Tokai Love Rock Korean

22 Fret Cherry Sunburst Les Paul copy with a flamed maple laminate top. Twin Tokai PAF Alnico Humbuckers. I believe the body and neck is mahogany and the fretboard is Rosewood.

This guitar is made in Korea and has a 3 way selector and the pickups were passive. It's brand new and suspect it was a 2006 model.

I mainly blue Blues / rock and some punk and currently play in a covers band with a female fronted singer where we cover songs from GNR to The Darkness, Muse, Blink 182 etc.

I'm currently playing this puppy through a Randall RH50T short stack, with a Morley power wah and Behringer preamp booster and this guitar is right on the money.........

I've previously owned a Gibson Les Paul studio followed by a Les Paul Standard which I sold a few years ago when I had a time out from playing. All I can say is that this tokai knocks spots of both the studio and Standard in the department where it really counts - the sound and not the name on your headstock...... If you want to have a listen, go to myspace.com/hollowsofvenus and listen to our cover of Sweet Child Of Mine (this is just a rehersal recording) which I play all the lead to with this guitar.

I picked this up in a guitar shop in Denmark Street as I was looking for a fixed bridge axe to go with my Jackson DK2 and had heard good things about Tokai so picked this up first off. Once I picked it up and plugged it in, there was no going back! The neck is exceptionally warm but dark and absolutely nails Slash's lead tone (a bit too dark in the clean channel alone so I tend to play in the middle in clean). The bridge is as you would expect, absolutely saturated distortion with loads of midrange and exactly what everyone expects a 'Gibson' Les Paul to sound like.

The sound against the price is absolutely incredible, if you're just thinking about one, justgo and try it, you won't be disappointed. Try it against a Gibson and I guarantee you'll come out with the Tokai unless you are a badge man.

Needless to say my Jackson which I love is well and truely now purely a back up axe.

This is the only slight let down. The finish even from new is not flawless (The more expensive Jap Tokais are the ones to go for if you want the flawless finish). Around the edges, near the neck, where you would expect a smooth finish, there's a very small gathering of paint (you have to look but it's there). It does have an absolutely beautiful (unfortunately only laminate)maple top and looks stunning.

The tuners are ok but as my style includes lots of string bends, I'll undoubtedly change these to Klusons at some point very soon.

Setup from the factory was actually pretty decent. It didn't need any adjustment just some decent strings which new guitars never have.

Only other 'flaw' was the cheap plastic input surrounds these use which will be changed for a metal one.

Overall I believe this is built to last, the hardware seems pretty well made apart from the bits above I will change. I always look after my guitars so I have no doubts on the ability to last.

Strap buttons seem ok but I don't go in for all the fancy new strap buttons. I purely bought old quick release straps, unscrew your buttons and then put the strap ends to the body of the guitar and then screw the strap buttons in over the strap. Why pay 15 quid for nothing....

I always gig with a backup regardless but this hasn't let me down yet.

Never had to use them so couldn't say.

Gibson should be taking lessons on how a Les Paul should sound as Tokai's budget LP's sound better then the 'real thing'.

No wonder they wanted to file lawsuits against Tokai.

Overall, this is an absolutely top guitar at incredible, incredible value. If you want a LP with the real sound and you can't afford Gibson prices (or can afford Gibson prices), you really won't be disappointed.

Glossy black, LP style. Bought used, looks brand new! Came with gig bag, Kustom practice amp, 20' cord and strap. Made in Korea in 2004. Solid top. 4 controls in all. Mahogany bottom, maple top, rosewood frets, mother of pearl inlays, all very beautiful.

Novice player, 2 yrs experience, first electric guitar. I am a rhythm player at present, learning a bit of lead. It sound absolutely wonderful, long sustain. Rich full sound. I love the craftsmanship of it, well made, trim lines up perfectly, it looks amazing! Only thing I dont like is it's heavy and I am not used to it, as I played acoustic before and it's a lot lighter!

Bought used, my instructor said it's set up as it should be. Nothing needed adjusting. Everything as it ought to be. No flaws, everything fits well, beautiful glossy black finish.

Hardware seems solid, finish is excellent, strap buttons sold, feels very dependable.

Been playing 2 yrs., have Norman acoustic guitar. I am a lefty playing lefty, thus it's hard to find a really nice lefty on the shelf. I love the look of it, the shape of it, the style of it. Nothing to complain about. I chose it because it felt right :-) I wish it was easier to find lefty guitars.

Tokai Love Rock LS50Q
Alder Body
Tune-o-matic bridge
Slim 60's neck
Quilted Maple top
Twin Humbuckers (PAF copies)

Warm cleans, very dynamic pickups mean light picking is clean and then hard strumming throws the amp into overdrive

Ballsy distortion, the tone is fantastic however distorted. It sounds so meaty in drop D without being muddy. Gives you that famous "les paul" sound without the price tag.

Pots used on the guitar are a tad scratchy, you get what you pay for really.

Tuners work really well, better than I expected from the korean model.

Action is really good, can get it pretty low with minimum buzz.

The finish on this is really good, the quilted maple doesnt stand out that much. Its subtle, and i actually prefer it like this. Its got a nicer finish than most guitars in this price range. Smooth lacquer finish on neck is great to play, not sticky at all.

Its almost an exact copy of a les paul, so its built like a tank!

I got mine off ebay, it was delivered in a box and i got it out, tuned it and played it straight away. It had been chucked around in a van, by the posties and it was fine so its definately hard wearing.

Fantastic guitar, if more people knew about tokai these guitars would be everywhere. If you want to have a great sound, a stunning finish and a great playing guitar, get one of these. Ive played an epiphone, my tokai blows it out of the water.

U.K purchased Korean Loverock `les Paul`. Maple neck, alder body, sycamore tiger stripe honey coloured top. No case. Wiring as usual `Les Paul,` kluson copy tuners and rosewood fretboard with possibly steel medium frets [22]. Stop tail bridge. Slim neck with plastic nut.

I play rock/blues and use Pod 1 and Marshall AVT 50`s linked via Boss CE3 stereo chorus pedal. The sound from the bridge pick up is probably as good as it gets for any price,fat, sweet & soulful and with plenty of cut and drive This pickup I suspect has alnico poles not ceramic which produce that fizzy tone. AC/DC, Peter Green & Gary Moore live here. This pick up is worth keeping except for one problem, it can`t be tapped for single coils. So out they both went for alnico Kent Armstrongs coiltapped on bridge tone pot. The bridge is still brill but now vintage Clapton lives on the neck humbuker aka Cream. Coil tapping also now gives far greater scope for chords which are not as purcussive as a strat but have great clarity and warmth. The woods in this guitar are those found in 70`s large headstock strats i.e maple neck/alder bodies and we all know how fat these could sound even with single coils. These mods cost #90 sterling and I`ll bet not even Gibson could tell it from the real thing now. In fact it now has a far greater variety of tones than a stock Les Paul which is every useful when gigging with one guitar. Lets be honest if reggae`s your thing you`d be better of with a Tokai Strat ! I actually think that the maple/alder/sycamore tonewoods in this guitar have a more unique woody bluesy tone than mahogany & maple. For the money these guitars are unbelievable value.

I would have given the guitar ten except for the cheap skate plastic nut which I have replaced with a Tremnut. Tokai know that the G & B strings on a Les Paul headstock have to kink too far when crossing the nut and will generally stick causing tuning problems. Bad move l I`m docking you 3 for this one!

Japanese/korean what`s the difference, if Tokai own it, it gets Japanese level quality controls. The original Tokai`s are still going strong and are sought after in front of the `originals` by many. Small wonder Aussie`s use Toyota jeeps, their lives depend on em! I`m docking 2 for naff nut and plastic jack input.

Can`t comment but a manufacturing fault will bring shame on the Tokai name, and will lead to hari-kiri in the board room! Probably, they haven`t even got any need for a complaints/returns office.
All complaints will be taken by chief executive personally. What a refreshing change!

Been playing for too long, semi-pro and jamming 20yrs plus. I own two Eggle Berlin Pro`s , a Shecter Strat, Yamaha SA 2000s they are all carefully selected relatively expensive guitars, and I recommend them. But for value and looks and lead tone, given a few low cost mods this Korean Loverock can be your first guitar and your last esp paired up to a Marshall amp. Rang the shop for an Epiphone, was told to buy a Love Rock. The guy was dead right!

late 2005 tokai love rock,in honeyburst..heavily quilted top.it is one of the models with the solid bookmatched tops,and one piece mahogany backs..really very nice.has 2 tokai PAF's(by gotoh).the entire guitar is what they call new old stock,was never played,and still was in original shipping box when i got it.it's an 1960 les paul replica(according to the brochure i ordered it from),and wow..it's really close...sadly no case,but i'll fix that soon enough.
the frets appear to be stainless steel,which i prefer to the alloy ones you usually get in a gibson paul.stainless sounds way more articulate,and hardly wears down.imho...

you can really play just about everything on this guitar,the pickups have a serious output to them,so much so that i have to roll them back a little,just a little,so they don't crunch up the clean channels on my amp.the in between setting sounds soooo good,and the neck is perfect for smoky jazz/blues stuff.this is a guitar that really excells in all categories,but it will feedback unless you lower the pickup height somewhat,then,it's a tone machine...i realise i'm being picky,but that's what ya gotta be...
when you get the height correct,the guitar sounds soooo much better,i usually drop it till there's a quarter inch or more(depends on the pickup)from the strings to the top.i find the guitar opens up sooo much more when you do this...

i changed the strings immediatly,as they were blacker than pitch(remember it had never been played,and the strings had oxidised)..no biggie.i did set the action a tad lower for my taste,and,with a set of ernie ball 10-46's the guitar came alive in my hands..the WHOLE thing hums in your grip.the only other guitar that does that is my 1961 gibson es-335..which might give you a clue as to how good this guitar is built.

i have gigged it out,after i set it up.i waited a few days to check and see if it needed anything else,and it was perfect..so out i went,and in a live setting...what a great guitar.i also used it in the studio recently,and it works well there too.excellent definition on all the notes/chords...and it stays/plays in tune ALL over the fretboard.
the finish can withstand live playing,as long as you wipe the guitar down,like you would any instrument you own..at least i do anyway.
i will be taking it out this summer on the road,and i think it will do just fine...seems really well built.
i never play out without SOME kind of backup,just makes sense...

i hear they're really somewhat hard to get ahold of..but since it's so well built,i don't forsee any problems with it.

have played for over 20 years,and played pro for 16 so far...
i also have a lovely 1961 gibson es-335 custom,in dark cherryburst.a parts strat with SG humbuckers in it,a broadcaster i built in my shop,and a yamaha 12 string acoustic.i really,really wish it had a case..but oh well.it really captures the vibe and feel of an older instrument,just a super nice guitar.you DO have to adjust it a little,but that's rather an individual thing,as no two guitarists have the same setup,now do they?
honestly,as i'll likely never own a "real"1960 les paul guitar,i have found that with one of these in your hands,you can get amazingly close to that sound.i'd rather get a great guitar,that works,and looks the buisness,than something i'd have to keep in a vault anyway.oh,get straplocks for this guitar,as you really don't want to drop it on your foot,it's a heavy sucker.not as heavy as my friend's 1972 les paul custom,but it's no featherweight.
seriously,now...this guitar is an affordable option as opposed to the out of my league option most of us face,when we go to guitar center...

New Korean Gold Top Les Paul. Two humbuckers. Nut is a cheapo, same as the original that came with the Rosie Tele. Will replace.

Using with a Vox Valvetronix processor and Crate VC3112. I can't come up with something it can't do. Pickups seem super-hot to me.

Action and intonation good to go straight out of the box. Mine has a few small finish flaws - I paid $100 less too.

Appears to be rock solid. My experience with Tokais has been great. I foresee no issues no matter what the use.

I'd probably be S.O.L. if something went horribly wrong, as I got no manufacturer's warranty. The only handler of Tokais on any scale that I know of is out of Jersey. Suppose that I'd call him.

I've played for 20 years as a hobbyist and have owned many guitars. This one's not going the way of the Gretsch that I bought and sold within the year. I really love to hear a person tell the absolute truth about luxury guitars. From the Gibson line I have owned a Les Paul Standard and Explorer. They were nice and played well, but as another emphasized, you really can't get 10x more enjoyment from just paying the high sticker price of a Gibson. This guitar looks as good, sounds as good and plays as well as any Gibson non-Custom Shop Les Paul - maybe better than them too. I wonder if Tokai called Gibson and challenged them to put their line up against Tokai (blind test) if they'd bite. Probably not.

Beautiful dark chocolate tigerstrip sunburst Love Rock with pick guard and covered pick ups.

Play mainly 70's/80's Blues and Rock.

Set up is: Love Rock > 1981 Cry Baby Wah Wah> Behringer V-amp 2 for effects only> 1979 Electro Harmonix Little Big Muff Pi distortion> Marshall Bluesbreaker Overdrive> Behringer OD100 Overdrive> Behringer PB100 Pre amp booster> 1981 Marshall JMP 50 watt Master Volume 2 x12 Combo. I also use an Epiphone Les Paul Studio and a Squier Stratocaster, both bog standard set up with 10 guage strings.

The sound on this guitar is WAY more powerful than that on the Epiphone. It is a LOT heavier so has a lot more sustain and mid-range "Honk" to the output.
The neck pick up was noticeably louder than the Bridge pick up until I adjusted the pick up height.
I was immediately impressed with the increase in output on the Tokai compared to the Epiphone, there was such a noticeable boost that I had to reduce the settings on all the pedals as they immediately caused hiss and started to overdrive the amp before I had even put anything on. That said you could happily plug into the Amp dry and immediately get a good Les Paul Marshall tone.

I use the Distortion pedals to have a 4 stage gain sound. The amp is set to barely clip then I add the OD100 set to Overdrive for a gritty rhythm sound. For lead guitar parts I add the PCB 100 to drive the amp harder. If I need more treble I kick in the Blues breaker to boost the high mids and leave out the PCB100 and if I want to go nuts I add the Little Big Muff.
This Guitar immediately made a massive difference in the sustain, feedback and dynamics. I have much more attack,response and control than with the Epiphone. I play a lot of Thin Lizzy/Gary Moore songs and I easily gets his Still Got the Blues/Parisienne Walkways tone with just the PCB100 boosting the amp. Even at very low volume it wants to sustain and get the amp feeding back. Take the boost off and add the chorus for the clean rhythmn arpeggios.

I absolutely adore it and it looks the badgers nadgers. (UK colloquiolism - (aka the mutts nuts)

Rolling back the Volume cleans things up with no real loss of tone or output from the amp, it just distorts far less. Turn it up and it sings. Spinal Tap style.

Great action, bass string a little boxy but soon sorted it out with a bit of adjustment to the string height. Pickups were out but that was sorted too. Finish is beautiful, up close there is a little bleeding of the paint job into the neck binding and a tiny blemish on the lower horn but miniscule really. The neck is smooth and fast, there is a little bit of poor finish on the rosewood at the 14th fret but I can live with it.

I can't wait to gig with it. Strap buttons are good, pick up selector not quite as "tight" as the one on the epiphone but again nothing too worrying. I'd gig with it without a back up but I will always have one as it takes too long to change strings. I might buy another one in a different finish.

Not had any dealings

Fabulous, better value than a Gibson, sounds and looks fantatic. You can tell it's not got a maple cap and the binding is painted on but again if you want those buy the Japanese model. It doesn't come with a case but I got a superb hard case for #50.

made in summer 2005
22 frets
solid 1 piece mahogony guitar with rosewood fretboard
vintage white loverock lespaul custom with gold hardware and pinstripe binding

i mostly play anthrax, maiden mostly anything metal, this guitar rocks! sounds great through my fender usa performer1000 and marshall mg100dfx. very toneful guitar, graet for solos. compared to the gibson custom i played to compare it with i couldnt notice any difference excetp this was about twice the weight> heavy as hell but worth the pain!!

factory setup kicked ass havent changed a thing.

this guitar is built to last, compared with the other tokai guitars ive played this was the easiest to play and in my opinion the best sounding.

havnt needed any this is the most reliable guitar ive owned, totaly kicked the epiphone customs ass

2004 Tokai Love Rock MIK
Mahogany back Maple top
2vol 2tone 3 way switch
Maple Neck
10 if it had a mahogany neck

Well, what can I say... I play rock, blues, classic, heavy music and it just nails whatever I throw at it. I love this guitar. It sound just like a LP should. I'm thinking about putting duncan 59s in it, but the stock pickups are actually really good by themselves.

PERFECT... not a single flaw on the guitar so i don't have any complaints whatsoever

Only had it a few months but no issues yet

na

Alright, this is Hands down better than an EPIPHONE or AGILE! if you want a better lp go epi elite or mij tokai or orville. it's not a gibson but i'd say it's 90% of one!

New Korean Gold Top. It is the best Les Paul I've ever owned. Fat & meaty tone for days. When I think Les Paul, I now think Love Rock. 1/3 to 1/4 of the price & I don't care if it's from Korea. If a guitar plays & feels good you know it. I've had newer Gibson's & the quality from Tokai is right there with the American made Gibsons. I don't know how they do it, they just do it.

I play Rock/Punk Rock. This guitar is perfect for me. Big, fat , rich tone.

I've been setting up guitars for 20 years. That's how I know when I come across a killer guitar. They only thing I had to do was turn the low-E, A & D string bridge saddles around to get it intonated. I can't believe how nice the guitar was right out of the box.

I treat my guitars well, but sometimes in the heat of Rock & Roll stuff happens. I expect no problems with this guitar.

Since Gibson has sued Tokai's ass-off for making better versions of their guitars, there is no customer support in the USA. Customer support is a little tough to come by. Canadian dealers can & will help.

I wouldn't say this guitar is to good to be true, but it's close. When you have to pay $1500 to $2000 for a good used Les Paul, take a chance on a Tokai. I've been playng for 27 years & have at one time or another owned every electric guitar possible. The Love Rocks are Les Pauls. I don't know how they get away with it, but they do. You can't go wrong if you buy a Love Rock.