I have recently purchased a new Chinese ES 68 (a newer model designation number for the ES 60, so the same guitar) in cherry red.
It's superb. Just a shade over 8 lb, the finish is near-perfect, frets are great, the humbuckers sound perfectly good to me and I can't see myself replacing them, tuners seem solid, even the bridge and tailpiece look like very high quality items. I was expecting to have to replace components here and there, but I honestly don't think there will be any need.
The one slight fly in the ointment is the scarf-jointed neck, and it's one of those quite visible (although of course only at the back of the neck) joins between the 2nd and 3rd fret. Looking at Chinese-built Epiphones and Gretsches in my local shop, though, this looks to be very common, and you have to expect *some* corners to be cut at this price point.
The neck is quite a slim C (probably what people call a 60s profile). I find it pretty comfortable, though.
My other guitars are American Fenders. I can't honestly say that there seems to be a huge gulf in quality between my MIC Tokai and my US Fenders.
So, my question is, apart from perhaps nicer (and of course mahogany) one-piece necks, is there really any big difference in quality between the ES60/ES68 and the Japanese Tokai 335 copies? I guess this is a question to those who own/have owned both.
It's superb. Just a shade over 8 lb, the finish is near-perfect, frets are great, the humbuckers sound perfectly good to me and I can't see myself replacing them, tuners seem solid, even the bridge and tailpiece look like very high quality items. I was expecting to have to replace components here and there, but I honestly don't think there will be any need.
The one slight fly in the ointment is the scarf-jointed neck, and it's one of those quite visible (although of course only at the back of the neck) joins between the 2nd and 3rd fret. Looking at Chinese-built Epiphones and Gretsches in my local shop, though, this looks to be very common, and you have to expect *some* corners to be cut at this price point.
The neck is quite a slim C (probably what people call a 60s profile). I find it pretty comfortable, though.
My other guitars are American Fenders. I can't honestly say that there seems to be a huge gulf in quality between my MIC Tokai and my US Fenders.
So, my question is, apart from perhaps nicer (and of course mahogany) one-piece necks, is there really any big difference in quality between the ES60/ES68 and the Japanese Tokai 335 copies? I guess this is a question to those who own/have owned both.
