I've heard that Samick is the largest guitar manufacturer in the world. For a while, and still may they made the Made in Japan Stratocasters.
I bought a used Samick strat copy from a pawn shop, had been there for months. Started at $150, then went steadily down until it had a sign that said make offer.
I had them get it down and checked it out. Rear strap button relocated to higher up the body, and "Nancy loves Sid" and the anarchy symbol in pencil on the white single ply pickguard. Dusty, with rusty strings, a fair amount of dirt in the saddles but in otherwise good shape.
I offered the guy $40 and he said SOLD. Should have offered a bit less, as quick as he jumped on it.
Brought it home, cleaned it up (polish and fretboard oil), polished the pickguard and the pencil came off and a new set of strings. Plugged it in and it played and sounded really great. Had a pointy headstock, and I wanted to get a Fender S series type (larger) headstock for it.
Had a search saved on eBay, and every one I saw was legit and the seller wanted at least $200 for it. Wasn't going to put a $200+ neck on a $40 guitar.
So, it sat for about 10 years, and I finally found a guy selling three different Fender large headstock necks, $55 shipped. Bought it now, and when they arrived I noticed on the back
Crafted in Indonesia and
Backed by Fender. So they were higher end Squier necks. Seller had said he had sprayed black lacquer over the face of the headstock, and mine was poorly done. Overspray and orange peel.
Ended up turning it into this.
Dirty in this pic, and doesn't have the Graph Tech Ghost saddle system and preamp installed yet. And still has the Samick pickups with black covers on them, now has Lace Sensor reds.
I'm pretty happy, and what drew me to the guitar was the transparent red finish with a lot of wood grain showing.