Ive been putting off getting a humbucker based guitar for the last while. Well, i happened to come across a few unexpected spare euros, so wanted to remedy my lack of a Les Paul.

Ive instantly dismissed Gibson as any in my price range that ive tried( and ive tried a few), just feel cheap or rough around the edges.

Research has pointed me towards edwards or tokai.

What do people think of this? Looking for replies from folks with first hand knowledge of Tokai if possible.

Its at the high end of my budget, but if its worth it i could be persuaded. I know there are some awesome edwards LP's also but this one really caught my eye. Its also easy enough to get as its from the UK, unlike most Edwards or Bacchus guitars.

http://www.richtonemusic.co.uk/guita...nish-1923.html

Better quality than Gibson, particularly when you get to the LS150 and above ranges. They really are worth the extra couple of hundred quid.
RichTone are incredibly easy to deal with. If they dont have what you want, it's well worth talking to em.
Custom Shop quality for the price of the Standard. It's a no brainer.

http://www.richtonemusic.co.uk/guitars-1/electric-guitars-2/tokai-love-rock-ls250-electric-guitar-brown-sunburst-1063.html

You'll get LP Standard quality for the price of a studio.

http://www.richtonemusic.co.uk/guitars-1/electric-guitars-2/tokai-love-rock-ls100q-electric-guitar-lemon-drop-1061.html

All the way from sunny Sheffield. I ought to get there more often.

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thanks nikninja.

Ive read that the 150 is their best model, in relation to price and quality. unfortunately its well out of my price range. im trying to keep it down to about 900 quid for guitar, case and postage. LS80 best fits that category.

would you recommend waiting a few months and saving up for the 150?
Aside from the solid flame maple top, which i dont want, and different pickups it seems similar to the LS80

The LS100Q is around £700. I personaly don't like Tokai's take on Lemon Drop, surely they do other colours on that model?

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i know exactly what color i want, plain maple top violin finish. IMO, the classic Les Paul color. the only difference between the Ls80 and the LS100 q is the LS80 has a plain maple top and the LS100 has a quilted maple top.

Im not a huge fan of flame/quilt maple tops, they are nice, but there is something truly awesome in the understated plain maple top.

I wouldn't hesitate on getting a Tokai. The Edwards are nice too.
I wish these were available in the US (after Gibson lost that Singlecut lawsuit against PRS I thought more exact LP copies would be forthcoming, but that didn't happen).

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

It's hard to endorse a company, on the Fender Forum, that Fender sued over copyright infringement. But here it goes. Tokai makes some very nice guitars. The '84 Tokia tele (breezysound) was one of the best guitars I ever owned. That puts it up there with CS and Hot Rod series guitars. I had one of the lawsuit guitars. Wish I had never sold it.

Beckologist

There never was a court action, only the threat of it. Fender then went on to employ the factory to make their Squier then Fender Japan guitars.
In truth my conscience is completely clear regarding lauding Tokai praises on the Fender forums. If it wasn't for that FujiGen factory, it's safe to say Fender would still be turning out the junk they did in the early 80's. The tales goes that Dan Smith bought back a Japanese fake guitar and that the folks at Fender were close to tears because they just couldn't equal the quality. Fender then started retraining staff. In essence the FujiGen Gakki factory pulled Fender out of the doodoo.

I too had a Breezysound, a 81. I now own a Hotrod and a CustomShop. Ok it was a long time ago I had my Breezy. You're right though, there was no difference in quality to the best of my recollection. A acoustic builder friend of mine (now sadly departed) had a 52 Tele. He was enthralled with the thing too.

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Tokai guitars are generally of exceptional quality and the Love Rocks surpass a lot of original Les Pauls in every way.My buddy bought a Love Rock earlier this year and it's absolute perfection in build,playability and sound especially.The necks are also usually a much thinner 60s profile as opposed to the 50s"baseball bat" necks.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

That is one beautiful plaintop LP...Tokais are definitely quality instruments and that one looks mighty fine to me.

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Current Gear: Ron Kirn Barnbuster Tele,
Marshall: 1971 SuperLead 100>1997 1960-TV, bunch of pedals
and a 1987 Porsche 911 Carrera coupe named Veronica

Another Les Paul worth checking out is the Orville and Orville by Gibson they are all MIJ in the famous Fuji Jen factory and are made to Gibson specs.The Orville by Gibson is made of all American hardware but the bodies and necks are crafted in Japan exactly to Gibson specs and in most cases surpass the original Les Pauls in every way.The Orvilles are cheaper but are still excellent.My buddy Pat Harte who is a forum member has an Orville that's just deadly and he recently put a Burstbucker in it so now it sounds extra deadly.Last night he came over here and pulled the trigger on a beautiful '93 cherry burst Orville by Gibson that was located in Japan for less than half the price of a Les Paul but is pretty well guaranteed to be a better guitar.I'll ask him to post it when it arrives.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Thanks guys. Yea, have checked out orville, edwards, burny, bacchus and a few other manufacturers of LP copies, but the Tokai consistently gets better reviews than the rest, and the fact that i can get one from the UK is brill, as anything ordered from Japan has the added issues of shipping, import tax and trouble returning a product should anything go wrong.

Still undecided if i should wait another year and save for the LS150. the LS80 is prob more than enough guitar for me, but you know how it is. you always want one better!

Orville and early Tokai's were made in the same factory that Fender and Gibson were spitting feathers over. There's not much difference between em at all apparrently. I dunno I've never played a Orville (this forum does have a resident expert on em though).

If anything I'd say the Orville is the better buy out of all of em. The price of em is holding steady, close to the new price. I'd expect it to rise as time goes on.
Unfortunately you don't see many of em round the UK. They go for between £600-£1000. Theres a difference between the guitars marked Orville and Orville By Gibson.

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The Tokai looks sharp.

I am saving up for a Guild Bluesbird myself, preferrably a vintage one but the the early reissues are real solid too.

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Blues with a feeling.

GUILD GUITARS: MADE TO BE PLAYED!

Tokai didn't/doesn't build Orville guitars.

Tokai and FujiGen are not the same company. Tokai's factory is in Hamamatsu, FujiGen's is in Matsumoto.

FujiGen was the original main builder for Fender Japan. (FujiGen has also built guitars under many other brand names like Greco -- they've never built any under the FujiGen name.) A while ago Tokai became the main supplier for Fender Japan, but they've lost that contract and now FujiGen is once again the main Fender Japan builder. (The original contract specified that only FujiGen-built Fenders could have the "Made In Japan" label --the "Crafted In Japan" label is used on Fender Japan models built by Tokai, Dyna, and all other suppliers.

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Back on topic -- the LS80/85/90/95/100 models have all-polyurethane finishes, the 150s have nitro clear topcoats on top of poly. (The '70s/'80s 100s-up had all-nitro finishes, but on more recent models you have to go higher to the 300 range to get all-nitro.)

The 150 has a '50s style aluminum tailpiece as opposed to the modern-style zinc tailpiece on the lower models.

150's have fret-edge binding like Gibsons (the binding has "nibs" -- the frets end at the binding, with raised bumps on the binding forming the ends of the frets), lower end models have the ends of the frets extending over the top of the binding (like most non-Gibson bound fretboards).

150s have long neck tenons, 80s have medium tenons.

The wood quality goes up with the price range, as does the quality of the pickups and electronics.

LS80s are great guitars. The workmanship is impeccable, playability is superb, and the tone is great. Much better than Korean/Chinese Epi's. If you're not a hardcore vintage-spec LP afficianado you might never notice or care about the differences between the lower-range Tokai's and the higher range.

Like all things, the law of diminishing returns with regard to price applies. A Gibson LP Historic isn't twice as good as a regular Gibson LP and a lot of people are perfectly happy with a Les Paul Standard instead of an R7, R8, R9, or other Historic. Same for an LS80 vs LS150 -- the differences are fairly subtle. You'll get most of the full LP experience with an 80.

If you decide to save up for a 150, you might be facing the same dilemma when you finally have the money together. The LS370s are a little better than the 150s. And the 470s are better still. The chase could keep going until the only thing that would satisfy you would be an actual '50s Les Paul.

My '80 LS120 is as much LP as I'll ever need.