My Brand New 2005 Love Rock Les Paul

Some background.........I'm a former professional guitarist from Philadelphia, PA who played only Gibson Les Pauls during my playing 10 year playing career. During those years (1968-1978), I owned 8 original Les Pauls..........my first being a 1968 '56 Reissue Goldtop w/P-90s.......and several 1950's models. I bought one of my 1958 Standards from Dickey Betts of the Allman Bros. Band during the weekend they recorded their live album at Fiillmore East in New York City. I eventuallu left the "business" and didn't play or own an electric guitar for 27 years. However, about 6 months ago, I decided to buy an inexpensive guitar to "tinker" and purchased a Squier Affinity telecaster Special.........a very nice guitar for the money....made in China. It gave me an appreciation for the Asian guitars that I didn't have previously. Last month, I decided to bid on some Gibson Les Pauls on eBay, but a guitarist friend suggested I check out the Tokai. I'd never heard of the brand, but located several on eBay. I bid on two Goldtops, but lost out on both auctions. I eventually located a dealer ib Canada, JSD Guitar Shack, and bought a brand new LP in the Violin Burst color............absolutely beautiful! I really was curious as to how the quality would be after owning all my Gibson LPs..........needless to say, I'm more than thrilled! It is a wonderful, faithful recreation of the Gibson LP and I'm planning on buying another...........the next will be a Goldtop w/P-90s. If you'd like to see a photo of a very aging blues guitarist with his lovely new Tokai Love Rock LP, go to: http://www.wintutors.com/music.htm

Hi Adrian,welcome to the forum.It's very interesting having such a experimented guy here,you can tlak about Lps from several eras in first person.

What a curriculum you have and that GT you owned seems lovely.
I'm seeing tour firstname is Silva,have you any antecessor from Spain or Portugal?

Glad to hear your enjoying your new guitar Adrian!

Cool pics!

Luis: Good meeting you online. Yes, I had a ten year professional career......opened for many name acts during the 1970's.........B.B. King, Eric Clapton with Delaney & Bonnie & Friends, Sly & the Family Stone, Jeff Beck w/Rod Stewart, 1o Years After, Savoy Brown, etc........quite a few British bands. My band, Resurrection, auditioned for A&M Records after Traffic broke up, but we didn't get a contract. I still remember the night we auditioned............Electric Factory venue in Philly.....opened for 10 Years after. My band played badly and I played even worse............sometimes, those things happen. Eventualluy, I bailed out of the music business. My last name, Silva, is Portuguese..............but I was named after my step-father. I'm actually Irish. Nice making your acquaintance on this discussion board. I'm excited about my new Tokai guitar and having found other mates with a similar interest. Stay well.

Kevin (JSD Guitar Shack): Good hearing from you..........are you one of the moderators in this discussion group or do you just pop in periodically? Yes, I'm really enjoying the guitar..........so different from the Squier Telecaster I've been playing for the past 6 months. In just a few days, it has become like second nature...........an extremely nice guitar for the money. The intonation is off a bit, but I'll take care of that shortly and the frets need to be filed down a bit on the edges...........particularly on the high end. But, all-in-all..............I'm extremely pleased............thanks for all your help. Keep me informed about the GT w/P-90s..............another sale will come your way.

sfhalo said:

The intonation is off a bit, but I'll take care of that shortly and the frets need to be filed down a bit on the edges...........particularly on the high end.

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Hi Adrian, welcome to the forum. If you look around a bit, you'll find the common sense here that generally the guitars made in Japan (MIJ) have a better quality than the ones made in Korea, e.g. concerning the fretboard finish or setup, but also using better wood (mahogany instead of alder or agathis for Love Rock bodies etc.). But as you already mentioned, for the money the MIK models can compete well with other MIK brands (Epiphone and others). Furthermore the MIK Tokais available in Canada have mahogany bodies, too, but still maple necks.

Looking at your web site I asked myself what your connection to Robben Ford is, because I'm listening to his "Handful of Blues" album at the moment. It's impressing how many "originals" you have met in your life, both guitars and their users. 8)

Hans-Jurgen: I have no connection to RF other than he's one of my favorite players. However, I'm planning on attending one of his guitar clinics in Ojai, CA in October. Robben actually began playing for the exact same reason I did: Michael Bloomfield. That's where the love of Les Paul guitars really came from. Concerning my original LPs, it all happened over quite a number of years, first one, then another, you know how that goes, I'm sure. During the period from 1970-1973, many of the "name" groups" I mentioned played at the Electric Factory venue in Philadelphia, PA and my band just happened to be one of the better "cover" bands in the area who also had original material. We had a manager at the time who was trying to promote us and was able to get us booked as the opening band for many of the Electric Factory concerts. But, we were never able to land a recording contract and the band broke up in 1976.
Yes, I've read many of the posts concerning the MIJ models and have figured out that those appear to be the premier Tokai models. Thanks for the input.