My first post on this forum - hopefully you guys will be able to help me more than harmony central!
So, I'm considering buying another guitar (aren't we all!). Already have a Fender Strat and an Epiphone LP Std, as electrics go. The Epi is actually a pretty good guitar - I guess a mix of careful selection and luck! - it's a very nicely finished animal and really well built - tho I know all of them aren't like that. Still, given my limited budget at the time, and given the law of diminishing returns, for all you get more for a "real" Gibson..... I intend to switch out the pups soon (and have the Peter Green Wiring done), but it's a really nice, solid workhorse guitar.
Thing is, had i had more money at the time - and, crucially, had i know they were available left handed (Tokais weren
t available in the UK for a long time then when they were again, they were, according to all the reviews in UK guitar mags, not available left handed), well, then i might have ended up with a Love Rock. I'm not sure whether I will or won't buy a Love rock in future - for LP types i think i might well stick with Gordon Smith, tho if the right second hand deal comes along....
Anyhow, I want a couple of SGs. One will be a bit of a custom, so I'm going to go to Gordon Smith for that - I don't care if it blooks like a "real" SG or not, and quality wise the GS SGs are easily a match for the Gibbos - and entirely hand crafted for half the price!
I also want a more traditional SG, tho - basically, i want the reissue 62 model with the little scratchplate, but even if i had the money, i could never justify spending it on the Gibbo.
The choice boils down to two, really - I've discounted the Epi as they don
t do the model i want left handed, and anyhow while i like their LPs (with care you can get a great guitar, I don't buy into this "Korean = Krap" notion that goes around), their SGs do seem to be very much in the lines of a budget instrument, not the 'workhorse' guitars that i prefer (and which tend to come in at the middle market). So the choice is really between gordon Smith again, and Tokai. I'm torn a bit - the GS you can't go wrong with, but the big attraction of the Tokai is that while i don't care that it has the "right" name on the headstock, it does have the overall look of the 62 totally nailed. Problem is this: according to their website, the lefty version is not a true left handed version of the standard production model - for a start it's nato, not mahogany, and the pick ups appear to be different. Is it a cheapo version? Would the nato - i have no idea - sound any different (appreciably so) to the mahogany?
Also, I don't fully get the deal with Korean and Japanese Tokais - i am led to believe that the Japanese guitars are far superior, but i don't know what is and isn't available in the UK....?
Sorry if this ignorant posts bugs anyone - but hell, we all have to learn. None of us was born knowing what a Telecaster looked like...
So, I'm considering buying another guitar (aren't we all!). Already have a Fender Strat and an Epiphone LP Std, as electrics go. The Epi is actually a pretty good guitar - I guess a mix of careful selection and luck! - it's a very nicely finished animal and really well built - tho I know all of them aren't like that. Still, given my limited budget at the time, and given the law of diminishing returns, for all you get more for a "real" Gibson..... I intend to switch out the pups soon (and have the Peter Green Wiring done), but it's a really nice, solid workhorse guitar.
Thing is, had i had more money at the time - and, crucially, had i know they were available left handed (Tokais weren
t available in the UK for a long time then when they were again, they were, according to all the reviews in UK guitar mags, not available left handed), well, then i might have ended up with a Love Rock. I'm not sure whether I will or won't buy a Love rock in future - for LP types i think i might well stick with Gordon Smith, tho if the right second hand deal comes along....
Anyhow, I want a couple of SGs. One will be a bit of a custom, so I'm going to go to Gordon Smith for that - I don't care if it blooks like a "real" SG or not, and quality wise the GS SGs are easily a match for the Gibbos - and entirely hand crafted for half the price!
I also want a more traditional SG, tho - basically, i want the reissue 62 model with the little scratchplate, but even if i had the money, i could never justify spending it on the Gibbo.
The choice boils down to two, really - I've discounted the Epi as they don
t do the model i want left handed, and anyhow while i like their LPs (with care you can get a great guitar, I don't buy into this "Korean = Krap" notion that goes around), their SGs do seem to be very much in the lines of a budget instrument, not the 'workhorse' guitars that i prefer (and which tend to come in at the middle market). So the choice is really between gordon Smith again, and Tokai. I'm torn a bit - the GS you can't go wrong with, but the big attraction of the Tokai is that while i don't care that it has the "right" name on the headstock, it does have the overall look of the 62 totally nailed. Problem is this: according to their website, the lefty version is not a true left handed version of the standard production model - for a start it's nato, not mahogany, and the pick ups appear to be different. Is it a cheapo version? Would the nato - i have no idea - sound any different (appreciably so) to the mahogany?
Also, I don't fully get the deal with Korean and Japanese Tokais - i am led to believe that the Japanese guitars are far superior, but i don't know what is and isn't available in the UK....?
Sorry if this ignorant posts bugs anyone - but hell, we all have to learn. None of us was born knowing what a Telecaster looked like...