# early Samick SK-7



## SCREEM (Feb 2, 2006)

I bought this guitar at Steve's in Montreal in '88, played it for a couple years and it sat in its case for about 15 years at my Grandmothers house. I recently got it back, and to my suprise the neck is perfectly staight, no adjustment needed. I am fanatical about necks beign straight with verrrry slight relief, it has to be hard to tell there is some relief, thats how i like it.

This has blown me away. Another thing is the bridge...very slight raising of the top behind the bridge....crazy. The thing was slightly out of tune after 15 years in its case with 15 year old strings and it sounds bright yet warm, one thing i can remember about this guitar when i bought it it was louder than all the other accoustics i tried exept for a big ass gibson that was in the store at the time.

Does anyone know the value of this? I paid $600 for it tag was $1099. It has some dammage, but I once pawned it on church street in TO in the early '90 and asked how much they would lend against it, the guy said the best i can do is $400, I was suprised, didn't expect that much with the dammage. Its got a cedar top.

I don't want to sell it or anything I just cant find info on it's value.


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## SCREEM (Feb 2, 2006)

more pics.


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

Always hard to place a price on anything. It always comes down to the buyer and how much he wants it... for whatever reason. This one you have was a demo to begin with and does have some pretty good damage. Here is what the blue book has on the SK-7. The original MSRP was $700 USF and it is listed at $350 USF in Excellent condition.


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## SCREEM (Feb 2, 2006)

thanks man....I could not find any info at all on this.


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

No problem, the blue book I have here is vintage 2001 so value may have changed a bit since then. They are only a guide anyway. I have seen guitars go way higher and way lower. Just a starting place.


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## Joe Johnson (May 18, 2019)

SCREEM said:


> more pics.


To tell the story of this guitar , I have to start in 1980 when he started building guitars for George Lowden in his workshop in Nagoya, Japan. He built Lowden guitars from 1980 till 1985

“Thus began a five-year period when Lowden guitars were made in Japan by a small, dedicated band of luthiers near Nagoya ,the S. Yairi workshop. 

Life was good for Sadao Yairi and George Lowden , I think most would agree it was the best era for Lowden guitars.



1985 As a result of the rampant fashion of this era for all things electronic in music, sales of acoustic instruments slumped worldwide. George Lowden decided to try setting up a new factory in Ireland. He managed to rent an empty shell of a building in Balloo Industrial Estate, Bangor, Co. Down and began to employ and train new craftsmen from scratch. 



Sadao started to fall on hard times after 1985 , Sadao , just like everyone else past and present had set his budget up when times were good, after Lowden pulled out and the decline of acoustic guitar sales , it didn’t take long before Sadao was in trouble with the banks , he had even filed bankruptcy. Meanwhile, there was an enthusiastic young CEO with Samick guitars who had an idea to put Samick guitars right up there with the big boys , he was wanting to launch a line of handcrafted guitars , but he needed a name to go with it . He had heard about Sadao having a tough time in Japan and what better name than S Yairi to launch the new handcrafted guitars. 



In 1988 the CEO of Samick started negotiations with Sadao about his plan , he would have everything set up and ready to start in a factory in Korea in 1990 . During the negotiations Samick realized that Sadao had an

overstock of inventory from Lowden guitars , so he come up with a sweet deal for Sadao & Samick as well .



He agreed to sell the left over inventory from Lowden guitars under the Samick logo with the made in Korea labels , this dodges the Japanese banks , lets Sadao make a nice profit to tide him over , and what better way to launch a line of handcrafted guitars , so the Samick SK “ Samick Korea” was born. He only had to reshape the headstock and put a new overlay with the Samick logo, this is why the overlay on your SK may not match the guitars side & back .This guitar was sold for only one year 1989 . Sadao did help launch the handcrafted series , he worked out of Korea for one year , so you may see his name on a few Samick’s in 1990 , but it was only in 1989 you will find a true “SK” 



That was the last year Sadao Yairi made a true handcrafted guitar himself , making this one of the rarest guitars out there today .after his venture with Samick in 1990 he went back to his home in Japan and retired from the public eye, Sadao Yairi passed away in 2014 



So, was the 1989 Samick SK made in Korea because it says so on the label ? Or was it the last guitar he ever built out of Japan for Lowden guitars ? 

I’ll let you be the judge of that


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