Kasuga Les Paul Goldtop

Okay. I got a Kasuga Gold top les Paul copy of some sort: a real old warhorse. 22 thinninsh wire frets, 2 pick ups (sound like Super 50s), tune-o-matic bridge, plastic nut (but really solid good for a nut plastic), 3 way switch, 4 dials, etc. I think it was made sometime in the 70s, I'd say in Japan. It is basically a les paul with a few exceptions. The neck is bolt on (which is probably why the guitar still works) instead of glued in (i.e. "set"). The body is a solid slab of mahogany as far as I can tell, and that's probably why it sounds a lot like a les paul (but with less sustain due to the bolt-on neck). But there is some kind of arched top and it's probably ply? I don't know. The gold paint on the top has flecked and worn off a lot and the color underneath looks like it could be mahogany? But the body is definitely high grade mahogany which is pretty amazing considering this was supposedly "a cheap Jap copy" ... the fretboard is rosewood. when this was new it would have looked flash ... perloid and binding andgold plating everywhere. Unlike a real les paul, the back and neck are painted black. Bottom line, this is an amazingly well made guitar. Tuners have been replaced sometime. They are now Gotohs. The guitar is sort of hard to tune (probably the harmonics are not set up quite right -- that would be the tune-o-mushy bridge, I'd say ...) but once in tune will tend to stay in tune (and I play hard and bend a lot). The thing weighs a ton.

The axe does what it is supposed to. You can play rock or reggae or anything you want. It's up to you. I have size 009 strings on and with those the guitar has a very smooth, juicy, darkish, slightly nasal tone very like a les paul. It makes about as much line noise as a les paul. This axe is much less noisy than my Mexican strat. The only difference I can tell betweeen the tone of this guitar and a les paul is the sustan is less so the release of the envelope is faster, which is usually what you want anyhow? When I want a smooth, syrupy lead tone I choose this guitar and plug it through a compressor and a bit of OD. When I want shimmeringly rich clean but fat tone, I choose this axe over my 76 Tele Custom (with pancake in neck) and run both pus and add a bit of reverb. There's nothing I dislike about the tone on this guitar. Mostly these days I play through a Boogie Twin-V preamp into a Behringer Ultra_G DI box and add digital reverb and other FX in postproduction. Sometimes I prefasce that with a Morley Power Wah, if I do that (and run the Boogie with a lot of OD), I have to gate off some noise (duh) and use a Boss SE-50 for that. The Kasuga guitar through the Morley Wah into the Boogie V-Twin sounds like early Santana tones.

I don't know how it was set up to start with. Now it is set up low with about a 2mm dip at the 12th fret. The pick ups are adjusted right now, but I don't know what that was like when the guitar was new. One thing -- the gold paint has flecked off considerably due to flaws in the spray mix at the factory. The gold plating on the hardware has worn off. But the axe is probably 20+ years old and has obviously seen some hard playing.

This guitar has stood up to punishment and is still howling. This guitar no longer looks so pretty, but inside it has always had what counts: solid mahogany.

One thing I will mention -- when I got this guitar there was a rattle in it. I pulled the backplate off and tightened screws, etc, but this rattle took 2 days to find and stop. But you can get that with an old Gibson or Ibanez too.

Finally, as the freboard settled, some of the perloid inlays on the fretboard had come up and were not flush. I reckon this is why the guy sold the guitar to me. It was no biggie getting that fixed but the sanding back of the fretboard did change the feel of the guitar a bit, making the action faster than I like. The guitar presently has a "Vintage" feel when played and is getting better every day. I mostly play on laquered maple and so I guess I like my rosewood fretboards a bit, um, oily ... my finger oily is seeping into the wood and getting the fretboard a bit slower (how I like it).

None as far as I know.

I have been playing since 1976. My main guitar is a 1976 Telecaster Custom which I used to play live though a Fender 75 amp with a 15 inch speaker. I am 44 years old and married with 2 kids and I only do home recording now ... maybe I'll make another band one day ... I'm no great musician or anything (and sure as hell no #@# guitar collector -- I hate that riff raff!) but right now I own a total of 8 guitars, including a bass and a lap steel. All my gear is for playing, not for show. If this were lost or stolen I'd never be able to find a replacement. I'd probably buy a J&D les paul copy but make sure it was the one with the mahogany body and the set neck. Word to the wise, if you want a les paul style guitar, don't pay those rip off merchants $2000+ ... and don't buy one of those horrible Epiphones ... there are plenty of good copies ... just make sure you get one that's not alder. Alder is okay for strats (but ash is better) but alder is not okay for les paul style guitars. You buy a cheap wood axe and changing the pick ups won't help. You buy good wood and even crappy pick ups will be okay. Is it made of good wood? is the neck friendly? Everything else you can fix easy enough.

A gold colored Les Paul almost as the original. Golden pickups and hardware.
Tuner on G has never been working properly.
I bought the guitar 1973 and had it modified 1981.
The guitar has today a PAF 90 as treble and the original pickup as rythm, Tremolo from Bigsby and a new fretboard.

Super as a r'n'r guitar

This is today a favourite with warm and fat sound

I need to buy new tuners this year and then it will work

Has anyone seen Kasuga company? I would like to fins a Tele copy