als 48 / als50Q info please!

[botch]

Hi guys I'm new here, great board!

I'll get straight to it...

My main guitar is a Gibson SG Std and I'm looking for a good quality Les Paul style guitar as a back up for shows and practice. I was originally looking at the Epi Les Pauls but heard a lot of good things about the Tokais. I'm on a very tight budget so these base models are the ones I'm looking at.

All i really want to know is how do these guitars compare to the Epis?Simply, which are better? I've done a search but any more info/links would be greatly appreciated. Cheers guys!

 

[sscanlan]

Hi,

I recently bought an LS60 for ?400 and think its great. At the same time I tried a (can't remember the model) ?350 Epiphone Les Paul and to be honest I felt the two couldn't be compared. The Epi felt far too light, was almost devoid of tone and generally felt like a kids guitar. The Tokai on the other hand felt like a proper instrument, it had a good weight and I can get all range of tones from a great clean sound to full metal.

Have a search on here and you'll get some good honest descriptions of the full range of Tokai's.

Cheers
Spence

 

[botch]

Hi, thanks for the reply i'll bear that in mind. After playing my housmates Epi Les Paul I can honestly say the neck is awful. It feels really cheap and the tone was muddy as hell (even with a Seymour Duncan Custom Custom p/up in the bridge)

?400 sounds like a bit of a steal for the Tokai! Cheapest one I've found is an als 48 for ?299. I can't afford anymore than that (student budget, y'see!)

What do people think about the tone of the als 48? How does the alder body mahogany Les Pauls? Any info or suggestions are greatly appreciated!

 

[Snake]

Yo fellow student budgeteer here. I recently got a Tokai SG70 which cost me ?400, I would rate it very highly well worth the extra money over the Korean models, especially in terms of the neck. Obviously where price is important you have to look hard, and while the extra ?100 makes a much better guitar, long story short it took me overdrawn. I think in the long run it will be worth it though.

I dunno if you want to consider ordering directly from Japan, Tokai guitars are cheaper over there but obviously there is more hassle involved, postage and import to consider. But definatly have a look into it. There's loads of information around on the forum too.

 

[botch]

Hi, thanks for the replies they've been really helpful. I finally got to try one of them out and was VERY impressed with the playabilty and tone you get for such a low price

Does anybody know what colours they als series are available in? The website only has codes that I don't really understand. Pictures would be really great if anyone has them!

 

[bluesbreaker18]

You probably don't plan on ordering from Canada, but JSD has a good bunch of pictures of Korean Tokai models that could help you in deciding what colour works best for you.

http://www.jsdguitarshack.com/

Happy hunting.

 

[Snake]

If you wanted to know what specific codes mean I think they are listed at the end of the catalogue.

http://www.tokaiguitars.com.au/Tokai.pdf - This is around 8MB.

 

[tudor]

Botch,

welcome to the forum! :lol:

Where do you live ? UK ?


Roger

 

[botch]

If you wanted to know what specific codes mean I think they are listed at the end of the catalogue.

http://www.tokaiguitars.com.au/Tokai.pdf - This is around 8MB.

yeh that's exactly what i needed, much appreciated!

 

[botch]

Thanks for all the replies guys, you've helped me out a lot

Roger - Yeah, I'm from the sunny Leeds in the North of England!

 

[tudor]

Take a look:

http://www.coda-music.co.uk/

Happy hunting! :lol:

Roger

 

[Jamieh]

Does anybody know what colours they als series are available in? The website only has codes that I don't really understand. Pictures would be really great if anyone has them!

There are LOADS of colours theoretically available but Tokai UK is a relatively small operation and as such don't import everything at once so you have to just go with what you can find from dealers.

I have this one in:

The photos shows it a bit darker than it really is. That finish is the Heritage Dark Cherry. Looks absolutely fantastic with that lovely flamed top. Plays better than any Epi, looks better than any Epi and most importantly, sounds better than any Epi in that price range.

 

[botch]

Jamieh...that looks really nice. My local shop has that in stock but the finish doesn't look half as nice as that!

Looks like I'm just going to have to keep hunting until I find a blue als 50Q!