Tokai Love Rock Custom

this is a 2006 custom loverock nal-60 and of course its just like any Les paul style guitar, two humbuckers three-way switch and two volume,two tones. comes with gold hardware that looks like top gibson grade hardware. this one is in Haritage CHERRY SUNBURST. the pictures on the web show it darker then it is in person and thats what I wanted but its still a knockout at any rate. It features a solid mahogany body with a flame maple top fully bound.great straplocks and a fairly fat neck.frets are a medium size not overly big but I think they are made from ss.it also has Canadian rock maple set neck and mother of pearl block inlays,open coil PAF alnico humbuckers and the tuners are gold tulip style.

right now I have a house full of peavey amps, a delta blues w/15 inch and a peavey classic from 1977. an old crate gx30 and a fender 15 but its rated at 39 watts, a rare bird and a peavey keyboard pa type amp. TONE SNOBBS Don't raise your eyebrows as I have owned some high quality stuff old and new like a 66 deluxe reverb and a blues pearl and a rivera 55-12 and many others like a 67 magnatone.anyway,
I figured that I would be swapping out the pickups as soon as it came since I am humbucker sinsetive and like a more single coil sound. have a set of ej customs to stick in it from dirmarzio but the ones that came are so sweet sounding that I don't see a need for a change. I really like these pickups as they do what I need done on all amps in all areas. I am not into metal and but it would do metal. the pickups in this custom will do all sounds but excell for blues jazz and classic rock and country. I have a ts9 and a rocktron austin gold that I use to get two extra channels from my amps going from clean to crunch to singing lead.this tokai works and sounds better to my ears then my american made strat w/ texas specials. it is a heavy guitar but not as bad as a custom LP gibson I used to own and sounds many times better then the gibson.it was a 1979 model if memory serves. I am giving this a ten on sound cause it trips my trigger in all areas cleand and overdriven.

I am not a nitpicker as I paided only about 589.00 for this shipped. its a great deal when you consider a gibson at 2700.00 or more.it looks like a les paul sounds better the the pauls I have owned and plays as well. anyway there was nothing wrong with it when it came but I always ajust and this time all that was ajusted were the pickup heights. its flamed but lightly. an aa top instead of aaa or aaaa.headstock looks almost exactly like a gibson.

good strapbottons, great finish,the gold will tarnish but its great quality. I would gig without a backup because I always know my guitars. I get personal with them and screwdrives and soldering irons and whatever it takes to maintain them. I know them and if they are not up to par I leave them at home and take another.

got this from a guitar seller on ebay and he does have a good warrenty and sells dillion and tokai but I highly recomend J.D.s guitarshack on the net for tokai and dillion copys.I have talked with him and seems like a good and caring seller of guitars from Canada.

been playing 25 years on and off: on mostly.Is there something you wish you had asked before buying this guitar? answer yes> as I wanted a darker color but it came in a brighter color but it does look darker in a darker room.
well I really like this one and hate nothing about it. the neck is great and the pickups are outstanding and yes I looked at a bunch of les paul types such as gibson>to pricey, epiphone custom>more then the tokai and less quality and the headstock on a epi LP dosn't do it for me. I don't know why gibson doesn't let epiphone use it's headstock as the china guitar dealers selling on ebay are selling fake gibson copies that are nothing more then cheaply made epiphones w/ gibson name and headstock.I smell a lawsuit in the air.
Why did you choose this one? I have owned a tokai breezysound tele in the past and no fender sounded or played better so I knew about Tokai quality. this one is high quality from what I have seen and I have owned a ton of good guitars and a ton of bad ones.

Mine is a Tokai Vintage Love Rock Les Paul TLC-70 made in Hamamatsu Japan in 1994, it's in wine red all mahogany with no maple cap...JUST LIKE GIBSON USED TO DO THEM!!!. It has a great see thru grain to the mahogany top which i love, also the typical custom trim, gold h/w block inlays full binding etc, you know the score. Also has the very nice 'lawsuit' original Gibson headstock style 'open book' b4 they put that stupid notch in it. IT has a 60's slim neck and PAF tokai pickups, great for me..... not for you nu metal heads out there...more on those in the sound bit. BEWARE.....if you get sucked into too much hypoe about this guitar, 'AS GOOD AS A GIBSON' saga that all tokai lovers like to rant on about then let me say this. It's NOWEHERE, and i mean NOWHERE near as close to a gibson les paul custom in the thickness of wood, weight or certainly quality of hardware that Tokai would like you to believe. But then we are talking bout a players guitar and VALUE, and as all wise players know, with the soaring prices of the Gibsons, anyone playing a decent Love Rock, knows their guitar...IT SOUNDS ACE...it gets an 8 simply for shoving a cracker up Gibsons ASS

As for sound its ACE, well thats my opinion, it has great warm tone and fab sustain from the all mahogany body. The PAF styel Tokai pickups suit me fine, I like tonal old school rock ala Jimmy Paige to Angus Young, thought to Paul Weller or the Darkness!but nothing too hot, I've got some 490R and a 498T in my standard and they aren't as 'hot' as those. i have raised the bridge pickup and altered the pole slightly for clearer string definition and it's fine. It doesn't do the 'mid scooped up in a box over processed' thick nu metal sound too well, but thats fine for me. It would probably still be fina for all you but stick a 500T in the bridge. It can do the usual LP dark moody but can also really clean up and do the brightest too. The bridge pickup really cleans up nicely to clean when rolled off and the tone pots do the job

Sorry sorry sorry sorry, but this is where it all gets let down a little. And this is the point where i tell you that it doesn't touch a LP custom by Gibson. It's just skimped on with parts. The pickups are fine, the bridge is APPALING.....BLOODY terrible...the pole that adjust the action are drilled directly into the wood without even something like a washer guard....it's some seriously weak pathetic piece of crap, and the tuners (grover lookalike wannabes) are light and feel they are gonna snap at any second. Jacks and pots n switches are fine but overall it lacks the weighty heavy STURDY built like a brick shit house that the Gibson has. It's bult to exactly the same wood spec in thickness as an Epiphone LP standard that i own.. The very first things to go are the bridge and tailpiece with the tuners a close second.. They are getting replaced by a tonepros bridge and tailpiece and some grovers for the tuners. Otherwise you have got an awesome guitar for the cash.

This guitar will live up to my relentless playing once i change some of the hardware.>ESPECIALLY THAT SHITTY BRIDGE.
Finish is awesome, i love it in the wine red with gold h/w...just like one of those studios but with all the trim. I'll use it live for a while as my main axe but ALWAYS carry backups..just for string snaps etc

Not dealt with

According to the Serial #, this guitar was built in 1999. Whether its newer or older than this, I really couldnt say!

Model wise, what can I say, its a Les Paul Custom, block inlays, binding, 2 Humbuckers, Tune-o-matic & Stop Bar in glorious black. WYSIWYG.

I play mainly heavy rock and basically this is as good as my Gibson LP, if not better. There's a bit of noise from the Gotoh pickups, but there is from the Gibson's too, especially when using pedals. The Neck gives a very bass-y sound with the tone rolled off, but I like that. The neck is reasonably bright, but again I roll off the tone control. Possibly consider changing the pickups.

What I like about it is it Les Paul-ness, weight, feel, balance, sound etc.

What I dont like about it is.....erm.....can I get back to you when I've thought of something?

Setup was OK, but I prefer 9's to the 10's it came with, and so had it set up again after having it a few days with 9's. Action-wise, its a Les Paul basically, not the lowest, but nowhere near the highest.

Finish is fantastic. Much much better than my Gibson LP, which cost more.

I think this guitar will prove to be practically bomb proof.

The UK Importers of Tokai were really friendly when I called them up with a query. So no qualms there.

Like I said before, I already have a Gibson LP (Studio) which is a brilliant guitar. However, this Tokai matches it in every department, if not exceeding it in some! The feel of the Tokai is incredibly similar to the "real thing" and simply looks stunning. I owned an Epiphone LP Classic for about 4 weeks, and sold it because it was awful, I dont intend selling the Tokai!

Considering the recent price increase in the UK on all Gibsons and Epiphones, then the Tokai LoveRock now makes even more sense. This guitar cost me a THIRD of the price of a Gibson LP Custom, and although it may not have the same residual value, it'll certainly not loose much value, as these Tokai's appear to be sought after. Thats assuming I even consider parting with it!