Sekova Les Paul Copy

I have a Sekova copy of a Black beauty Les Paul Custom. I estimate late 70s. I think Sears & other dept stores sold these about that time. It was given to my brother, who doesnt even play, by a neighbor who was throwing it away (bought for thier kid who lost interest) then it came my way. I also have a real Gibson LPC about the same vintage to compare it to. It's a fairly close "visual" copy, 2 pickups, dual vol & tone, 3way toggle, block inlays, diamond-shape in headstock. Some minor differences; white binding lamination is double, not triple, and has chrome hardware (most LPC's had gold). The body is very light, probably hollow in areas.

I play mostly classic rock. This guitar doenst sound like a Paul, though? The pickups appear to be humbuckers, but they sound like single coils. I havent taken them off yet, but I believe they are either single coils in humbucker housings, or very cheap, underwound humbuckers. But they dont sound all that bad. They have the tone of early soapbar single coils. Nice & bluesy if used with just a little overdrive & reverb.
What does sound bad is the intonation. Absolultley horrendous! I just cannot get all six strings in tune. You can get the upper 3, or lower 3 in tune but not all six, even with the tunematic bridge knock-off. So picking a melody, or partial chords sound so-so, but full open chords sound horrible. Ive set-up old Asian budget guitars before, but cant get this one right. Would need to see a professional tech or luthier, but not worth it at this point in time.

The fit & finnish are as good as can be expected, but not bad. I've seen 70's Asian copies, that looked cheasy, but this is a nice job. Almost as good as the one Ibanez was sued over. The plastic white binding actually looks better than the badly yellowed one on my real LPC. The neck is a bolt-on, but is nice & straight. The pickup rings are starting to warp, and two fingerboard inlays are starting to lift. Also two of the four pots are bent. But all that may have been due to neglect by the former owner. The action was high as to be expected, but I was able to lower it considerably. Nothing like a real LPC , but good for a Sekova.

Never played live, and probably wouldnt. Also cant speak for long term durability, since it was closeted for most of it's life. It's a kid's beginner's guitar. You either loose interest, or play better & graduate to a better instrument.

Never dealt with Sekova, and Im pretty sure they're out of business,
or at least stopped making instruments.

I've been playing since 1973. I've had Les Pauls, Strats, higher quality Ibanez, a few acoustics & basses. I also owned 3 Sekovas myself, and played several others, so Im familiar with this brand of beginner guitar line. I've known guys who took Asian LP knockoffs, and made nice axes out of them with some fine tuning, adjustments, and
aftermarket pickups. This particular one wouldnt be a bad piece if I could get the intonation right. But I also wouldnt loose any sleep, if it disappeared.

sekova les paul copy great guitar i think the secret of the tone on these (at least the one i have) is that its not a solid top. its a ply top sure BUT, its molded like a les paul top (arched) the only place where the solid part of the body touches the top is at the bridge where theres a piece that is raised to come in contact with the top under and around the bridge THATS why it has a nice warm hollowbodyish tone very nice! Ps. the body is not one piece either ist a laminate mahogany deal made of at least 15 or so layers,mine might be different but i recomend this type for warmer lp tone.

its got nice susstain (the body is so solid its like a piece of metal or something) not as brite or brittle sounding as a lp with a maple top but more resonant and warm and just a little jazz boxy semi hollow sound. like a les paul and a 335 had a bastard son. nice warm and a little growly when played hard its got plenty of top end for me but its warmer and woodier if only a bit, you feel it.

5 ply binding is a 9 nice and aged look the tuners arent phenominal but ive had no problems finish was natural but i painted it as it had some scratches. plays well frets are low a la the "fretless wonder" i have an sg fretless wonder so i know ! nice finish on the neck deep brown translucent nice feel neck is gibson all the way maybee a little wider very nice feel.

no issues .with proper setup

great secret winner dont tell everyone just get one if you see a good price and dig a les paul with a little soul.

The Sekova I picked up last week was an exact copy of a 1950's era Les Paul. I was told by the seller (my girlfriend's father) that he bought it in '55 or '56 and it was made in Brazil. I haven't found anything to prove the guitar is that old, as the only Sekova listings I have come across have been for a Greek company in the late 60's. Everything is all original on it. It feels incredible. Perfect for old style honky tonk country, rockabilly, jazz and electric blues.

I picked this guitar up specifically because of its sound. It sounds exactly like the electric guitar on the early Johnny Cash recordings. Right now I am playing it clean, but I am thinking of seeing how it sounds through my old Digitech RP-1. I am playing it clean through a half stack, a Crate head with a Beringer cab. The only problem I have is due to age some of the wiring needs to be resoldered. I have to tap the volume knob sometimes to get it to play. That is a rare occurance, and it remains as quiet as a mouse. The sound is so full, its incredible.

I have played it extensively and have yet to find any flaws or imperfections, other than some minor work that I need to do to the wiring, due to age. Everything else is perfect.

This guitar was used four nights a week for 2-4 hours a night live for over 30 years, and shows no unusual signs of wear and tear. The only visible sign is the strap buttons are a little loose. Easy to fix. I would definately use it without a backup.

Not applicable. Never had to deal with the company.

I have been playing for 16 years. I also have an Aria classical, and Ibenez acoustic 12 string, a Strat, an Aria electric, and a cheap Washburn electric. The Sekova has a sound I have never been able to coax out of any other guitar before. It also has a sound that flaws in the playing cannot be hidden. Seems when I make a mistake, this guitar points it right out, so basically I am forced to clean up my playing. If it were lost of stolen, I would have to go on a mad search to find another. As far as I can tell that would be difficult, if not impossible.

Les Paul Custom made in Japan about 30 years ago I'd say. Exact copy to the tee of the "fretless wonder" Triple binding every where. Pearloid/Gold tuners. ABR1 Bridge!! Original tophat control knobs. Like I said this thing is a dead ringer for the Gibson. Real pearl inlays for crying out loud!!! Even the Sekova Logo has that Gibson look. Pearlized Man its beautiful! This is my second Sekova guitar. I also bought a violin shaped guitar sunburst finish, but that one had mysteriously disappeared! Wish I had that one back.
9- for its beauty, from two feet away you'd sware you were looking at a Black Beauty. But it is not a 57 Gibson.

I play mostly rock some jazz stuff. I don't gig anymore about 8 years ago I gave that up. My set up for my home studio is J-Station (which is and excellent piece) Into Cakewalk Guitar tracks or my Yamaha MT-50
When I "jam" I use a vintage Fender Bronco. Or a Peavey Audition Chorus. The Sekova directly into either amp reacts exactly how you would expect each amp to handle the humbuckers (which are stock) the Peavey a little louder the Fender a little cleaner. I have always liked the stock pickups so I have never changed them. With the J-station either amp sounds fantastic . My favorite J-S amp sim is the Blackface. The humbuckers sound so good with that setting. It plays like butter, rocks real hard when asked to and sings all the time. I use 9's. 10's work well also.
10 for this one because it sounds just like the real deal!

I love the action as tight to the fret board as possible small fingers don't ya know! I have a pro setup done every year. Last time I took it in, about a week ago. They couldn't get the intonation "perfect" anymore! It is so close I don't think a casual player would notice. I still get very little fret buzz with the strings as close to the frets as I like them. Finish is still very clean about as clean as when I first got it. Gold plating on the bridge and stop tail piece are wearing off. Giving it that aged look. OK it's 30 years old it better look aged.
10 for how well the Japanese manufactured guitars back then.

Ok here's the best part this thing has been all over the states.
I never abused it so it's still really clean.
No chips, no scratches, and I polished it all the time Still shines. But the hardware except for the tuners which I replaced a few years back makes it look the part of "vintage guitar".
9 for this one it has held up and should until I pass it on in a about 20 years.

Never dealt with them Never had to.

I can't say enough good things about this Les Paul copy. It really has fooled a lot of other players who think it is a Gibson But lo-and-behold its a Japanese made Black Beauty copy. Stunned silence everytime. It has served me faithfully all these years. It still is my guitar of choice. Over the Strat over the RS430 Roadstar.
If you can find one of these jump on it. If I didn't already own so many guitars I would have few more. But hey you can only play one at a time anyways. I don't know how many are still out there but if you see one don't hesitate if it's been taken care of it is an excellent guitar.

I paid $150.00 in 1974 of this Les Paul Black Beauty Copy and the guy owned it for 5 years so I put the current age at 30 years or so. The guitar has nice action, sounds great, an rivals my brand new Les Paul by Gibson. The frets need replacing but overall it's a fine guitar...

Its a Les Paul...Two Humbuckers, volume and tone controls for both, sparkly yellow finish. I bought it a guitar show two years ago and have no idea how old it is. The only thing that broke were the heads, which I had replaced and now its great again. It has a rosewood neck with pretty fake pearl inlays. It was made in Japan. For a few months the top humbucker buzzed and crackled at times but now its fine...go figure...

I play reggae, funk, blues, rock and a little jazz and its versatile enough to sound great playing any one of those. On the top pickup it has the thickest, sweetest most beautiful sound you can get from a guitar, no joke. Sounds like one of those big, thick jazz boxes. But on the bottom pick up it gets raunchy and trebly (is that a word?) but its a perfect combination of great tone and almost crunch. Both sound great, and the middle pick up has a really nice sound to it too.
With distortion I can get an almost Santana like tone and sustain on the top pick up and a really crunchy, dry sound on the bottom.
I use wah and delay and it sounds great with both of them, especially wah. I like the sound of this guitar more than a real LP, and I've played tons of them.

I had it set up once after I bought and its been great ever since. (I got it used, btw) Has a really nice feeling over all.

Except for the heads it has been fine, keep in mind it could very well be 20 years old... Everything else is really solid and I've played it live several times. It does tend to feedback a lot, but thats just because I didn't mess with the amp enough. The finish has some cracks, but still looks great.

never seen another sekova ever

My Sekova is over 25 years old. It is a Les Paul copy with dual humbuckers. It was my first real electric guitar. It is also one of my favorites. I have 8 guitars, from Fenders to Ibanez, to an Epiphone double neck. The Sekova is one of the best I've played. I almost bought a Les Paul but the Sekova played and sounded better. I know it sounds like a bunch of B.S. but it isn't. I don't know if I just got lucky or not, but I wouldn't trade it in for a real Les Paul. It's soldi with a good weight to it. Its balck with gold hardware which has basically worn off due the amount of playing.

Sounds great..Always has...

For a copy, the action is superb. I had it set up professionally once and I ws told by the technician that it was already set up to perfection. This was after about 20 years of playing and abusing the guitar.

I liken the Sekova to a twinkie. You can put it down and 20 years later you can eat it and it taste just as good as the day you bought it. The Sekova has been through it all, spills, drops, bangs, burns,you name it and it keeps on playing.

Never needed them. I didn't even know a company existed for it. I am curious if they exist now because I would like to buy another one..

I've been playing for over 30 years. I own several big name guitars and play primarily through a Peavey Renown amp, 450 watt rms. I use a digitech RP12 processor which handles all my desires. The only thing I can say is if your looking to play guitar, don't get too caught up with the names..Just because you pay more doesn't mean it's better. Play them all, find what you like. Remember that Gibson, Fender and the rest all started off as unknowns too