Tokai Love Rock

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!

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.

This guitar was made in Japan in the early/mid eighties (this is a "script" Tokai, with the script logo on the headstock that looked so much like "Fender" from any distance). It's a meticulous replica of a Les Paul Custom -- 22 frets, carved maple top, tune-o-matic and a wide, fat neck. It has the typical dual-humbuckers with individual tone/volume controls and a three-way selector switch. The finish on this one was white, but has yellowed nicely to cream over the years. The hardware was gold, but much of it has worn off. Lots of mother-of-pearl in the headstock and beautiful block inlays. Basically, it's exactly what you'd expect in a Les Paul -- while playing it (or from ten feet away in the front) you can't tell the difference.

I play blues-rock, Heavy Metal (a la the Seventies/Eighties), and folk rock, predominantly. I run the Love Rock through a Marshall JCM 900 and/or a Crate Blue Voodoo with a Morely Wah, Boss OD-1, CE-3, and DD-3, and an Ibanez TS-9 (or TS-5). The original pickups were highly microphonic at anything approaching loud volumes (a lot like Epi p/u's), so I replaced them, but the weight and quality of this guitar screams LP! It's got that heavy-weight, neck-through ultra sustain. The new pickups are a Dimarzio Tone Zone (in the bridge) and a Seymore Duncan '59 PAF model (in the neck). Both are coil tapped using the tone controls (up to 8.5, humbuckers; 9 or higher, the outside coils) and the the single coils are wired out of phase for a really groovy middle position sound. Still, I owned the guitar for a year before finally breaking down and putting new pickups in it -- the originals were ok, but squealed too much at volume. The rating I'm giving it is for with the mods -- give it a 8 as original.

I bought this guitar used, but it had beautiful action when I picked it up. Basically, I'd been looking for a good used Les Paul for about a year when I picked it up on a lark in a local music store. I figured that for the price, it would have to be a complete piece of shit. Imagine my suprise when, after noodling on it for an hour without even plugging it in, I realized this was the nicest guitar I'd ever played! The finish is very good, though mine's been played and has a couple of dings in it. The fit of the neck joint is imaculate. The hardware (except the pickups) is good quality despite the fact that the gold's worn off. The tuning machines are great (this thing STAYS in tune!) and the nut is perfectly cut (no canyon notches here!) This is a HIGH QUALITY guitar. The Japanese guys who put it together obviously new what they were doing and were trying to do it well...

This guitar is built like a real Les Paul -- which means it's made to rock! I figure it to be about fifteen years old, and it's still going strong. The original strap buttons were good, but I replaced them with Schaller straplocks as I do on all my guitars (you only have to drop one, once!). This guitar is very dependable, but who'd gig without a backup? My Epiphone SG follows me everywhere (what if I break a string?)

The company's toast. Ain't none.

I've only been playing a few years now (used to play in high school, then gave it up for years and years), so I'm not eager to drop thousands of dollars on a guitar (actually, I am eager, but I work and live in the real world, where mortgages, car payments, gym memberships, clothes, food, etc. preclude spending thousands on a guitar unless absolutely necessary :-) I also play an Epiphone SG (a really nice one that I lucked into), and Ovation and Yamaha accoustics. I have owned (but have since disposed of) a Fender Stratocaster, an Ovation Breadwinner, and an Ibanez Tallman. I've only seen one other guitar like this, and the owner wasn't willing to give it up for anything... I feel the same way -- I love this guitar, and will keep it until I die. I did see an ad for one, once, in Vintage Guitar magazine going for US $800(?!?), but these things are quite rare -- especially in North America (I believe they were only imported here for a couple of years or so), so if it were stolen I probably couldn't replace it. I don't want to think about it, actually, and when it leaves the house, it never leaves my side. If I ever found another for sale, I'd buy it in an instant.