I don’t know what it is about me, but it’s almost like I am on some sort of epic quest to find bargains. It isn’t just with musical equipment, but with everything in my life. Good deals just smack me in the face constantly, even when I’m not really looking for them. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not complaining. Actually, it’s pretty awesome to be the guy that people look to when they want something on a budget.
However, finding a good deal on a guitar is more complicated than getting a good deal on, say, groceries, though. You can eat pretty much anything and stay alive. Guitars, on the other hand, require a good, solid product – something that you can point at and say, “This thing kicks ass”, just like I did when I recently came across Greg Bennett Guitars.
A routine trip to the record store brings me to find something special…
Recently, I found a great shop just around the corner called Bernie’s Guitar Shop, run by this old man who’s name, to no surprise, is Bernie. This old dude immediately pointed me to their guitar selection and music setup, which had the normal amp, headphones, and pedals, and told me which guitars I should try out. Keep in mind, nothing in this store had a price tag. Now, this always scares me, since I’ve had one too many trips to the gas station “quick mart” to find myself buying a 3 dollar candy bar. So, while I was a bit suspicious, I still gave the shop a shot.
I was looking around to find my first guitar to try, and noticed that most of the brands were not the “American” brands that I was familiar with. Most were made by Samick, which I had heard of in the past as a Korean guitar manufacturer. I had never really done any research into the company; instead I just passed them off as one of those “cheap foreign companies”. I am very, very sorry that I didn’t give them any credit.
Greg Bennett Guitars – Malibu Electric Series
So, I finally found a guitar to try out. It is by the designer Greg Bennett, and the model was called the Malibu. The owner had these guitars on a rack, with each different Malibu all nicely lined up. I picked the first one I saw, which was reminiscent of a traditional Fender Stratocaster.
I chose this one simply because I wanted to find something that I could play, and compare it to what I’ve already played before, and there really isn’t a better choice for a control in a guitar review experiment than a Fender Stratocaster.
Blown Away!
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I plugged it in. So I just set the pickups to neck position(this model had a 5-way switch, like a Strat), and started playing some familiar bluesy licks through the little amp they had set up, with no pedals turned on. If you can imagine a picture in your head, think of some dude sitting on a stool, playing a lick for about 7 seconds, and then stopping, and staring at the guitar like it was possessed. That was me.
You might think that I’m being dramatic, but that’s really what happened. I was absolutely blown away. The sound was so ridiculously clean and smooth, that I almost wasn’t sure how to react. Remember: No price tags. I immediately thought, “Oh man, I must have picked up the high-end model.” I continued playing for a while in the same position, enjoying the rich, bluesy tone. This guitar was absolutely made for blues, and it’s almost hard to describe exactly why. It just sounded perfect.
Sure, I changed the pickup switch a few times, added some distortion, and did everything I could to diversify my sound. It sounded great in whatever I did, but I will say, it didn’t quite excel in the more distorted, metal-head tones. It still sounded decent, but I knew I could find better in that category. So, while this guitar isn’t the absolute best for all styles, it is doable, and does great in at least blues and old rock ‘n roll.
So, I took the guitar up to the counter, and asked Mr. Bernie what the price was. He started out with something like, “Well, we tune up everything in our shop. We tinker with the guitars, add new strings, tune them and various other touch-ups…” and I immediately thought he was leading up to some big sales pitch. Then he simply said, “…so that’ll be about $280 bucks.” I squinted and had to ask him if he was serious. He explained to me that Samick, who employs Greg Bennett to design for them, has very cheap production costs, and they have a system that enables them to make a very nice guitar for much less than many other brands like Fender, ESP, or Gibson. I was appalled…in a good way.
If I had been looking into buying a guitar that day, I would have bought it at that shop, right there, right then. In fact, I fully expect to go back and purchase one as soon as I can. I fully recommend that you check out Greg Bennett Guitars for yourself, particularly the Malibu series. You will be amazed, and might even pull a similar gawking move just like I did.
Scotty Smith
Guitarist Rock ©2008-2010
