Samick Greg Bennett Ultramatic UM3 Electric Guitar Review

Who is Samick?

A piano and guitar maker founded in 1958 in Seoul, Korea. Samick has been a prolific OEM manufacturer for other brands over the years. Their Greg Bennet Designed guitars were an effort to really establish Samick as a retail brand. Other guitars in my collection were made by Samick, like the Hamer Archtop and Kramer Striker Custom S-422CR

Who is Greg Bennett?

Greg Bennett was a former guitar builder at Gibson and was approached by Samick to design a new guitar line.
This new line of instruments includes acoustic, archtop guitars, basses, mandolins, ukuleles, and banjos in addition to the electric guitar models, and was released around 2011 under the “Greg Bennett Guitars” label.
The electric models feature Seymour Duncan-designed pickups, Grover tuners, and Wilkinson bridges.

Where was this guitar made?

According to the Samick guitar serial number lookup tool.

Serial number: S050211370

Getting the UM3 guitar ready to play

This guitar was set up fairly well when I got it, although it had crusty old strings, the frets had an interesting patina, and the rosewood fretboard was dry and filthy.

Even in this poor state, it showed potential with a fairly low action and super comfortable body. After scrubbing the fretboard and frets, oiling the fretboard, and installing a new set of D’Addario XL strings it almost looks like a new guitar! Instead of using a guitar-specific oil for the fretboard, I use the same mix I use on raw wood gunstocks, as seen in this article… option #1.

Everything went back together well and I dialed in the action to my liking, then set the intonation.

How does the GB UM3 Ultramatic play?

This is one of my favorite guitars to play. The SDD pickups sound great clean and they love it when some gain is thrown on them.

While the string spacing is a bit narrower than I prefer, it still plays rather nicely. The neck shape is a generic C shape, which fits my hand fairly well. With big hands and long fingers, I tend to like chunkier necks better than thin necks. The Ultramatic 3 neck is thick enough for me, but thin enough that I expect most folks will like it. In short… it looks like Greg Bennett went for a neck shape that would make the average players happy.

The thin, solid alder body is amazingly resonant and really seems to reinforce the bass tones.

Some things I like about playing the GB UM3 guitar

• Lightweight. I mean, seriously… at 6.4 Lbs this little Samick is almost as light as my Gibson SG.
• Unlike my Gibson SG, the UM3 does NOT suffer from neck dive. Part of this is from being well balanced, but it also has two strap buttons on the bottom so that the player can choose the bottom strap position that works best for their playing style.
  
• The Grover tuners allow better granular tuning than the tuners on many of my guitars. They aren’t as fine as the Chapman ML3 Modern’s 16:1 tuners, but are still a very respectable 14:1. They turn smoothly with no slack and hold tune well.
  
• Comfortable body shape. Just look at how aggressively the belly cut on the side is. I play a LOT of Les Pauls and this is the guitar that really opened my eyes to how much more comfortable a guitar can be. Combining the super curvey and round shape with the light body and this is probably the most comfortable guitar I’ve played for standing with a guitar strap.
  
• Greg Bennett also gave the back of the set neck joint a smooth and rounded shape.
  
• Easy high fret access. While I don’t usually play a lot down towards the neck pickup, it sure it nice to be able to reach it easily when I need to.
  
• The folks at Samick really outdid themselves on the fit and finish. The body and neck binding are flawless
  
  The quilted maple top is flat-out gorgeous. It is about impossible to convey this accurately via pictures, but the woodgrain almost shimmers in the sunlight. I just about looks like a 3D hologram in places. The GB website calls it a “high tech quilt top”, which makes me wonder if that is code for a photo printed quilt. Regardless, it is stunning and the subtle sunburst fade around the edges is beautifully done.
  
• The Duncan Designed pickups have a mix of high and mid clarity with a striking amount of bass.
  

What I don’t like

• It’s not really a dislike, but I have to be careful how the tone controls are set or it can produce bass that is a bit overwhelming. I like the tonal range, but have to remember that it is different than any of my other guitars.
• The string spacing is a touch on the narrower side. With a pretty standard nut width of 1.65″, the strings are just a little cramped for me at 1.377″ from the outer edge of the high E to the outer edge of the low E. By comparison, my favorite guitar is a custom Gibson built from a Les Paul Future Tribute The nut width is slightly wider at 1.695″, but the string spacing is noticeable wider at 1.469″ from the outer edge of the high E to the outer edge of the low E.
  
• The fretboard was a filthy mess when I got this guitar. So, it shouldn’t be a surprise that the fret wires suffered a bit of surface tarnish or corrosion. A quick scrub with a scrubby pad smoothed them out so they feel fine while playing. But they don’t have their original luster.
  
• The set mahogany neck has a nice shape and smooth glossy finish. I prefer a satin finish that feels a bit less “grabby” when I put my sweaty hands on it.
  

How did I get this Greg Bennett guitar?

This was an opportunistic purchase, as I stumbled across this axe listed for sale locally. The price was decent, but not stellar considering that it needed some TLC to clean and oil the fretboard, it desperately needed new strings, etc.

Samick Greg Bennett Ultramatic UM3 Electric Guitar specs

Here is all of the info from the website:

The silhouette body on the ULTRAMATIC™, combined with the arch top, makes for a lightweight guitar that has tremendous performance capabilities. The arch top under the bridge adds mass and rigidity to the body. This technique insures that string energy is not absorbed into the body, which kills attack and sustain. The thin silhouette body reduces the weight significantly, making this guitar ideal for the stage performer. The extended top cutaway horn shifts the weight of the guitar away from the neck, making it incredibly comfortable to play.

The double cutaway is designed so that the neck sits deep in the body on the bass side. This makes the neck more rigid and less likely to rob energy from the string.

UM3FEATURES:

• • Double cutaway alder body
  • Bound carved high tech quilt top
  • Bound mahogany set neck
  • Nut width 1 5/8”
  • Rosewood fingerboard (12” radius)
  • Dot inlay
  • 22 fret, 24 ¾” scale
  • Chrome hardware
  • Grover™ A102C, 14:1 ratio tuners
  • Stop tailpiece with an adjustable bridge
  • Duncan Design™ HB102N and HB102B humbucker pickups
  • 1 volume, 1 tone control
  • 3-way selector switch

AVAILABLE FINISHES: Original Sunburst, Transparent Emerald Green, Vintage Sunburst

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Ultramatic UM3 Electric Guitar pictures