Tokai Love Rock

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!

This is a new japanese hand made Tokai '59 flame top and not an 80's model. I've only had it for a few days but I could tell straight away that the quality is well up to scratch with my 80's Tokai Gold Top. I put them side by side and there is very little difference. The truss rod cover on this new model is a half elipse with two screws as opposed to the bell shaped one on my 12 year old Tokai. It has a lighter cream binding than the Gold Top but the older one may have faded over the 12 yrs I've had it. The pearl crown inlays are also lighter with less detail (they look less colourful in comparison to the deeper colours in the Gold Top's inlays) and the tail piece sits lower to the body than the older Love Rock. The top is sycamore (I believe) as opposed to maple and is a nice flame job in cherry sunburst and the mahogany is very red looking as opposed to the brown of my older Tokai (have they cherry stained the mahogany I wonder?). They are both about the same weight and the thickness of the wood and feel of the neck is the same as far as I can tell. The neck joints are both the same style and dimensions. The fretboard is a nice dark rosewood (at least I assume it's rosewood). The klusson style machine heads on the new one do not have 'deluxe' stamped on the back like the older guitar. Oh, and the toggle switch on the '59 is longer than the Gold Top's so it doesn't fit into the same close fitting case quite as well as the older Tokai.

I use a Pod.v2 and Marshall 2x12 Combo. Archetype Les Paul sound which is thicker than my '80's Gold Top sound but there again I have put a Duncan '59 PAF in the Gold Top which may have brightened the sound slightly. One very noticable thing is that I no longer get a buzzing noise from the new Tokai from my room's dimmer switch. The earlier models were not supposed to be very good regarding the electrics and I agree with this. I'm pleased to say that this new '59 is electrically 'quiet'.

Guitar came setup with no flaws. The action is higher than I prefer but it's just personal preference as there's nothing wrong with it. The fretting is slighty better than my older Tokai Love Rock as the frets are better finished at the ends whereas the older one has a less finished appearance. I can't comment on how the finish will stand up against my older Tokai as my other Tokai is in excellent condition and I don't do any gigging and therefore don't smash them about.

It is just as well made as my older Tokai Love Rock and is typical of a Les Paul i.e. solid, heavy, built to last, bomb proof etc.

Never deat with them. I understand that the Tokai company that built this guitar is not the same as the Tokai company that built my '80's Gold Top. Anyway I've never had to deal with either of them.

An excellent guitar. As I already own an '80's Tokai Love Rock Gold Top I was nervous about the quality of a new Love Rock. Although I've only owned it for a few days I'm happy to say that I am very impressed with the quality, look and sound of this guitar. It is easily as good as my old Love Rock and in terms of the fretting is actually better. The new Tokai company also make Love Rock's in Korea and they are cheaper but I don't know what the quality is like. Bear this in mind when making comparisons. Both my Tokai's are Japanese hand made models. I imported this new Tokai from Canada, which cost me a bomb, but all things said and done there is no way I could get an equivalent Gibson for anything like what it cost me to bring this beauty into the UK. Don't get me wrong, I love Gibson's and of course the Les Paul in particular but can't afford one! I would be interested from anyone who owns a Korean Tokai Love Rock model to put a review in to harmony-central. This is very cheeky of Tokai as they are also competing with Gibson's Epiphone's and I wonder which is the better of the two. The Epi' Les Paul's or the Korean Tokai Love Rock's. The Jap Tokai's are easily better than the Epiphone's of course. Please e-mail me with any additional info regarding the new Love Rock's especially if it's possible to 'read' the serial numbers for date of manufacture etc. Mine is 0004132.

Don't know when it was made but I've had it for 12 yrs. UK importers didn't keep serial number details unfortunately! Mahogany body, maple top and mahogany set neck. Gold Top finish with crown inlays and body and neck binding. Kluson style machine heads. Gibson identical bell-shaped truss rod cover (I thought this was a Gibson copyright). H/H chrome plate covers pickups. Basically an identical replica of the 1958 Gold Top LP.

I use a Pod.v2 and also a Marshall 2x12 Combo. Archetype Les Paul sound. I've added a Duncan '59 PAF in the bridge position which is a bit brighter but otherwise it's a Les Paul in every respect.

Guitar came setup OK with no flaws. Only thing I would level against it is that the frets were not as well dressed as they could have been but this was probably not done by Tokai but by whoever imported the guitar.

Guitar is very solid and heavy unlike some of Tokai's other Les Paul's which were a different type of mahogany and therefore a bit lighter. It is not flimsy in any respect and is built to last. Pickup surrounds crack easily so don't over tighten if changing pickups!

Never dealt with Tokai.

An excellent guitar indistinguishable from the real thing. They are becoming collectable now and are said to be better than anything currently produced by Gibson but I can't testify to that. The necks were never the easiest to play and the rosewood fretboard is a little dry and 'sticky' when moving around quickly but it is exactly like the original was so how can you pass comment on something like that! I only wish I'd bought more of these. The only other finish available at the time I bought it was the pre-faded flame maple sunburst so I chose the Gold Top as it was a bit cheaper.

Basic Les Paul. I don't know if this one is a copy of some specific Les Paul model. It has a flame maple top, no pickguard, chrome hardware (pickups also), black pot knobs. Just your basic Les Paul configuration. Dot inlays in neck. I'm not sure about the exact headstock shape, but I'm almost positive that the truss rod cover isn't exactly the same shape as a Gibson. Maybe the Gibson's "bell-shaped" cover is trademarked or something? Dunno.

The pickup switch's knob is missing, shop's fault. They didn't even have a new one so they gave me a free strap. I guess any Les Paul's knob will fit but the nearest music shop doesn't have those and a shop that has always closes before I can get there...

No binding, no pearl anywhere. No nonsense. I could wish for binding and pearl inlays on the fingerboard, but it is also beautiful now.

Absolutely great sound. Haven't ever got a chance to play a "real" Les Paul (I'm a beginner in electrics, have played classical since I was six), but I can't find any dislikes in the sound. I play a lot of heavy rock, metal, stuff like that. I considered buying a Jackson or other "heavy metal guitar", but they all just sucked in every other sound than all-out full-gain distortion. And also, I'm a classical guitarist, those thin-as-paper necks really feel crappy. :) I'm really happy with this guitar. I play mostly through a Marshall 8080 12" Valvestate combo and I couldn't wish for better sounds. For almost any kind of music. Clean sound on the Marshall, neck pickup, lots of reverb... blew my mind :)

The action was a bit too low when I got the guitar, but that wasn't a problem, I adjusted it at home and now it's perfect.

Not a single problem yet. Once I played a gig with my friend's guitar which didn't have strap locks and dropped the guitar just before a solo... Now I won't rely on normal strap buttons. I was going to buy straplocks right after I bought this guitar, but since my strap has "cliplocks" I just screwed the strap buttons right through the strap to the body so that the ends of the strap are now attached to the guitar with the screws. I can use the cliplocks to remove the strap. Now it definately is secure :-)

Everything works just fine.

The guitar is very beautiful, great to play, sounds great. What more could you wish for? It's my first electric guitar. When I was buying a guitar and really hadn't any more money than $350 to spend, I thought I would surely only get a "cheap" "practice" guitar for that money, but in every guitarist I know that has seen and played this guitar, say it is definately a good guitar, and feels and sounds like a Paul. So I guess I won't have to buy a new electric in some time because this one would be "insufficient". Maybe in some point I will put a DiMarzio or Duncan in the bridge position for heavier sounds, but the neck pickup is definately not going anywhere. Don't know, maybe some day I fall in love with another guitar and have to sell my Love to get the money, but I doubt that day will come anytime soon. This was by the way the cheapest Love Rock I have ever seen. The next cheapest cost something like 580 bucks and the most expensive ones went over $1500. But I think this looks even better than most the more expensive ones. And, I also played some of them, I can't say they would feel of sound any better than this one.

Great guitar, especially for the price I paid for it. 'Nuff said. :-)

I'm assuming this guitar was made some time in the early 80s. My father gave it to me(he traded an old chainsaw for it that didn't run). It sat in a closet at the house for about 2 years after he got it. We figured just another cheap Japanese guitar. WRONG! I love this thing and it's my favorite of any guitar I've ever owned. If you like Les Pauls you'll like the Tokai Love Rock. This one is black with creme accessories(pickguard,pickup covers,buttons,etc). It has a few scratches and dings on it. The last owner didn't take very good care of it and when I got it two of the tuning knobs were bent really bad. I threw on a set I had on an old Fender acoustic,meaning to change them some time later, but the thing stays in amazing tune so why bother?
The only bad thing I can say about this guitar is the pickups are a bit noisy. Lowering them helped a great deal. The sound is amazing. It's your typical Les Paul setup,3-way pickup selector,set of humbuckers at the bridge and neck,stop tailpiece bridge. Heavy like a Paul and better than many of the Pauls I've played. I own several guitars and play this one more than any.

I play in a rock band and this Tokai fits in perfectly. I run it through a Peavey Classic Chorus 212 and only use a Crybaby for additional effects. I've had many local musicians praise me on the sound of this guitar,some of them not even realizing it wasn't a Les Paul. The pickups are a bit noisy and microphonic when I had them cranked up as high as they would go. Dropping them down just a bit helped. Thought about changing them but they're hot just the way they are. Nice bright sound on the bridge setting,very deep and bluesy at the neck. Do I have any dislikes in this category? None.

Short and sweet. Everything is as close to perfect as can be. Even the intonation was right on when I got this guitar. That's incredible since I played it for something like 2 years without knowing what to look for in that area. Someone told me how to check it...we did it and it was right there. Except for the scratches and dings in this guitar I can see no factory errors anywhere.

Will this guitar withstand live playing?...I've played it sometimes 5 nights a week without a let-down.
Does the hardware seem like it will last?...See above
Is the finish good enough to last, or does it seem thin and easy to wear off with lots of playing?...This guitar will probably outlive me.
Are the strap buttons solid?...It hasn't fallen off yet
Can you depend on it?...I can and I do.
Would you use it on a gig without a backup?...I have many times and won't hesitate to do it again. Except for the occasional broken string this thing has never let me down. Of course it's always good to have a backup in case that happens.

I hear Tokai is back in business again but have never had the need to contact them. If something ever went wrong with this guitar Les Paul parts will fit without a problem. I would like to buy a new one someday just to see if their new models are as good as this one.

I've been playing for 20 years and this is by far my favorite guitar I have ever owned to this day. If it was ever stolen or something drastic happened to it I would cry like a baby! Don't email me asking me to sell it. I will NEVER sell my Love Rock. EVER
I would love to hear from other Tokai owners. I have 2 others,a Super Edition strat style and a .38 Special. I got both of them off Ebay.com and got good deals on both.

i think i don't need to explain this, everyone who knows les paul knows this!

I think this fits to my style (rock/pop) very good because it's got fat,warm and dark sound.i'm using an leem's 40w amp, and crybaby wah,it's great with the wah-wah. This has got so much better sound than any strat i have heard!

it was very good can't find anything except that the octaves had a little bit problems, NOT MUCH!

Well it seems that it needs to take really hard hits before it will broke up!I would use this on a gig without backup, absolutely!

i have been playing for two years, if it would be stolen or lost, i would buy it back.

These Tokai's are just an amazingly accurate replica WoW!
I have several 59 Flame top burst replicas and they are every bit as good if not nicer than the 69 goldtop & 75 burst gibson les pauls I have owned. Set neck, Paf humbuckers that rival the best anywere!
super vivid 3-d flame top WoW!!!!!

I own three:

2-cherry burst flame top..........beautiful....10++
1 heritage dark burst ............beautiful....10++

I guess I went a little Tokai flame top crazy?

I blay blues, rock & jazz and I find the les paul "love Rock" to
be an excellent choise if you can find them.

Just perfict workmanship is obviously a top priority @ Tokai...

better than my gibsons...

Solid as a rock!!!

about 8.5 lbs
great hardware..it stays in tune!!

The paf's sound as good as seth lover & fralins!

crap!
who needs it?
if you have one you'll love it!

playing 30 yrs
I own a 64 & 66 vintage strats , a 67 335, es175 and several others
black faced super & delux reverbs, pro reverbs

if my tokai was stolen I'd get another..these are keepers

I do own 3# and will sell two of them @ about $950 each on a cash drive to make down on a house...my loss your gain! Thanks

Les Paul Copy, Cherry sunburst Flame Top. Two humbuckers, with tone and volume each. Standard les paul setup

I can't play that much but I love to play. I use it with a Fender Musicmaster Bass amp and a MXR Distortion + thats all folks. It plays real nice the action is excellent and I like the sound. Maybe alittle screachy but thats cool considering what we play!

The guitar is great, it has nice bookmarked maple flame top and the neck is lovely. I can find no flaws in this instrument.

Very durable I only play at home or my friends house so it gets rather pampered. No dings and seams to have a very strong finish.

I guess their out to lunch, maybe forever?? sadly

I really adopted it from my Japanese wife. I thought it was some cheesey LP copy when I took it from the gig bag. I lifted it up and thought emm it's heavy? looking at the finish I thought looks nice--well built? Played the strings and thought emm still in tune? OK lets plug it in. It Played real nice and I thought great she came with a guitar what a deal! Well I never thought much more of the guitar and I play it and enjoy it. I was cruising on the net and I saw one for sale at like $1200 us and was shocked! I really thought it was worth 200 but just a nice copy, well I see now other people really like these models. I think I will go home tonight and play it again.

Japanese Les Paul replica. Year unknown. The typical Les Paul layout is what you get, with 3 way selector, 2 volume + 2 tone controls, 2 humbuckers (exposed cream plastics with considerably high output in this case. Comparing this guitar to my previous Epiphone Les Paul Standard, I can't help but fall in love with the quality of the mahogany and maple used. When played unamplified (and late at night) the response is unbeliavable. Millions of harmonics fill the air as you strung the notes. This is mostly due to the thick carved maple top, quite different from Epipohne. One more thing is that the stud tailpiece is aluminium alloy as on real vintage models.

It is either that the wood is too resonant or responsive or the pickups are too powerful, the tone was somewhat too harsh. Lowering the pickups resulted in somewhat better tonality, but the best will be to change the pickups. (I swear it is worth investing for this guitar) Moreover, I'm planning to apply some Jimmy Page electronics with push/pull knobs to effect coil split, parallel/series and phase in/out switching for superb versatility.

I didn't buy the guitar new. There is a deep wound at the upper side of the neck, near the 12th fret. However in no way this may effect playability. The finish otherwise is great. The top is birdseye meets quilted meets flame maple. So in no way this is a traffic stopper. But not a plain top either. Although pretty old, it is not oxidised, due to aluminium alloy used.

I could only use it live once, but with original Kluson style tuners nd high build quality this guitar will definitely stand years of abuse, unlike my Epiphone, which broke away (tuners, jack slot, etc.)I opened up this guitar, and everything inside is of premium guality.

The company is in Japan. By the way I contacted them an they responded.

I've been playing for 10 years. I own a Mesa Boogie V-Twin, a Zoom 8080, a Trace Elliot Velocette. If I could find another, I would buy it in case this one is stolen. If not, I could go for a Heritage. Comparing this guitar to my Epiphone is like comparing a custom shop instrument to a Chinese / Taiwanese copy. Comparing it to the Gibsons I've played, I can only say that with better pickups this quitar can do a lot better than most of them.

This Guitar is a VERY GOOD copy of a 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard in Cherry sunburst with, you guessed it a Flame Maple top! The Back of the guitar is Dark Cherry With a very even contoured neck. The Rosewood on the fingerboard is the Darkest Brizilian Rosewood I've seen other than on a real '59. The inlays are crowns and are made of a pearly white plastic very close to the original type used by Gibson in the 50's. All the Hardware is nickel and the Plastic is the correct off white color not CREAM! Look at a '59 les paul and thats what this looks like.

My Main style of playing is '70,s rock. My Band Circus Ricky in Dayton Ohio Has Played everything from Kiss to Alice Cooper as well as Doors, Aerosmith, Zeppelin, You get the idea and this has been my Number One Guitar for the last six years. I've owned over thirty real Les Pauls including some $5000.00 jobs but none have played or sounded like my Love Rock. I Run My Love Rock into a Marshall Silver Jubilee 50 watt head(el-34) then into a 4x12 Marshall Bottom. As for FX's it's Stompboxes all the way,Boss super overdrive,Boss Chorus, Boss noise Supressor,and thats it. I Did change the pickups to some Gibson's I like.(500t/496r) these are the ones that came in one of my LP Classic guitars and I thought they sounded Great.

I got the guitar when it was about ten yaers old but it played fine when I got it. The top is a great bookmatch. The only flaw to the guitar was a plastic nut. Now it has a Bone nut as it should be.(Gibson Les Pauls Have a plastic nut by the way.)

Once while playing a Holloween show a Flashpot went off off Q and I knew it had to have blown the headstock off my guitar but to my great surprise it was still attached!(Missed it I Think) I also did change the strapbuttons to locking units as so I wouldn't Drop it. I use to bring a backup all the time but now I just bring my Love Rock.

Company is no more TOO BAD I Would love 10 more of these Guitars.

Ive been Playing guitar since '76. I teach 40 plus students each week at my local music store as well as do sales on the weekends and gig with my band. I have looked high and low for another love rock and have even called an ad I saw posted in a UK Mag (the guy lived in London,England) but he had already sold it. If anything I wish it had a Brother and I owned it too. I should add that the Tokai US headqurters was here in Ohio in the '80,s and I was able to talk to one of thier old sales reps awhile back. He told me that they only imported a small number of the Love Rocks as Gibson was talking law suit. It's very hard to find These guitars today. The last one I saw was BEAT and the guy wanted $1250.00. I do have some printed literature with color pics but most of the printing is in Japanese. These came from my boss, he got them in the '80,s at the LA NAMM show when Tokai was just starting out in the US. I hope someone enjoys this info. You can e-mail me if you like.