Tokai Prices Getting a little aggravating. Come on People.

[Swollentone]

I have a hard time believing that a whole extra layer of glue that a laminate nesescatates won't effect the tone of a guitar.
I have owned 5 different Lawsuite Jazz boxes which were Laminate and my carved tops put them all to shame in natural brightness and richness of tone.
Before I knew Tokais had a laminate, I always seemed to pick the ones in the shop with a plain grain top. Now I know why.
If your using hot pickups the tone difference is less noticable .I prefer my paf's to be a hair under 8 ohm where you will hear it.
On a Les Paul, Give me a light flamed real Maple cap or spray it with gold. Laminate is a joke.

 

[tokaiguy]

I saw Clapton play a 70's peice of **** SG thru a Magnatone in a club with Lonnie Mack and ever since then I have come to believe it Aint the Wand , It's the Magician! I could be wrong! TG :wink:

 

[Swollentone]

Word to that, but you haven't heard about claptons climate controlled room full of **** guitars have you?

 

[Swollentone]

Word to that, but you haven't heard about claptons climate controlled room full of sh#t( guitars have you?)

 

[Novosel]

I believe that all goldtop and plaintop Love Rocks would have solid maple caps, and lower model LR's with flame (below the LS200) have a veneer over solid maple cap. I believe on the older models it was a maple flame veneer, but now is sycamore. Why sycamore, I'll never know, just a cost thing I guess. The jury is still out as to whether it affects tone - it doesn't seem have to on my '84 LS60.

And as much as I love my LS60 - its a Love Rock, not a Les Paul. I would put its quality above the production model Gibsons, maybe a tad below the Historic series, but as far as the original bursts - let's not go there (although I can coax some very convincing Gary Moore tone out of it!).

Are you talking funky shapes on the Love Rocks...? They look just like a Les Paul to me.

What a salesman! :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

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[sneakyjapan]

Yamaha uses sycamore too. It is quite beautiful.
Why sycamore.... availablity?

 

[Jonathan]

the top on my relic is sycamore and i think it is one of the most beautiful i've seen on any guitar thats not an original late 50's/60's LP.

 

[prince bishop]

I'm sure I read somewhere that old quality violins were made from sycamore so it must be regarded as a good "tone" wood as well as giving a great finish.
PB

 

[GUITAR CELLAR]

I appreciate you guys setting me straight. I knew I'd get a good education in Love Rock here. I'm a detail nut and I never noticed the knob configuration difference before I still think they are a good guitar....and they cost an arm & a Leg not to be accurate. Yes I have been focusing on the Original TOKAI's and I'll just blow out these Love Rocks at my cost and only take special orders on them from now on.....or until they make a few changes.

Thank you all

 

[ian]

Hi Sneaky & all,

Quote ? why Sycamore?.. availability?? Dunno, but could be because unlike most of the 200 or more species of Maple (?Acer?), Sycamore (European form = Acer pseudoplatanus), seeds itself all over the place & grows like a rampant weed, reaching 35ft or more in 5 years.

Most Maples (ie Acers) are the exact opposite ? very slow growing to a max. of around 15 to 20ft in 40 years, and very difficult to germinate from seed (may take years). These are the low growing trees familiar to everyone in the US & UK for their brilliant flame & orange leaf colours in Autum/Fall (eg Acer japonicum, Acer palmatum etc.).

I?ve no idea which species is supposed to be used in guitars, but I wouldn?t be amazed if it turned out that much of it isn?t Maple at all.

Ian.

 

[Paladin2019]

RE: laminate - could it be that better wood is used on plaintop tops because appearance is more important?

 

[Anonymous]

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[tokaiguy]

Ian, thanks for the info! And GC, have you seen the LR's that are being sold in Canada? They look great everything looks right but the controls. Can you get Japanese Strats? What part of the U.S. are you located? Once again I appreciate your efforts in getting Toks to the States and hope this is a sucess. You might want to look at the Kendrick Amp and Gutar site, they sell a guitar called the Townhouse {based on Billy G's Pearly Gates}It looks a lot like the Love Rocks you've got! And they are aroung $4000! TG

 

[ian]

Barry;- Yep, they?ll still be tiny! Should have great autumn leaf colour though (the Japanese hybrid ?Osakazuki? is fantastic).

TokaiGuy:- Sounds like a nutty post I know, but subliminal message is ? wood is an important & extensive part of the guitar, and with enough practice you can identify the wood very precisely from it?s grain & colour, but I wouldn?t put much faith in the identifications of so-called expert guitar dealers.

Ian.

 

[Swollentone]

I hear ya love rocker, but an es 335 is DESIGHNED to have a solid block running down the middle and the sides act as resonance cavities.
You may consider an archtop an acoustic, but most accomplished Jazz musicians don't. Have you ever even seen someone performing on one without a pickup?
The Instrument only started becoming truly popular once a pickup was added (es-150) made famous by charlie christian. In fact the reason that a cut away become popular on this instrument is not for the easy access to upper frets as originally intended, but for feed back reduction. I should also say that some of the best sounding L5 jazz boxes I ever heard had laminate backs and sides. The louder you play a jazz box, the more laminates you can get away with.
It's even more important not to use laminates in solid body guitars because WOOD Resonance is essential.
With a hollow or semi hollow body That thing will resonate if the wood is still green! Because of the desighn.

 

[sneakyjapan]

just checked my Les Paul Reborn... the knobs are like the Gibson`s.

 

[Anonymous]

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[ian]

I suppose this is a very na?ve question, but why don?t they make wooden guitar bodies from a single piece of wood?

Ian.

 

[Anonymous]

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