Tokai Love Rock

Had to write in response to the complete banana (playing 40 years and making for 30...yawn ) who wrote giving an earlier opinion. If it ain't not Brazillian rosewood (illegal in the US after 1970 I believe) etc etc then it's basically a pile of nasty copy rubbish.

Erm, wrong. The spec this chap is giving basically means you've got to fork out an insane sum for a vintage (pre 1970) Gibson Les Paul. Well quite, put me down for a couple and while you're at it a mint Marshall Plexi while you're at it.

Meanwhile back in reality world the facts are that Gibson's standards (pardon the delightful pun) have been less than we might hope for, ooh, well, for about as long as anyone can care to remember. Admittedly their very latest all new 2002 Les Paul's are looking to fight back but I've not tried one of those yet so can't comment. What I do know is that up until 2001 a top of the line Tokai Love Rock is the better instrument. Just how it is and I have the cash to buy either.

I've been all over the place in the UK, time and again testing my Love Rock side by side with new GLP Standards. Trying, in fact, to find a Les Paul that can stand up to my Love Rock. If I found it I'd buy it.

Features? Its all there and it all works very well indeed. Even stays in tune.

The sound is rich, full of tone and enhanced by a 1st class neck that has the happy knack of making you feel very at home, very quickly. The sustain in all it should be (awesome). I've found the individual string definition on the neck pickup to be marginally better on a GLP but that's it and very subjective. You might well not feel so.

The Tokai bridge humbucker is a class ahead. It sings, it screams, it rocks. Absolute peach, and lets face it that's the pcikup you're buying. Never found a GLP to touch it, and the funny thing is the longer you play them side by side the bigger the difference becomes.

Mine wasn't that good straight from the factory, just OK. There was a fair degree of fret buzz and the frets felt a little grainy. At the time I didn't bat an eyelid as it was still better than the typical Gibson fayre I was being offered.

Makes no odds to me, any guitar I buy gets immediately taken to bits and carefully set-up. To me it doesn't feel 'mine' until I have played with it internally, adjusted the bridge, checked the nut, dressed the frets and sighted for relief several times.

Yum.

Finish was flawless.

The proverbial brick whatsit. No probs whatsoever in nearly 15 years.

Who cares? Irrelevant to me.

Been playing 22 years now. I own a US Fender from the 80's, a Love Rock and that's it. I have my eye on one of the new Yamaha SG2000's, but I'll probably hold out for an early 80's if/when I ever find one in really good condition. I used to own a 1983 Ibanez Destroyer Custom and will wish to the grave that I'd kept it, they were made from some amazing wood that really sang. I've given up hope of ever finding another but I'd buy one like a shot.

To me these days the GLP Standard is a Love Rock copy. Trust your ears.

Right now I run through a Marshall JCM2000 TS122 with extension cab for larger venues. Finest amp I've ever owned. Made Marshall great again. Before that amongst others it was a old Vox AC30.

This is just an update on an earlier post: THE ONLY GUYS THAT DON'T LIKE THE TOKAI & ORVILLE COPIES OF THE LES PAUL, ARE THE GUYS WHO ARE TRYING TO SELL THEIR OVER-PRICED (OFTEN GUTTED OF ORIGINAL PARTS) OLD PAULS. I HAVE PLAYED MANY "REAL" GIBSON LES PAULS, ONLY TO WALK AWAY IN DISGUST AT THE HIGH-A$$ED PRICES, THESE "OLD-A$$ED" GEEZERS ARE ASKING. GET A LOVE ROCK (JAPAN) OR AN ORVILLE (JAPAN). DON'T GO BY JUST THE NAME...CAUSE WE KNOW ABOUT THE CRAP THAT GIBSON HAS PUT OUT, over the years, BESIDES THE RESALE ON THE "LOVE ROCKS" & "ORVILLES" ARE GOING UP! not down like you see on E-BAY with the Gibsons

sweet

sweet

can you say: broken neck gibsons sell for alot less

Quality, not Quanity

This is a follow up of my review below. It's a Love Rock sunburst LS60 from 1992 bought new in 2001. I put Grover tuners on it, they look great and the guitar stays in tune better with even more sustain. At first i replaced the stock humbuckers with Gibson 490/498 pickups, wich gave a slight improvement in sound. Now i replaced the Gibsons with Seymour Duncan Jazz(neck) and JB(bridge).

With the Seymours the Love Rock really shows what it can do! With my 1 channel, 6 knob Marshall JCM800 combo i can go from an almost funky clean sound with both pickups on 2, to hard rock with the neck pickup on 10, and anything inbetween. Compared to the Seymours the Gibsons sound muddy. The Jazz and the JB are perfectly balanced. The definition and clarity are incredible. Now i can even play a solo on the neck pickup! On rehearsal i had several favourable comments on my guitar sound from knowledgeable people.
Next thing i'm going to try out are push/pull pots to split the Seymours with, they come with a 4 conductor cable. Seymour Rules!!

I have had the guitar for over a year now, no major problems except for the jack output ring wich i have to fasten every now and then.
Maybe i'll take her to a repair man to have a look at the nut, it could be too narrow for the 010 strings i play. Sometimes it gets out of tune after a heavy bend.

I played it on rehearsals and gigs without backup, no problems. Alas it got a couple of tiny scratches, what can you do? Just put it in the case or in a good stand to prevent it from falling on the weak spot where the neck joins the headstock.

Since my previous posting there is some more info on the web about Tokai, no thanks to the company itself. There's the excellent tokairegistry.com site with good info. I just made a site with pictures of over 130 Tokai guitars, basses and effects/parts, the URL is:
http://tokaiguitarspics.bravepages.com/

What more can i say? Tokai is exporting again to many countries in Europe, but i understand that even new Tokai Love Rocks are scarce and gone quickly. I look at the classifieds on the web in Holland almost every day, i haven't seen a second hand Love Rock in months. On Ebay they fetch good prices. Get one if you can!

Japanese '59 Les Paul reproduction Tokai from 2000 based on the serial number. 22 frets, with a 2 piece flame maple top (not sycamore, or whatever they later used), nice and thick and visable well below the binding in the cut-away just like a real '59
2 piece mahogany body and one piece neck with wings added to the headstock. All in all a good copy of a '59 and for far less than Gibson can do it. Only area of compalint was the trussrod cover which was not the correct bell shape. Still, an actual Gibson cover ($20.00 CDN!!!) fits perfectly. Not sure if the finish is laquer or urethane. I'll guess the later and deduct a point. If I am wrong, add one back in. I did find the string tension higher than on some Les Pauls I tried, but about average to most. I will switch to 9's in the future. In the meantime deduct a half point. Great sustain, and decent volume unplugged. Again, some gibbos are this way, some are dead accoustically. Came with two sets off pick-ups, original Tokais and Gibson 57's.

Sounds very much like the Les Pauls I compared Love Rocks against wover the past year and a half of searching for a Les Paul I liked (missed a great one in L.A.), only slightly warmer and more full. Currently has 2 Gibson '57's humbuckers but I think I will change back to the Tokai Humbuckers as the tone has suffered slightly. Seems less mature. Big surprise.
Very good for the E.C. Beano Album sound.

Again set-up seems "tight", but other than that no complaints.

Built like a tank. If your mind the potentially weak headstock area in common with all guitars of this type.

N/A

I have been playing 4 years. I currently own 16 guitars including 1 Cunutto Era Custom Shop Mary Kaye Relic Strat and a 1999 Relic Tele with a custom order 9 1/2" neck, an FDP LE Fender Strat, A Burns Marquee, A Danolectro U2, A Simon & Patrick Accoustic, a Fender Electro-Accoustic, a Union Jack Noel Gallager Epiphone Supernova, a '52 re-issue Tele (signed by the Stereophonics), a '57 MIJ Reisue Strat, and a MIJ 50's Telecaster, a Pete Townsend SG (Note the limited run, but a US production instrument) and a made in Korea Tokai SG.
As well I have owned 3 Epiphone Les Pauls, and 2 Gibson Les Pauls. All were sold, with no regrets. Can't say that about all the guitars I've sold, including a couple other Gibsons.
Oh, and by the way I would rate a most current Les Pauls at 6, and the one mentioned in LA as a 10. But lets just say at the price it was it had better be a 10!!!

Ok, here we go.2001 Tokai Love Rock, model LS65, bought 4 weeks ago. Definately made in Japan. Serial no. stamped on back of headstock, i believe the first 2 digits denote the year of manufacture. This guitar has Tokia's 'violin finish' which is exactly the same as honeyburst in Gibson parlance. I used to have a Gibson Les Paul in honeyburst and this Tokai is a deadringer for it. Gotoh hardware and pick-ups, mahogany body ( not 1 piece) and solid 2 piece maple top (i have checked). Nice piece of Rosewood for the fingerboard, not dry like 1 or 2 Gibson guitars i have picked up recently. Apart from the different shape truss rod cover and writing on the headstock, which reads 'Love Rock model'and of course'Tokai instead of 'Gibson', this guitar is a Les Paul.

Can't say to much about sound, have not used it in anger yet. Tried it in the shop, but not at monster volume. Seems quiet, all the pots and the switch work well, no crackles or squeaks. If it sounds like a cross between Billy Duffy and Billy Gibbons i will be a very happy man.

Everything would seem to be Aok. Action is fine but i have changed the strings to girly 9's, it came with manly 10's. No visible flaws, pretty perfect really.

Don't know yet, looks like it will stand the test of time.

1 Year warranty. Never dealt with UK importer, would just go through retailer. Importer for the UK is a 1 man operation in Sheffield, Yorkshire. Does a very good impression of a blue arse fly.

I had to search around for this guitar in the 'Violin finsh'. In the UK they seem to be like rocking horse shit. Such a small quantity come into the country because the importer just can't get enough to satisfy demand. I can't believe Tokai can produce a guitar of this quality for this money. A genuine Les Paul is around #1600-1700 at the moment in the UK, so if you want a quality Les Paul but you don't have the finance, get one of these, not an Epiphone. NO CONTEST !!

This is an update to my previous submission back in 1999. Meanwhile I have used my Tokai Love Rock for numerous gigs, home recording sessions, rehersals and practicings. I have quite a better idea of the guitar and its history now. First of all this guitar is probably from 1981-1984 period which is the law suit era. The truss-rod cover is slightly different from the original bell shape. I saw some pictures and I suspect this one to be a more expensive model like LS-100 or LS-120 which means its original retail price back in 1980s was 100,000 - 120,000 Yens. A Japanese salesman at Ishibashi in Tokyo told me that this means USD 2,500 - 3,000 in today's standards.

I had to change the tuners because of a stupid luthier who told me that they were the problem. So I bought a set of Gibson Deluxe and replaced them with the double ring vintage Schaller Klusons. I recently changed my pickups from Gotoh PAFs with 12 adjustment screws to an Alnico Pro II at the bridge and a Schaller Golden 50's at the neck. Jimmy Page electronics give me 20 pickup selection options, all of which are pretty usable. Although it is a result of my own hard work, this guitar deserves a 10 :))

So to summarize again this guitar has:

2 humbuckers, splittable and switchable to parrallel/series and in/out of phase
2 piece thick mahogany body
1 piece very fat mahogany neck (headstock wings separately added)
2 piece bookmatched curly maple top
A dark rosewood fretboard
LACQUER finish unlike somebody else stated below. (He must be a Gibson employee)
Tune-o-matic bridge with aluminium tailpiece.
Gibson Deluxe Kluson Style tuners

Sound? Which one? After this modification, I put my Strat to rest because even the single coil sounds from split humbuckers sound fatter and simply much better. Of course it is not a pure Strat tone, but take my word, it is better. In a few pushes and pulls I can go from Peter Green to Slash, from Santana to Knopfler. (And of course everything Page has).

I use this with my Trace Elliot Velocette Class A tube amp, Ibanez UE-405 analog multi effects rack and a Mesa Boogie V-Twin tube preamp. The tone is pure in every setting from full saturated drive to crystal clean sounds.

I bought this guitar when she was probably 18 years old. Now she is 20. There are dings and scratches and cracks everywhere but not a problem with any piece of hardware. I set the action pretty high and string it with 0.10s. This gives her a great action and tone. However, I have no idea about the factory setup.

It does withstand everything. I gig without a backup. If I break a string, I change it on stage before the solo. (Once I even went for a pee and catched the solo !!) Nothing else can happen unless an earthquake collapses the building.

Yes I contacted the company and they responded. However this company is not represented in the US because of lawsuit reasons, and probably in a few countries in Europe. For more information on Tokais from every era www.tokairegistry.com is a very good source. There is lots of information there.

A perfect piece of workmanship. I have read reviews about old Tokais and what they say is that these the difference between a 70s-80s Tokai copy and an original 50s Strat or Les Paul is not more than the difference between 2 originals. I know that prices for these have risen enormously, but still if you cannot get an aged 1959 reissue, this is the best thing to get. I was so lucky to find it in Istanbul where people had no idea of its value and I simply exchanged it with an Epiphone without paying a cent!!!!

To see pictures of my guitar (before the modifications) visit my page at www.andac-mats.com/tokai

2000 les paul style,twin humbucking p/u,laminated flame top, mohgany back and neck. Basic set up, two volume,two tone controls

real mellow sounding guitar.my style is mostly harder classic rock,b.o.c. black sabbath etc.My love rock sounds real full, no noise when switching pick-ups. Great highs and clear lows,as good as my gibson LP studio.

Fit,finish and action were dead on when i recieved it. this is where tokai shines.being ultra picky about my guitars, my love rock was perfect, no overspray,frets dressed nicely, no flaws.Action was low, but not to low,no string buzz. Came with 10's, but changed to 9's whith same results

had it 2 weeks, so time will tell,but looks and feels like it was built to last.

There web site is no help,so i don't think i'll even try to deal with them

been playing for 20 years, and own tons of gear(strats,les pauls,rickys) all the major brands and models.She was a gift from my wife Debbie (thanks baby)and as soon as i picked it up i knew it was going to be my favorite.Tokai's quality is top notch, so is the workmanship. I loved it so much i just ordered a gold top from mikes music in canada

Japanese Tokai Love Rock. Sunburst copy. Solid flame top.The body/neck woods could be Klingon Bahtahkwood for all it looks like, and sounds like.

Non-descript sound. definitely NOT Les Paulish!

Looks like the Poly rock-hard plastic finish is thick, and brittle.
Yuk.

Totallu usable for live, especially for all you Pete Townshend wannabees!!! Please!

I've been playing for 40 years. Building guitars for 30 years. I wouldn't buy another one if the one I bought wa ripped off. These guitars look good.but don't bear close scrutiny. They are not finished with nitrocellulose lacquer, so they will not have "the" tone or feel. The neck/body joint is very different than the original. If a Les Paul , copy or eitherwise is made of anything other than Honduras mahogany, and Brazilian rosewood, and finished with anything other than nitrocellulose....it's not worth buying. They may look great..but they won't have the feel or sound of a real vintage Les Paul. To those who don't care about that, Tokais are excellent. Gibson should be laughing thier asses off at these copies. The only problem with that is....few people realize that Tokai Love Rocks' AREN'T Les Pauls...and buy them thinking they are just as good as genuine Les Pauls. They most definitely aren't like the Real Thing..and don't even come close. THAT is what hurts Gibson.

Gibson Les Paul Sunburst copy, probably type LS-35, made in Japan, colour cherry sunburst with cherry red back and neck, 3 piece plain maple top, 2 piece mahogany back, 1 piece mahogany neck, rosewood fretboard. Identical to GLP sunburst except truss rod cover(see above). I already had a Goldstar Sound strat and there's one thing i really like about Tokai: it's an "honest" guitar, WYSIWYG so to speak. I changed the PU's (see below) and what you see then is REAL wood, mahogany and a 1 cm thick solid maple top. No veneers, no coverups.

This is a real guitar made of solid woods , even unplugged it rings with sustain. With the stock PU's you get the basic LP sounds you would expect. I already had two Gibson 490/498 humbuckers from a LP Custom. The Gibsons had less "string pull" than the Tokais, giving a tighter sound without false overtones. The Gibsons were quieter than the Tokais (less hum) and they didn't "smear" as much, even on a distorted Marshall you can hear every note inside a chord and the amp cleans up more when you back off the volume on the guitar.
So the rating is 8 with stock PU's, 9 with the Gibsons.

I mean action after restringing it with D`Addario 010s and setting up the bridge. Didn't have to readjust the neck. Fit and finish are perfect.

I just bought the guitar, so it hasn't seen any road action yet. But the S/N is from 1992! I bought it from a shop in The Hague, Holland and the guy said Tokai isn't going to be imported in Europe any longer! Could be sales talk off course? You could call this Tokai "New Old Stock" , probably one of the last Love Rocks sold new in Holland!

Tokai is a very low profile company, on their own website they don't even mention the copy guitars. Understandable after the lawsuits back in the 80ies, but there isn't much info on the web. I put in Gibson humbuckers(see above) but found out the Japanese screws didn't fit in the USA pickups. The guy in the store provided them for free

I had been looking for a Les Paul for a while. The price level of the real thing has really gotten out of hand here in Europe, even second hand Gibsons start at HFL 2500. The only new alternative is Epiphone, which is a beginners/second guitar with a veneer top. The week before i bought the Love Rock i saw a Tokai Goldtop LP for sale on the web for HFL 600. I called the guy right away, it turned out the guitar had fallen over backward, causing real damage to the headstock. He said it could be repaired for HFL 100, which added to the price. I said no problem. Then he said he got so much response he would sell to the highest bidder. When i called back a week later the price had gone up to HFL 1000 !
To sum it up, for the price of a new Epiphone i got a guitar that can stand up against most Gibsons. I really hope the sales guy lied when he told me about Tokai stopping all exports to Europe!

1999? Tokai Love Rock model LS-70 VF. VF stands for violin finish which is roughly equivalent to Gibson's honeyburst finish. This model was made in JAPAN and has the serial # stamped into the back of the headstock. Pick-ups, controls and switch, same position as GLP. EVERYthing same as GLP except (1) Sycamore flame top, (2)truss rod cover different, but not much. Does not have bell shape, but the damn holes almost line up! Has 2 screws, same position as LP. (3) Toggle slightly longer, but good replica. (I think I am going to change mine to a Gibson piece), and finally, (4) Acrylic cear finish instead of nitrocelluose. Other than that, the guitar is identical! Correct headstock, neck angle, weight,and playability. BEAUTIFUL flametop! Removed front pick-up to check cavity inscription and verified that top is solid, NOT photoflame. Oh yeah, forgot to mention....very quiet electronics.

My style is blues, rock, heavy jamming. Using '92 MesaBoogie Mark IV combo with 12" EMV. With that amp, I rarely use effects. The guitar is dead quiet. Tons of tone. Those Tokai pick-ups with the solid construction are screamers. Sustain forever, well balanced, and still you can hear every string being plucked. Has typical Les Paul sounds. These guys nailed it on this one. I am tonally impressed!

The guitar was set-up like J U N K!. Buzzes from 8th to 14th fret. Terrible action. The thing was pretty much unplayable beyond the 4th fret. I got it used, so I'm not sure how it came from the factory, but I'd be willing to bet it was set-up better than this. The bridge was also on backwards, which wasn't helping. To remedy the problem I had the frets leveled, crowned, and dressed. Nut and truss rod needed adjustment, too. After that, it plays just like the real thing. The neck is nice and fat, but not chunky. It's like a 1960 Classic slim taper, but wider. Real nice feel. Flame top is book-matched beautifully and the depth of the flame is nice, but not over the top. I have made a side by side comparison with my real ones. Everyone who has seen this guitar loves it. What more can I say?

As durable as any les paul. Finish is acrylic and I'm not sure what that means to the durability. I have always had Gibson Les Pauls and I currently own 8. This Tokai is every bit a les paul. I don't look on it as anything less. I originally bought this one to play out with. When I got it, I was so impressed with it that I put it into my collection. I am actually using a Classic for my player. It might be real, but it doesn't have that flametop that the Tokai executes so well. If you're gonna grab one, buy a Jap one; forget the Korean ones...they are all photoflames and they are not constructed or finished anywhere near as good as the Japan ones. They make a LS 320 which is only available in Japan that is like a dream, but that's another story.

never dealt with Tokai

I have been playing, on and off, for about 26 years. I own Gibsons of all types, mostly Les Pauls, Sg's and 335's. If it was stolen, I would look high and low for another one. They are certainly more rare than even the real ones.(Ha!) I hated the way it was set-up. But, after that was fixed, I love it!