Spyderco SOLO?

[KP]

Came across ad for "Spyderco SOLO seki-city Japan folding knife"
Don't recall this model. Is it one of the discontinued ones?

[bpfsu]

I believe the Solo is a G. Sakai knife of which Spyderco is the U.S. distributor for. Anybody feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

BP

[KP]

It did not look like :spyder: (lack of famous :spyder: hole), but is coming with Edge-U-Cation from Spyderco. Hence, mixed message and overall confusion on my part.

[The Deacon]

Well just to add to the confusion, the Solo was designed by Sal Glesser, built by G. Sakai, and marketed by Spyderco but not branded as a Spyderco product. Am sure that was due to the opening device and wanting to keep the "family resemblence" of :spyder: s as strong as possible, but have no real proof of that.

[KP]

Deacon, true to the word. Thanks

Added more confusion, but really interesting facts. Rather complex relationships. Designing, manufacturing, marketing, branding.
W :spyder: W whole food chain.

So I take it quality might not be up to :spyder:


my 100th post

[CopilotATS-55]

congrats on 100!!!

[The Deacon]

Deacon, true to the word. Thanks

Added more confusion, but really interesting facts. Rather complex relationships. Designing, manufacturing, marketing, branding.
W :spyder: W whole food chain.

So I take it quality might not be up to :spyder:


my 100th post

Actually, I have heard that both the Solo and the Sakai Clutch Lock (another S. Glesser design) are well made knives. Just the issue of trying to maintain a "family look", probably at least in part to avoid "diluting" the association of the round hole opener and the Spyderco brand name and thus calling its status as a trademark into question.

Congrats on 100!

[jfm]

Here's some more info on one type of Solo, the Button Lock, as described by Sal. Nice knife and a great deal while they lasted.


http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showt ... light=solo

[KP]

Thanks for pointing to this interesting thread.

Not only there is a review of the model, but also insight from Sal himself.
Also, seemed to be huge bargain at the time, with big difference between MSRP and 'closeout sale' price.

[John F Jensen]

The Solo line was a great quality knife.

[gunbkr]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 6559501653

Nice looking Mokis and a Hiro as well!

These were all really nicely made knives, with fit and finish worthy of being imported and sold by Spyderco. I guess the issue was marketing; no hole.

[Stevie Ray]

The buttonlock Solo was indeed lots of knife for the money. If memory serves, it was Sal's design, AUS-10 bladesteel, G10 scales. In fact, I've still got one in my EDC rotation. It folds up smaller and slimmer than a Delica with a slightly longer cutting edge. I took the clip off mine and it's light enough that it works well for carrying loose in slacks. Very cool underacknowledged knife.

Some of the other early Solos were really neat gentlemen's knives. There were various versions and sizes of the SS one listed on Ebay. I managed to snag one in black micarta and one in what appears to be some sort of corian-like scale some time ago. Really well made nice looking knives.

[jfm]

For those who are interested, here's a thread from 1999 where Sal discusses the Solo line history.


http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showt ... light=solo

-
Joe

[Slvgx]

For those who are interested, here's a thread from 1999 where Sal discusses the Solo line history.


http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showt ... light=solo

-
Joe

Good link JFM, thanks!