Interesting reading guys. I have never seen a Tokai Les Paul that weights 4kg or even under. All the Tokais have felt heavy rather than light and every Tokai I have weighted have been closer to 4.5kg/10lbs than 4kg/8.8lbs. Maybe its my area (regards from Finland), maybe they send all the heavy ones straight to the polar circle
As JVsearch said, weight is not everything. I have seen and heard very heavy and still resonant LP:s (mainly G*****s). However, it looks to me that the unofficial fact is that an average light LP sounds acoustically better than an average heavy LP
I know that it is not fair to compare Tokais to much more expensive G*****s but I must say that difference between my ex-tokais and for example my 8.8lbs solid back R8 is not just hearable but the difference is HUGE.
Chambering the body could be a good option to Tokai. What do you think?