For me, to make a Tokai tonally viable, one needs to swap out most of the electronics, including the pickups. Please don't misinterpret that as a knock - it really isn't. But the pups are pretty bad, compared with even the Gibson USA's, to my ears. I was just commenting on the direction this thread was heading, what with x-rays and pics making it look like Gibson is producing nothing but junk these days.
I agree that Gibson is at a low point in their history, largely thanks to Henry's business model. But don't you revere the design, and the history? Most of our Japanese guitar designs wouldn't exist without the guitars that Gibson built early on. I don't even like the word "copy", although I suppose it's accurate. I think of a Love Rock more as a "tribute" though... an homage to a great guitar design. The very fact that they built them, and that we bought them says "we can not improve on this design".
So back to the question at hand... does a Love Rock sound like a Les Paul? Well, it shouild probably read "
can a love rock...", but doesn't the fact that Tokai owners are chasing the look, feel and tone of the Les Paul stand as tribute to the greatness of those guitars?
Here's the way I see it: The build-quality of MIJ Tokais is generally on a par equal to that of Gibson's historic line, yet costs far less. The electronics are nowhere close, but upgrading them doesn't bring the guitar's expense anyhere near a VOS Gibby. Not even half, actually. Much of the reason for this is the incredibly high cost of producing anything in the USA. Whatever the reason, the truth is that the Tokai is much better bang for the buck. Let's just not forget where the design came from.
