Let's talk Les Pauls and TOKIA's.

SirJackdeFuzz

SirJackdeFuzz

New member
I am looking for my 1st LP-shaped guitar and have (by default) always looked at Gibsons.

Now, there is a used/2nd hand Tokai LS 92 that i can get.
Again, the seller is 13 hours car drive away from me, so it wil be a bought unplay'ed scenario.

This it the guitar in question : http://www.guitarforum.co.za/classifieds/?sa=view;id=3600

My budget right now is 1K max (...end of vacation you see)

How does this LS 92 compare to the 'budget' and studio Gibbo LP's ?
Does anyone have any experience with Tokai pick ups ?
Are they GOOD, or just 'OK' ?

Or do they NEED a Whole Lotta set :naughty:






PS : i had a Zakk Wylde Epi LP from 2005 - 2008.
GREAT neck and weight, but the rest of the guitar - no thanks.
Looked like a bloody dart board !!!
 
Re: Let's talk Les Pauls and TOKIA's.

SirJackdeFuzz said:
PS : i had a Zakk Wylde Epi LP from 2005 - 2008.
GREAT neck and weight, but the rest of the guitar - no thanks.
Looked like a bloody dart board !!!
Click to expand...

Maybe refinish the ZW? you'll be able to save a lot of money by doing it. And many will agree that you're doing the world a favor by getting rid of the funny circles.
 
Re: Let's talk Les Pauls and TOKIA's.

Back in the Nineties, I owned an MIJ Tokai Love Rock LS65 (I think). Lovely player, disappointing Gotoh pickups. Duncan PGn and Custom humbuckers turned it into a Rawk beast. Had I not needed to sell the Tokai, it would eventually have gotten Tone Pros hardware.

The Korean and Chinese ones are not as well made.
 
Re: Let's talk Les Pauls and TOKIA's.

Funkfingers said:
Back in the Nineties, I owned an MIJ Tokai Love Rock LS65 (I think). Lovely player, disappointing Gotoh pickups. Duncan PGn and Custom humbuckers turned it into a Rawk beast. Had I not needed to sell the Tokai, it would eventually have gotten Tone Pros hardware.

The Korean and Chinese ones are not as well made.
Click to expand...

The one i can get is deff a MIJ model.
 
Re: Let's talk Les Pauls and TOKIA's.

I should point out that the Gotoh PAF-style pickups were not bad, per se. They just did not seem to suit that particular LS65. (They were fine in an ash/maple Stratocaster.) Maybe, with a Tone Pros bridge and tailpiece fitted, things would have balanced out better?
 
Re: Let's talk Les Pauls and TOKIA's.

What kinda money is that in $ ? Tokai imho suffers from being a bit too much of an open secret....high resale value. Reaaaally high.

Lots of competing brands and even stablemates built by the same ppl at the same japanese plant for a fraction of the price.


Good japs start at 150-200 in cali, texas, or japan. Even with maxxed out EMS international pricing, furthest tariff zones & shipping with OHSC, sending one of those across the world to wherever (except warzones) will run another $150-175.
 
Re: Let's talk Les Pauls and TOKIA's.

Funkfingers said:
I should point out that the Gotoh PAF-style pickups were not bad, per se. They just did not seem to suit that particular LS65. (They were fine in an ash/maple Stratocaster.) Maybe, with a Tone Pros bridge and tailpiece fitted, things would have balanced out better?
Click to expand...

No way, Gotoh (typical std equipment for mij pauls, in my experience) is faaaar superior to tonepros. Owned & disassembled both. Gotohs hold up for decades, tonepros get fugly within a matter of years & will never last that long.
 
Re: Let's talk Les Pauls and TOKIA's.

Adieu said:
What kinda money is that in $ ?

Tokai imho suffers from being a bit too much of an open secret....high resale value. Reaaaally high.

Lots of competing brands and even stablemates built by the same ppl at the same japanese plant for a fraction of the price.

Good japs start at 150-200 in cali, texas, or japan. Even with maxxed out EMS international pricing, furthest tariff zones & shipping with OHSC, sending one of those across the world to wherever (except warzones) will run another $150-175.
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Exchange rate right now is about 1 to 10.

So, that R8000.00 asking price is pretty much spot on, $800.00 USD.
 
Re: Let's talk Les Pauls and TOKIA's.

SirJackdeFuzz said:
Exchange rate right now is about 1 to 10.

So, that R8000.00 asking price is pretty much spot on, $800.00 USD.
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Too much...unless youre specfically a Tokai fan that wants that.very.model.

Bordering on new FujiGen FGN Les Pauls (own brand of factory that builds Ibanez Prestige and JCustoms) direct from Japan pricing. Which look veeeery cool, come with A8 pups and other bells n whistles like CFS (curved frets to compensate, uh, SOMETHING..for better tuning across the fretboard), etc.

Also, a used Tokai shipped from a Japan seller shouldnt be more than 500 total including shipping, possibly far less.
 
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Re: Let's talk Les Pauls and TOKIA's.

I have a MIJ Tokai Love Rock (unsure of the actual model number) with LP Custom style fret markers in Randy Rhoads cream with Gotoh hardware and a set of BKP Rebel Yells and it's a good guitar, especially for the £350 (price of a Epi LP here) I paid for it.

As Funkfingers mentioned above the Gotoh pickups weren't that great but that's easilly sorted if so desired.
 
Re: Let's talk Les Pauls and TOKIA's.

Adieu said:
Too much...unless youre specfically a Tokai fan that wants that.very.model.

Bordering on new FujiGen FGN Les Pauls (own brand of factory that builds Ibanez Prestige and JCustoms) direct from Japan pricing. Which look veeeery cool, come with A8 pups and other bells n whistles like CFS (curved frets to compensate, uh, SOMETHING..for better tuning across the fretboard), etc.

Also, a used Tokai shipped from a Japan seller shouldnt be more than 500 total including shipping, possibly far less.
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COTCHA !!!

Thanks for the info ;)
 
Re: Let's talk Les Pauls and TOKIA's.

SirJackdeFuzz said:
COTCHA !!!

Thanks for the info ;)
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Note that it might NOT be overpriced at all for your countrys local market...just for internet savvy ppl willing to look and buy international (difficulty level 2, where local used market savvy is Level 1), and especially for people willing to buy direct from japanese sellers (level 3).

For example, I used to make a quick buck quite often selling stuff on Russian sites (used to live there....their local market sucks, new stuff is easily 3-5x overpriced). Guys who dont know english used to be superscrewed, but a bunch of ppl who moved abroad now snap up good used deals and sell em on forums and social networks. HOWEVER, a new class of japanese savvy ppl or tokyo based russkies have undercut us SOOO hard its basically no longer fun...and quite cutthroat. Nowadays, the cool Grecos that ebay has for 900-1200+ go for 500-650 (including stuff like 3-pickup versions, black beauty customs, etc) ***from moneygrubbing pro dealers no less*** in the former USSR. There goes THAT opportunity....

M/b i should go teach english in the land of anime? ...Their womens are awesome and the food is niiiice, too, might be kinda cool :-) could supply you guys and my ex-commie buds with nice axes too!
 
Re: Let's talk Les Pauls and TOKIA's.

You could check out the models on this page for spec details - http://www.fretsguitarcentre.co.uk/contents/en-uk/d385_Tokai_Electric_Guitars.html - the LS95 should be pretty close to what you're looking at. I've now got a couple of Tokai's, a DC II and one of the LS116F models. Construction-wise I don't think you can go far wrong with them, and I can't see any reason to start changing the hardware, or electronics either. You may wish to change the pickups, but I've not done it on either of mine. The DCII is the biggest most powerful sounding guitar I have, it's just a monster. That said, I wouldn't see a WLH set as a bad upgrade at all.
 
Re: Let's talk Les Pauls and TOKIA's.

Chris of Arabia said:
You could check out the models on this page for spec details - http://www.fretsguitarcentre.co.uk/contents/en-uk/d385_Tokai_Electric_Guitars.html - the LS95 should be pretty close to what you're looking at. I've now got a couple of Tokai's, a DC II and one of the LS116F models. Construction-wise I don't think you can go far wrong with them, and I can't see any reason to start changing the hardware, or electronics either. You may wish to change the pickups, but I've not done it on either of mine. The DCII is the biggest most powerful sounding guitar I have, it's just a monster.
That said, I wouldn't see a WLH set as a bad upgrade at all.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link ;)
 
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