The Samick Musical Instrument company is an important guitar manufacturer, at the start of the 21st century. When large scale production of guitars became uneconomical in the USA and Europe, many western brands outsourced their manufacturing to highly automated and cost effective Korean manufacturers like Samick. The instruments are then distributed under a variety of brandnames (like Epiphone or Washburn for example).
The very first Samick guitars were made around 1965, by what was then the Samick Piano Company. Many of these instruments were made for other companies, and were branded as such. The Samick Piano Company became the Samick Musical Instrument Company in 1973. The name change reflected the diverse range of instruments made by Samick. Towards the end of the 1970s the international importance of Samick was reflected by their establishment of offices in the USA and Germany, and the opening of a large guitar manufacturing facility in Korea.