF (=GC) and Sam Ash do not offer the cheapest prices around. A non-chain dealer that moves a fair amount of inventory will often beat national chain and web prices.

:oops: Guys, I didn't mean this to turn into a discussion about Ed Roman... I think most of us know he's a big time arsehole when it comes to respecting other people and their products... I can't belive his whole "PRS is the devil" thing, it's just stupid... :roll:

Now back to the guitar... I haven't been able to find any more info on it than I already knew, and I have to agree, it kinda does look like a Samick, and I know Samick is one of the best budget guitar manufacturer's around. I don't know whether I should get it, or pass and maybe get a Samick...

:?

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If you love something, set it free and if it's true love ... WTF, kill that -- wrong advice.

How often will you find a guitar you really dig? Not that often. If it feels great, plays in tune, sounds good, is in good enough shape for your purposes and is at the right price, then go for it. If you are not sure you really dig it, you probably don't. Samick is under contract to manufacture many Asian versions for many big brands. So it's more than likely a Samick. But does that really matter? Nope. Only the particular guitar matters. If you are unsure about all the techie guitar stuff to check, e.g., neck twist, fret wear ... then yeah, get a little help.

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Sorry, I was too lazy to type post deleted. Truly, it was nothing worthwhile :)