Tokai Buying Advice

[hans-j?rgen]

And I'm still a little wary about buying newer gibsons especially unheard. Wouldnt mind if I could play it here but les pauls over here cost about 2500 euro or more.

Same in Germany, so I wonder where in Europe these new Gibson Les Pauls (Classic or Standard, Studio doesn't count in my opinion) can be bought for the same price as a new Love Rock LS120F. :wink: By the way, when I wrote in this thread that I would rather buy the new LS120F, I didn't even know that they have a long neck tenon, lightweight aluminum tailpiece and nitro lacquer finish like the 2003-2004 catalog lists them now.

Concerning new Gibson LP Classics I think they have 2-piece mahogany backs (don't know if with weight relief holes like the Standards), a slim taper '60 neck with short tenon, Nashville style bridge and bushings, heavyweight tailpiece and high output pickups with ceramic magnets which are much hotter than the usual PAF type.

 

[ian]

Yes, Classic-1960 has holes just like the Std. In fact afaik almost all Gibson Les Paul?s have had holes since at least c.1990 (probably since mid 1980?s)... except Historics of course.

In this thread we were talking Tokais up to $1700, which is definitely Gibson price range. Dealers have various prices in UK, but if you shop around and haggle a bit you should be able to get a new Classic-1960 about ?1000 ($1700) or little more for a Std., or about ?250/$400 less for near new/mint used examples (ie in a shop). If you look real hard, and prepared to accept cosmetic wear & tear, then in USA you can pick up 100% original 1970?s Gibbo LP Deluxe for anything from $1200 upwards,?.of course Tax Evasion is illegal, so I?m not going to recommend that, but if the buyer or a friend is travelling to USA then it?s hardly beyond the wit of man to bring a guitar back without costs for shipping or Tax. $1700 is typical US shop price for brand new Historic R7 GT, or if suburst is vital then new plaintop R8 can be had for around $1800. Of course, if you were talking say $600 for 1981 LS60 then I agree Gibson can?t compete, which is reason I suggested early Love Rock in first place. But enough ? Darren has bought the Reborn, so lets see how it turns out :-? .

Ian.

 

[chu71]

Even if the price were the same, buy the Tokai copy. You will get a better guitar. This is for the players out there, not the investors and speculators that deal in "vintage guitars".

word up!

my experience is...i ve bought 3 strat tokais recently, all on inet and without trying em,, all over 20 yrs old. guided by the directions on this forum solely...

i ve never and never will own any gibsons or fenders. i ve tried many , in shops, and was never impressed at all- well i ve tried fenders and gbsons ranging between 800-2000 eur. maybe not the best in the range but they should be much better for that money.
as for the strats, the tokais kick any fender i ve tried right in the butt. just look at all the brands fender s bought; charvel, jackson, gretsch, all of them aint anywhere near the quality standards they had before being bought by the big F. fender makes quantity and a logo, thats it. i ve even heard it s just impossible for fender to build the amount of custom shop guitars they claim they make, just judging by the capacity and size of their american custom workshops.
i dont believe fender or gibsons, so they make great guitars that sell at 2000 quid...big deal. problem is it seems, if u buy a F or a G under 1500 us$, you re probably paying way too much for what u re getting.

so congrats for your purchase m8


wow. had to get that off my chest

 

[GStormcrow]

Hey everyone. Just back from a weekend away to find some good news. Guitar is being shipped this morning via DHL. It was delayed a bit at German customs getting to the seller. I got some pics of the electronics and inside. I am expecting some more pics of the outside later today. Here are the inside pics:













OK thats all the pics I have at the moment. Also I got a good snipe on an amp on ebay. Got the bid in the last 5 seconds of the auction and beat the previous high bidder by 1euro. Lol. Its a Peavey Classic 50. Might need a little clean up but I've played one and they sound great. They cost 1000euro new before shipping and it came to 470euro incl shipping. Here it is:

http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7339207946&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEFGWA%3AIT&rd=1

 

[GStormcrow]

More pics of the outside just arrived. Serial number seems to be inked and a 78 model not a 79 which I originally thought.





To say I'm happy with the pics would be a bit of an understatement. Can't wait to get my hands on it

 

[spikeymikey]

Drool, drool, drool!

 

[GStormcrow]

:lol:

I love the finish on it

 

[hans-j?rgen]

More pics of the outside just arrived. Serial number seems to be inked and a 78 model not a 79 which I originally thought.

Congrats, looks great! But did you change the picture with the serial number or someone else (last numbers are missing)? And that second photo of the headstock shows a black back, not a red one. Furthermore the tuners are different (one with "Tokai" on it, one without?). But this may be caused by the light, because it seems only the upper right tuner doesn't have the name on it on both photos. :-?

 

[GStormcrow]

I smudged out the last numbers. The colour is just the way the pictures were taken I think

 

[ian]

Yep, looks like one changed tuner ? other 5 correctly stamped ?Tokai? (ie correct for pre 1980). Switch tip looks replaced (too white), maybe pickguard too (minor things).

Gstormcrow, you did check those threads about inked numbers, right? One thing I notice on those guitars, inked numbers always seem to go with those highly pearloid-looking tuner pegs (on guitars with usual impressed numbers the plastic pegs are typical off-white green-ish colour).

Guitar is a so called ?darkback?, so it will look very dark in photo ? in real life the back of neck & back of body should be uniform dark red-brown colour. Stamped mark ?LS80BSS? means what it says, ie LS80 in ?Brown Sunburst? (?vintage burst? is similar, brown-ish maroon fading to deep yellow) :-? .

Ian.

 

[GStormcrow]

Yeah I read that thread about the inked numbers. Still not sure since it seems to be later years that they were inked out of japan. 1978: I thought they would have only just started making them in Japan at this time. Not really bothered either way. I'm over the moon with what I'm seeing. The same BS model is in the 1979 catalog.

Is there much difference between the 78 and 79 reborn? My initial reaction is that I'm happier with the even earlier model

I'm not sure about the mentioned replaced parts because if you look at this pic
http://img301.imageshack.us/my.php?image=f33398916lespaulrebornls80insi3.jpg
the scratchplate looks more cream than white which makes me think it might just be the pictures making certain parts appear whiter

 

[meanpeoplesuck1]

Hey, there are some fellow Irish men here I'm in Dublin too.

Musician Inc and Music Maker both do Tokai's, although I'd prefer to go to Musician Inc , they are very expensive in both shops though! I might get a MIK Tokai PRS copy shipped over from Canada, because JSD Guitar Shack supports tokai . That'd come to around 600 euro if I include import tax etc, while the Prs Se's are around 750 for the soapbar II

GStormcrow, your guitar looks amazing, lovely finish on it! Are you as impressed with yours, as the one you tried in-store?

 

[GStormcrow]

It hasnt arrived yet but I expect it to be better. lol. The ones in the shop were fantastic though. Gave me a really good feeling when I played it

 

[QuattroSte]

WOW.

GStormcrow. That is one sweet guitar!

Although, I'd probably get rid of it really quick because its obviously a fake with that inked serial number. I tell you what, I'll take it off you because you seem like a nice guy!

 

[meanpeoplesuck1]

Yeah, I must say I played an (I assume, for like 1100?) Japanese love rock in music maker, and it really was just effortless to play, which I think is one of the most important things to look for, for me. I didn't hear it through an amp, but pickups etc can always be tinkered with

 

[spikeymikey]

Hi you guys, my '80 LS50 has inked no. but the less pearlescent tokai stamped tuners. The '79 LS80 has impressed no. with the flashier pegs. Ian - back of this one is VERY dark brown with a brown into amber flamed front - should the back have more red in it - I dunno what I'm worrying about as it all looks pukka. Paranoid or what! :-? Hey Storm - does the new babe come complete with the faux gibson brown case - they're sumpin else too, yowza!
Cheers.

 

[ian]

Mike do you have photo? I expect its puka all right, those darkbacks are very dark ? yeah, I?ve not really worked out those pearlescent tuner pegs, but the more photos I see the more I think there are two different finishes on those pegs. Anyone else see that, or have thoughts on it?

Ian.

 

[GStormcrow]

Seller has confirmed that all tuners have tokai stamped on them. All parts including scratchplate and switch knob are original. The COA is signed personally, from the president of Tokai, Mr. Shohei Adachi.

Any day now (but I'm praying for it to arrive any hour now)


I think the case is lined with Green felt. Arent those ones black outside? Thought the pink lined ones were brown

 

[spikeymikey]

Hi Ian - no camera yet but will post some pics soon.