As for tone, it is all about personal preference. The MJ's tone is full and rich with great harmonics. After owning 100s of contemporary and vintage guitars I've concluded that the price really doesn't matter. A good guitarist sounds good on any guitar. What I perceive as great tone is exactly that. It is what I continue to search for. My personal tone which is as much based on my style of playing as it is the woods used for the instrument. So I still sound like Ty on that $10K vintage Martin, my $200 Simon & Patrick or $60 "flea market" Art & Lutherie. Sure the tone varies from guitar but bottomline, it's still me.
The MJ is one comfortable guitar. It just fits very well physically. The slimmer waist and wider bouts are a nice change from the standard dreadnaught body style. It suffered from a poorly repaired end pin jack hole which is a non-issue since I plan to install an ARTEC EDGE BT blender-chromatic tuner preamp/eq system (piezo/magnetic). The majority of the nicks, dings and scratches are from me as I've played the heck out of this thing the past 2 months. Extremely responsive, she sounds great (IMHO) especially tuned in open D.

As a tone wood, the cherry holds its own with a surprising warmth. And what about it being a laminate? I know solid wood...blah...blah...blah but lets not forget even Gibson used maple laminate for its high end archtops at one point. This is 3 layers of cherry hardwood not pressboard like many imports and it makes a difference. Along with a pressure tested SOLID cedar top it lends itself to my style of playing with some nice percussive overtones. Not overly loud but very even in response she can be played hard without the worry of "cosmetic perfection".

Nice touches like a Tusq nut and saddle by Graphtech, Indian rosewood fingerboard and bridge and a quality set of 14:1 tuners. Worthy of serious consideration, there is no need to go further than our good friends to the north in Canada for your next acoustic guitar. Whether a Godin or one of its other "house brand" names like Seagull, Norman, LaPatrie, etc. you'll find a high quality good sounding product at a reasonable price.

I've owned numerous Samick labeled and Samick manufactured guitars both acoustic and electric. This one is a bit of a mystery! Another eBay find, I just had to have it (G.A.S. ATTACK!) and the Buy It Now of $199 worked for my budget. No markings whatsoever or anything to pursue reasearch wise other than its appearance. So far my searches have come up empty so for now I'll just call her a "special". If any reader can assist with identification an email would be greatly appreciated! seriousgas@aol.com

My first thought was a bass. Looks like some high end Korean bass models I've seen which makes sense considering Samick is one of the largest manufacturers. Shape, woods, etc. all said bass but this was a guitar. Also, this style of through the body design is typically reserved for bass guitars. Of course it doesn't mean that guitars weren't made like this and in this case, I'm glad they did.

Although a great find she is not without some obvious modifications like the Gibson control knobs, changed output jack, holes left from a Roland sythn pickup install and even the pickups which I believe are not original to the guitar. No show stoppers though as I swap out most pickups with my GUITAR FUEL stuff anyway. Gold covers are in order with a nice matched set of overwound humbuckers underneath them. Lots of room in the cavity for either a parametric eq system or perhaps a few active tone circuits. The best part about the guitar is its killer neck. Thin and lightning fast!
Small (only 36" length!) and sweet, she weighs in at only 6.5 pounds so you can play her for extended periods. I'm thinking perhaps a show guitar (NAMM) due to the absence of a serial number? Demo model sent to sales reps? Perhaps she's just a model I haven't been able to find. Doesn't really matter as I found another "keeper" for less than $200.