Tokai Inlays

[Diamond]

lol


3) if you happen to have a guitar with what you think is too much filler around the inlays, you have two choices, to worry about it and let it spoil your guitar playing experience, or rub some Dr Duck oil into the fretboard which darkens the board and "hides" the filler.

OR
you can choose not to buy that kind of an instrument :wink:

True.

But then you might just miss out on a killer playing and sounding guitar with the legendary name on the headstock.

 

[butrus]

Whats wrong with you????
Dont you read my posts at all?
THERE ARE NICE MIJ INSTRUMENTS OUT THERE!!!

 

[Leif]

lol

2) The photograph is enhancing the filler...it's like looking at a flawless diamond with a 100X magnification and realising it's not flawless.

Those are examples of poor inlay. It does sound like you have a vested interest in 'bigging up' the brand.

 

[butrus]

Answers o Diamond
1)
You have now.
Maybe before you werent paying attention to this issue....
2)
The pics are maybe enlarged by 20% at the most.
Nothing like 100x magnification
3)
Already answered
4)
Filling is not my main criteria,but one of them for shure.
Read again my posts...
5)
Good for you

 

[JVsearch]

4) If the filler is your main criteria when deciding whether to buy a Tokai or not, then that means all the other criteria like how the guitar plays and sounds, and the fact that the rest of the guitar is 'finished' flawlessly, becomes irrelevant.

GO ENGLAND!!!

I'd only add to your fourth point by saying that the problem is many people have to buy now just using photographs on the internet. They're going to see the inlays before they get to play the guitar...

 

[singemonkey]

Why is this getting so derailed? The question is not, "Is it ok to have sloppy inlay filling on an expensive guitar?" The answer to that is a simple, "No."

The question is, "Is this a rare aberration for Tokai's high end guitars, or is this the norm?"

My Tokai is lower spec ('09 LS150) and has better inlay work. That's all I can add. What do other owners say?

If we start to argue that Tokai's can be great guitars despite sloppy work, what separates them from Gibson? The contention is, and I believe this, that the quality of workmanship on Tokais is better than Gibsons.

Sloppy fretwork doesn't help to build that reputation, and it's worth answering seriously, not saying, "Who cares about inlays? Just play it anyway."

It goes to the heart of why we love Tokais.

 

[karppi]

The question is, "Is this a rare aberration for Tokai's high end guitars, or is this the norm?"

My Tokai is lower spec ('09 LS150) and has better inlay work. That's all I can add. What do other owners say?

My ex, 2009 LS135F has also same kind of black filling stuff as in the photographs. However, the inlay work was not the reason to sell her

 

[Diamond]

4) If the filler is your main criteria when deciding whether to buy a Tokai or not, then that means all the other criteria like how the guitar plays and sounds, and the fact that the rest of the guitar is 'finished' flawlessly, becomes irrelevant.

GO ENGLAND!!!

I'd only add to your fourth point by saying that the problem is many people have to buy now just using photographs on the internet. They're going to see the inlays before they get to play the guitar...

Take a look at all Richtone's photos, the inlays look fine to me...but then again, the photo's weren't taken with the lens up against the strings and a flash brightening up the fretboard.

 

[Diamond]

lol

2) The photograph is enhancing the filler...it's like looking at a flawless diamond with a 100X magnification and realising it's not flawless.

Those are examples of poor inlay. It does sound like you have a vested interest in 'bigging up' the brand.

I was "bigging up" the brand 15 years ago, 14 years before I started selling them.
You think some schmuck in SAfrica needs to hype a guitar brand that's been great for 35 years?

Geeez, one guy has a Tokai that has some filler around the inlays and it's the end of the world....it's one particular bad example amongst thousands of good examples.

Now I'm off to watch Spain VS Honduras...so please excuse me.

 

[Diamond]

Whats wrong with you????
Dont you read my posts at all?
THERE ARE NICE MIJ INSTRUMENTS OUT THERE!!!

You edited your post, I answered it before it was edited.

Do you want to know if every Tokai has inlays like yours...is that your question?
In my experience the answer is, NO.

Yes I know, "THERE ARE NICE MIJ INSTRUMENTS OUT THERE".
I'm in the Tokai section of this forum and I don't care about other MIJ instruments...only Tokais...why is that so hard to understand?

 

[JVsearch]

4) If the filler is your main criteria when deciding whether to buy a Tokai or not, then that means all the other criteria like how the guitar plays and sounds, and the fact that the rest of the guitar is 'finished' flawlessly, becomes irrelevant.

GO ENGLAND!!!

I'd only add to your fourth point by saying that the problem is many people have to buy now just using photographs on the internet. They're going to see the inlays before they get to play the guitar...

Take a look at all Richtone's photos, the inlays look fine to me...but then again, the photo's weren't taken with the lens up against the strings and a flash brightening up the fretboard.

If they are photographed in such a way as to minimise the visibility of the fillers that will only create disappointment when the buyer receives it and sees the filler (if it is there). Sorry, there's no point covering it up with oil or clever photography if it's there.

It can be done perfectly but that is very time consuming, and every maker has to take short cuts these days, except for the high end stuff.

 

[karppi]

Take a look at all Richtone's photos, the inlays look fine to me...but then again, the photo's weren't taken with the lens up against the strings and a flash brightening up the fretboard.

It is pretty hard to say anything about the first photo but the second one, "LS230 from 2007", was clearly shooted without flash or any tricks.

 

[Diamond]

OK.

Here's a photo I just took...LS260 5A flametop, inlays....taken next to a window with natural sunlight.

 

[karppi]

OK.

Here's a photo I just took...LS260 5A flametop, inlays.

So, she seems to have some filling also. How about the higher fret inlays?

 

[Diamond]

Same photo, I added brightness to enhance the inlays.
This is not really what the neck look like, this is way brighter than reality.

Keep in mind, this is a guitar that's been rated by the highest of high end luthiers/guitarists as the best LP they've seen or played.

 

[Diamond]

Seriously have to run now, need to leave for the soccer before the mad traffic jams.

When I get back I'll photograph the higher fret inlays.

 

[stratmoto]

LS320 from 2000

LS230 from 2007

But have seen it on other MIJ LPs too...

Before we go anywhere!!

Are they both your guitars?

If they are, one guitar with one inlay on a dried out fretboard on a guitar made 11 years ago and what looks like a picture of an LS95/135F (which looks like it could also use a drink) from the Vintage range, rather than a Premuim series LS230, are hardly enough actual physical evidence to bring the quality of Premuim Series Tokais into question.

If they are LS320 and LS230's and both yours, then maybe the question has some validity, and apart from creating or attempting to perpetuate an urban (internet) myth if they are not, is helping to spread misinformation.

There are some folk here that have seen many, many more new Japanese Tokais than me. In all honesty, I can not say I have seen and handled more than a thousand, but it is close.

Does not mean that anything I post has any more value than anybody else. It does mean that I can randomly chose 4 boxes of Japanese and check out 16 guitars.

So, in this thread, I can only post from experience, rather than photos of dubious providence.

The answer is no.

Do I get a red card, because I'm an Aussie :lol:

 

[karppi]

Same photo, I added brightness to enhance the inlays.
This is not really what the neck look like, this is way brighter than reality.

Okay, the black stuff is still here. What is the point? In other words, just brightnening the photo doesn't add any information to it. If you can see the black stuff from bright photo, you should see it from the darker version also if you screen is in good setup.

Keep in mind, this is a guitar that's been rated by the highest of high end luthiers/guitarists as the best LP they've seen or played.

 

[Leif]

OK.

Here's a photo I just took...LS260 5A flametop, inlays....taken next to a window with natural sunlight.

Well that clearly shows poor inlay work. They are drilling out the corners of the fret cutout and then filling with black stuff.

The answer is no.

Which question is this the answer to?

 

[JVsearch]

OK.

Here's a photo I just took...LS260 5A flametop, inlays....taken next to a window with natural sunlight.

Well that clearly shows poor inlay work. They are drilling out the corners of the fret cutout and then filling with black stuff.

That's so the inlays can be done with a little routing thing.
To get them perfect they have to be hand done in the corners.

To be fair that inlay work looks pretty good to me, I wouldn't have a problem with those. But yeah, there are some where there's filler all around some of the inlays.

This has actually been discussed before on this board, and the result was the same - the discussion went bad...