Tokai Les Paul Reborn

It is a full copy of Les Paul standard which was made in 1979. Its specification is the same as 1958 Les Paul Standard in every single detail. It was made in Japan. The model is LS-200. They were only made upon special order. And they come with any pickups you wanted on the guitar. I ordered the guitar with Seymore Duncan '59 x2. Its finish is Heritage Cherry Sunburst. The guitar has a solid book-matched maple top and mahogany on the back with 1 piece mahogany neck. I was expecting to have a guitar with beautiful tiger strips all over the top like one we saw on the Tokai brochure.( I heard that the guitar was sent to Jeff Beck.) I rejected twice since there two guitar were sent to me did not have such beautiful stripes. I decided to keep the third guitar simply by giving up in seaching for such beauty. At the time no guitar company was making guitars with such beautiful tiger strips like the van Halen's '58 or Gibson Les Paul reiisues nowadays. The tuners were Tokai made looks like old Kruson's, but works better than the original. It came with a case which made by Tokai. Except stripes, the guitar was made with great craftsmanship. I bought Gibson LesPaul Custom in the same year. The $3000 guitar came with a knot on the back with 3 piece Mahogany neck!!! As far as its finish is concerned, its finsh is much better than lousy Gibson Les Paul Custom's!!!

As we all know Les Paul with PAF is very versatile in its sound. It sounds like real les Paul vintage! I changed volumes and tones with original parts. At the time Gibson did not have Standard on catalog. I purchased Les Paul Custom insted. WHILE the Gibson sounds like broken guitar with fake DiMazios, the Tokai has nice quack in musical way. It never lose focus even on crunchy sound. I believe its sound is mostly due to the Seymore Duncan. I: however, make special note here. I mounted Duncan '59 on Les Paul 80 and also on ES-335 dot (which was made around 1982). They did NOT sound like vintage Gisons!(Some repairman told me it is due to volumes and tones on Gibsons.) Like or dislikes? It is all depends on if you love vintage Les Paul or not!

It came with perfect setting out from the factory. The bridge is directly mounted on the top of the top like Vintage Les Pauls, unlike Gibsons in 80s. It has some rust on metal parts. Yes I have kept the guitar for 26 years. You can play the guitar with fast action if you can do the same on old Les Pauls. The only thing I do not like the guitar is its stripe on maple top is not perfect and I do not like frets on the guitar. I prefer to have jumbo frets. But vintage Gibson did not have jumbo frets. I prefer to keep original frets on the guitar! Oh did I mention the weight of the guitar? It is so light compared with real Gibson Les Pauls. What can be better!?

As I already mentioned, I have owned the guitar for 26 years! There are some dents and crackes on the guitar, but it was my fault. The guitar is still cries with my fender amp. I realized Gibson finally started making some good guitars once again.(I bought Gibson Les Paul Standard reissue 1997? It sounds good like old Les Pauls. I changed pickups by the way.) It is as durable as original Les Pauls. Everything still works perfectly!!

I have never contacted them. I have never had any problems with my guitar, but it is time to change volumes and tones. I am not sure about warrnty. I never needed anyway.

I have been playing for 35 years on and off. I have Gibson ES-335 dot (around 1982), Les Paul Standard reissue prenium (around 1997?), Tokai Stratcaster '54 copy with Seymore Duncan vintage staggered, and Chinese-made Strat copy which now has Lindy Fralin woodstook '69. I recently ordered Fender Stratcaster '57 reissue.( I will have Lindy Fralin '54 or Fender Custom Shop '54 on them!) If my guitar is stolen? The guitar is no longer available! It is a guitar from old times. It has some sentimental values on it. It will be passed to my son. Although Gibson and Fender made so many terrible guitars, their names still stand tall on their values. Tokai has made so many great guitars which were much better than Gibsons and Fenders at the time, they are still copies! It is just very special to have own Gibson and Fender no matter how crapy these guitars are. If you cannot afford real Fender or Gibson, this is one to look for as used. And remember these Tokais sound way much better than real Gibson or Fenders unless you pay carzy amount for custom shop prices. Just change pickups to Duncan, Van Zandt, or Fralin. By the way, their original pickups are not bad as all! At least they maybe better than some Gibsons such as 490 series. Enjoy playing, folks!

My Tokai Les Paul Reborn was made in Japan in 1979. It has an ebony colored 2 piece maple top and I think a 2 pice Mahagony back, 2 original X stamped, nickel covered Tokai Hubuckers and double ring tuners. The Rest is Les Paul 1958 standard.

I play Classic Rock and this guitar "is" Classic Rock. I also own a Fernandes Supergrade Les Paul. The unplugged sound of the Fernandes is a bit louder than the Tokai's, but plugged in in my Marshall 80 watt combo, the Tokai produces an unbelievable perfect vintage Les Paul sound. As soon as I started to play it, I knew that this is "the" guitar I'll never give away in my life.

Since I've bought it used, I can't say anything about factory setup. But I can say something about the finish: it is absolutely perfect, even this guitar is 26 years old now! The frets had some wear and I had to have them refinished. Now, this guitar plays just perfect. The bridge is a bit oxidized wich looks super cool vintage style.
After all I prefer this guitar to any Gibson made after 1960.

Since this guitar is too valuable to me, I've never played it live yet, but there would be no problem to do so. Everything on this this guitar is rock solid and it looks tremendous after 26 years.

I play for about 15 years now and I would buy this guitar again. If this guitar would be stolen, I would buy another Les Paul Reborn, as long as they are in a reasonable price range! (And I fear, this will not be the case for a very long time!) I can compare it to my Fernandes Supergrade and think this guitar is a lot cooler and has much better electronics and pickups.

Go for them, as long as they are available.

From the serial number, my Les Paul Reborn (born again what? Christian?) appears to be of 1978 'vintage'. Made in Japan, it is a very scary 'clone' of a '58 Les Paul Standard. It is a plain two-piece top, so you ain't gonna be hypnotized by the flame. Two piece mahonagany back, and what looks like a one piece mahogany neck. The tuning pegs also have the look nailed down, but with 'Tokai' stamped on them. From there, it's simply a very good Les Paul, so there aren't any bells and whistles to gush over.

The pickups sound very good; not microphonic like other 'Love Rocks' I have owned. They have the bite, and clean up nicely when you pull the volume control down. The pots and tone capacitors are on a strange PC board (!), so swapping out any parts here isn't an easy thing. The bridge pickup tone control really works great; pull it all the way back and you get a marvelous 'woman tone' similar to what you hear on 'American Woman' (not that Lenny 'I used to do Lisa' Kravitz version, either). The neck pickup tone control sucks moose dick the size of dead airports, however. Again, because of the weird PC board, getting at that tone circuit isn't going to be easy, but it will be done, come hell or high-water. This is a perfect Classic or Southern Rock guitar.

The finish is a pretty cherry sunburst. It is still in very good shape, with no dings or gouges to take away from the excellent NC finish. The two-piece maple top doesn't have a 'to-die-for' book matching to it, but damn it still looks great. Since I bought it used, I am at the mercy of the seller as to the set up. It wasn't great, and I got an old set of strings on it, but a fresh set with a tweak at the bridge made it really nice. Low action combined with a very straight neck make it smooth playing. The pickups were set right, and everything else was secure and 'proper'. There weren't any loose parts, or bad wiring, routing, or other flaws. Even the nut is still fine; I have no intention of replacing anything other than the neck pickup tone capacitor. This thing is really built well. It is pretty heavy, though.

Playing this guitar live for an extended period will cause you pain, to be sure. However, it looks great, and sounds even better than most Gibson Les Paul guitar out there today that I'll just bulk up and take the extra pound or three of this Reborn. Everything looks like it will last (and it has for almost 25 years already, and the hardware is top notch. I can depend on this guitar, no question about it. I never go anywhere with just one guitar, but I could with this Reborn. The pots feel solid, without noise, and the pickups do inspire confidence. There isn't much else to say that would detract from this guitar. It is a keeper.

Tokai is still around, but I certainly wouldn't go to them for service. Any good guitar repairman would love to work on this guitar, and many who've seen it comment on its quality. 'Nuff said.

This guitar shares the front row with a plethora of other guitars I own of all makes and vintages. I have no problem showing off a Japanese 'copy', and every amplifier I own (all tube types, from Fender through Marshall) seems to get along with this guitar quite nicely. At a price right now much lower than a Gibson Heritage Les Paul, how can you go wrong?

my tokai is a gold top version with mahogony back and a through neck. as a guitar collector i am very impressed with this guitar for its gibson likeness in every way and to be honest i would never buy a new gibson cos they aint made like this one was. the PU's used on this model gold top are genuine P90's (say no more). i got it with a few parts missing but nothing to worry about.

sound?....try 1956 gold top sound exactly. tokai are superb craftsmen with their guitars and this old 1979 model is a classic the P90's sing and growl to your command. buy one the moment you see it cos you wont find many i assure you.

its an old guitar but still looks damn cool. i love the les paul guitar and i have many including a genuine 1971 recording model. i find this tokai plays just as good as the rest but it has a certain thing about it i cannot explain, you just have to play one for yourself through a valve amp if you can.

it seems very reliable and it will last longer than my old bones. i would use this guitar anytime anywhere but i always carry a back-up. another one of these would do fine if i could find one for sale.

never used it

i been playing 25+ years with all kinds of people and many styles of music. i wish i had the money as a kid to buy a guitar like this but i had to make do with an old hofner (which was good). the moment i saw this guitar i knew it was coming home with daddy. i will never sell it same for all my guitars if hard times reach i will sell my car first. if it was stolen then i hope the thief left no tracable evidence cos if he did he will be found and shot like all thiefs should be. like i said before these guitars are very collectable and very playable dont bother with a new 'thrown together' gibson, get a vintage tokai and you will be glad you did trust me.

This is a 1979 Japanese made Les Paul model.It has a two piece maple top (not a thin veneer or photo!) with a mahogany body and neck. It was modeled after a 1958 Les Paul and seems to be a very convincing replica from the headstock to the binding and the inlays(even has the aluminum tailpiece). It is a honey burst model 60. I think it has the Gotoh pickups that were made for Tokai although some models feature Duncans as a factory option.

I currently like playing modern blues and this guitar fits the bill perfectly. The pickups sound tremendous! I bought a set of Gibson Burstbuckers(1 and 3) that I was going to use with this guitar, but I've played Gibson's with the BBs in them and the sound is very similar so I'll probably save the BBs for another guitar. I primarily play through a '70 Marshall Superbass(stock) biased a little cold through a 70's Marshall 4x12 with G12-H30s that sound pretty good. I also use it through a '66 Fender Pro Reverb, but it sounds better through the Marshall. The Marshall has a Hotplate and I use either a Fulldrive II or a Jekyll/Hyde for boost. I can turn the tone down and get a pretty good Eric Johnson sound with this setup(not the fuzz tone but the boosted lead tone).With more aggresive pedals in front, I can get a singing distortion too, but I primarilly just use pedals for a boost signal.

The action is low and fast, since I play with a light touch (not like SRV!!), this is a pretty good setup for me. I use either DR or Daddario XL in .010. The finish is still holding up after all these years; this guitar was obviously a bedroom and closet queen and still looks great.

Seems to be of very sturdy construction; I think it's of better quality than the Epiphone, plays and sounds better than most Gibson Les Pauls that I've played or owned. I paid $900 for this guitar and I think it was a good buy. There is a Tokai website that gives more info on these and other Tokais in general at "www.tokairegistry.com"

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I've been playing for about 13 years and have run the gamut from big hair guitars (with Soldano SLO and Bogner Ecstaceys) to my current lower gain setup. I've been playing single coil strats the past few years so going back to a humbucking guitar is like splurging on a steak after a living a vegetarian life! All my pickups are lower impedance and not very high output though(it let's me be more expressive and seems to let give more tonal quality). I have a bunch of guitars, but this Tokai and an old Modulus Graphite Strat I have are by far my favorites. If you get a chance I recommend to try one of these or the early Love Rocks out as they are a great bang for the buck.

This is a '79 LS 50, the exact same model as the other one reviewed here except in a honey-burst finish. It's a reissue of the '58 Gibson Les Paul Standard. It is very true to the original, so I won't go over every detail. It has the features it's supposed to have. Made in Japan. Gotoh PAF humbuckers. Tokai Kluson tuners (which needed replaced when I got the guitar. They were starting to slip). 3-piece maple top. Mahogany body and neck. It came with the original case, which is very cool and quite true to the '58 Gibson case as well.

I love the guitar. It's the best playing guitar I've ever had. It's dead quite with the stock humbuckers, but those will probably end up being replaced with P-90 style pickups just because that's the sound I really prefer. With the humbuckers it has a very full sound. I never thought my little Fender Bronce tube amp could produce these bass tones, but with this thing it can. I have a wah, a tubescreamer (which will probably be more effective with the P-90's), a Line 6 delay, and most of the time play through a '68 Fender Super.

I really don't know if anyone is making them like this anymore, and certainly not for the price I paid. The craftsmanship is top-notch. Like I said, the tuning machines needed replaced. But, what do you expect with 23 year old Klusons?

As stated in the other review, you need to be a bit careful with the headstock. If it every broke I would cry. I've gigged with it without a back-up several times. If a string breaks, I just change it while our other guitarist plays solo or does a comedy bit. It is beautifully aged right now, and I expect it to just get better with time. With normal use, it should last centuries.

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I've been playing for about 6 or 7 years. If it were lost, stolen, or broken I would hunt down another (after I finished crying). I love how it plays, sounds, looks. It's got that great vibe that you can only get from a real vintage instrument. I tried current Epiphone and Gibson Les Pauls, and the Gretsch Duo-Jet. Nothing really spoke to me so I took a gamble with Ebay, and I'm very glad I did.

Made in 1979 in Japan, it's your basic perfect Les Paul Standard but not made by Gibson. Solid 3-piece maple top on a 2-piece mahogany body, one piece mahogany neck, rosewood fretboard, medium jumbo frets and nice MOP crown inlay. The headstock says Les Paul Reborn, after that they changed it to just Reborn and after that Love Rock Model. Nice aged cherry sunburst finish, guitar has its nicks but is still in a very good shape considering its age. Beautiful Kluson copies on the headstock, Tokai inscription on the back of them. I guess still equipped with Tokai's own PAF pickups. At the end of the fretboard the number '50' is engraved, so it is probably a LS50 model (like the Tokai LS60 of today).

Well, it sounds great, what can I say? It gives a bright Les Paul humbucking sound. The best sounding Les Paul type guitar I've got is an Ibanez Artist 300cs (1981) but this one is certainly almost as good. Maybe even better but I just got it. I also got a genuine Gibson LP Custom '76 that does not even come close to these two. Of course, a complete different guitar but the sound of that one just does not have the quality of the Tokai or the Ibanez, it just doesn't have that ring....

I did the setup myself but right out of the box from Ishibashi it came with a fresh .010 set and it played very well and smooth. The previous owner has taken care of this guitar properly.

It is reliable but since it has a genuine Les Paul style neck (no volute) you will always have to take care you do not smash the headstock against something. That's the only part of the guitar that is fragile by construction.

No warranty anymore of course but don't need it. This guitar will be still around when I'm gone I think.

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