ToKai Love Rocks ID

Could anyone please help me ID the following Tokai?

On the rear of the headstock is a serial FC0600601. I bought the guitar in 2007 from Electro Music in Doncaster, it was marked with a price tag of just under ?700 but I was able to buy it for ?550. I now would like to sell the guitar as I don't get much time to play and although I would like to keep both my guitars having 2 is pointless.

I thought the guitar was Japanese but having been looking at this site I now understand that it may by Chinese or even Korean. I had two potential buyers prepared to pay ?380 if it was Japanese but it appes this is not the case. I do not wish to cheat anyone out of their money so would not lie to get a sale and only wish to charge a fair price so if it's not Japanese what would be a fair price to charge?

Thank you in advance for any help you are able to offer - photos below:

https://plus.google.com/101081438235391557433/posts

FC serial number and 3 screw truss rod cover indicate Chinese manufacture. I'm afraid you were badly ripped off when you bought it, they are worth around ?300 new.

There's only a couple like that on ebay's completed listings at the moment but they're going for around ?150.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

Chinese Tokai should have a sticker saying it, I have seen several with it.
People have not obligation to know what they are buying. It?s normal they trust in seller.
I have told it many many times , there should be clear which country has made the guitar. It?s not the same and it could ruin Tokai fame. I understand Tokai production figures are what they are, and Tokai guitars are well regarded by public, but it would have to be clear where the guitar is from: Tokai Hamamtsu or a chinese factory (korean before 2005) .

Serials begining with FSG, C, 6 digits, or FG are not Japanese Tokais (whatever they were under license or not).

Thanks very much for the info guys. I'm gutted to say the least but life lesson I guess.

Hi guys...can anyone tell me anything about my Love Rock model...serial number CH08083706....it is the SG shape with 3 pick ups...in cream/ivory. i havent seen any more of the Gibbo guitars around.?

i brought it thinking it was a good buy but now believe i too got ripped off.

it says 'Gibbo' on the head, not Tokai....Chinese made....2006 maybe??? could anyone tell me more, good or bad...please! :-? what pick ups were used etc? are they just cheap Chinese copies then with no branded hardware? and why do they say Gibbo not Tokai on the headstock? i wish i researched more before i purchased it but it does play and sound great!!! i just got ripped! i am thinking of changing the humbuckers+all the hardware etc to a better spec.

(i thought it was almost a vintage guitar+quite rare! )

testpilotuk said:

Thanks very much for the info guys. I'm gutted to say the least but life lesson I guess.

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If you bought it from a shop you should at least try to get a refund, knowingly or not they have ripped you off. Did they tell you it was Japanese?

lucky77 said:

Hi guys...can anyone tell me anything about my Love Rock model...serial number CH08083706....it is the SG shape with 3 pick ups...in cream/ivory. i havent seen any more of the Gibbo guitars around.?

i brought it thinking it was a good buy but now believe i too got ripped off.

it says 'Gibbo' on the head, not Tokai....Chinese made....2006 maybe??? could anyone tell me more, good or bad...please! :-? what pick ups were used etc? are they just cheap Chinese copies then with no branded hardware? and why do they say Gibbo not Tokai on the headstock? i wish i researched more before i purchased it but it does play and sound great!!! i just got ripped! i am thinking of changing the humbuckers+all the hardware etc to a better spec.

(i thought it was almost a vintage guitar+quite rare! )

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Confusing post.

An SG is not a Love Rock, a Love Rock is a Les Paul, and an SG is a SG.

If the guitar says Gibson on the headstock what makes you think it's a Tokai?

If you bought it from a shop you should at least try to get a refund, knowingly or not they have ripped you off. Did they tell you it was Japanese?

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I had not long started playing guitar at the time and didn't know the significance and they didn't offer the information.

Diamond said:

Confusing post.

An SG is not a Love Rock, a Love Rock is a Les Paul, and an SG is a SG.

If the guitar says Gibson on the headstock what makes you think it's a Tokai?

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Hi thanks for the reply! it is deffo an 'SG' shape...the guy in the shop said they were made by Tokai...pics to follow... 8)

heres some pics of the Gibbo SG Love Rock by Tokai...hopefully you can see them!

also i have seen loads of different shape guitars that are the Love Rock model made by Tokai, not just the Les Paul shape....gets more confusing

:-?





could be 2001? with so many factories i reckon the chinks knocked out a few factory seconds for cash in hand....lol

lucky77 said:

i brought it thinking it was a good buy but now believe i too got ripped off.

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How much did you pay?

Looks like a generic Chinese fake to me - probably next to worthless.

testpilotuk said:

I had not long started playing guitar at the time and didn't know the significance and they didn't offer the information.

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After four years I doubt they'd take you seriously unless you still have the receipt and it has the serial number on it - and even then, only maybe. After all, they knocked ?150 off their tag price to make it look like a bargain and get rid of it.

Paladin2019 said:

lucky77 said:

i brought it thinking it was a good buy but now believe i too may have got ripped off..

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How much did you pay?

Looks like a generic Chinese fake to me - probably next to worthless.

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...i paid 400 quid thinking it was a good price+second hand...time ago i saw an old pic somewhere with some guys gibson,tokai, epiphone collection and he had a gibbo there too like this. i remember clearly at the time saying why is that headstock saying gibbo and not gibson. odd!

the guy in the little shop was sound, been there 53 years i thought he knew his stuff+was genuine...he said it was made by tokai and a good gibson copy. hence why all the lawsuits etc....not only did i take his word for it...it played far better than any other epiphone, fender, tokai, gretsch that i tried out...(i tried some high end ones).lol

somebody else tonight also believes there made by Tokai....a small batch was trickled in to the UK and they have the same spec as the Tokai factory

well....i would love to find out as much as i can about this generic beast....whatever she is!!!!!! she plays like a dream...blows me away! having said that i cant look at her in the same way thinking ive been conned...the white *****! but the neck is so wide+perfect! i doubt i would sell her ever. 8) she screams better than my Epi Les Paul Korean made....

while on the subject ive got a Les Paul Epi, Korean, 1994, flametop...pics somewhere, mint condition with hardcase...selling it to somebody...was thinking ?250 does that sound about right??????? also for sale a Vox 12 string acoustic...?100

lucky77 said:

also i have seen loads of different shape guitars that are the Love Rock model made by Tokai, not just the Les Paul shape....gets more confusing

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Those would be fakes

marcusnieman said:

lucky77 said:

also i have seen loads of different shape guitars that are the Love Rock model made by Tokai, not just the Les Paul shape....gets more confusing

Click to expand...

Those would be fakes

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really??? wow.....i didnt realize.....theres a heap of people out here in London that didnt know that! Jesus...alot of fakes on the internet and in the shops then....so Love Rock model is Les paul shape only???? maybe Tokai copied it???? the plot thickens me thinks :roll:

lucky77 said:

so Love Rock model is Les paul shape only???? maybe Tokai copied it???? the plot thickens me thinks :roll:

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That would be correct.... there is also the Love Rock II which is a double cut away that says Love Rock.

Think about it, the Love Rock logo, script style and shape were meant to be a rip off of the Les Paul logo.... how many non Les Paul shapes have the Les Paul logo other than the first SG which was called a Les Paul?

The plot doesn't thicken... you're just getting in the Tokai game a little later than most of us did when these fakes didn't exist like they do now.

This is the real deal... Current Tokai SG50S. Not available in Tokai web site.
http://www.soundhouse.co.jp/shop/ProductDetail.asp?Item=762^SG50SAI^^

thanks for the input guys!!! i am really interested to know more....yes i have only heard about Tokai guitars in the past few months.....when i read that Robert Fripp, King Crimson and session guitarist used Gibson Les Paul and customized Tokai Les Paul.....

i was slow to realize that the wording Love Rock was similar to Les Paul but yes i did twig on after i had been conned!!! i just thought they printed love rock on all there models in the end.....as i have mentioned...i visited over 5 music shops....surfed the net...and saw heaps of styles all shapes claiming to be Tokai Love Rock and Love Rock II...i am really gob smacked over this whole thing......i am hopefully taking the matter further.....

theres alot more fakes around than i thought.....lesson learnt the hard way...but a lesson learnt all the same..... :roll:

ok.....i am so glad that is cleared up and i own a pile of poo....that plays like a dream..... :-? i am now saving up for a real guitar.

found more fakes since! do not buy!!!!!!!!
http://www.rockfactory.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=gge-gibbolpcjs

theres a couple here too-stocklist, in others!
http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=gibbo%20love%20rock&source=web&cd=4&ved=0CEUQFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.badlandsguitars.co.uk%2Findex.php%2Fstocklist&ei=2pW5Tq2oEIK4hAfO3qSnBw&usg=AFQjCNFYa2SDXpHjjO-0OHCoeXm0iyG34g&cad=rja

wow! just found this site.......

http://thelittleguitarshop.com/Tokai.html

mine looks exactly the same as many Tokai models here.....even the finish, neck join, hardware etc looks identical!......:-?

are you sure Topkai has had NOTHING to do with the fake i have because i am now putting 100 quid on it that my fake was touched by the same chinky hands that put together the Tokai SG,flying V,love rock model+firebird junior lol

seriously youve got to play my generic to understand this....it plays as good as a gibson....seriously.

click on the link, demo of the 61 SG white with gibson pick ups...wow mine sounds just like that!!!!

marcusnieman said:

lucky77 said:

also i have seen loads of different shape guitars that are the Love Rock model made by Tokai, not just the Les Paul shape....gets more confusing

Click to expand...

Those would be fakes

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now ive found this....

http://reviews.ebay.com/Fake-Tokai-Les-Pauls-and-Sg-apos-s-from-China-and-Korea_W0QQugidZ10000000008443521

big can of worms