I finally had some time to sit down and play my newest baby for a few hours. Below is a short review of what I think of this guitar (I have a feeling it will be my favorite guitar for quite awhile!):
Specification:
A Les Paul replica. Two-piece mahogany body, a one-piece mahogany neck and a sycamore maple laminate over a rock solid maple top. Gotoh hardware throughout and tuners are Gotoh version of the Kluson type. 2 vol/2tone and a 3-way selector switch. Bought together with a Les Paul style case. I bought this guitar at one of the online Japanese Guitar store ? Guitar Universe and paid around 800 USD with shipping and insurance. For pictures, go to this site: http://www.angelfire.com/ar/davetang/tokai.html
Playability:
The neck has a slightly chunky ?D? shape to it, much like the ?57 neck on my McInturff. It feels extremely comfortable in my hand. The frets are short and wide, and action must be kept relatively low in order to bend strings on it (that explains the rather shallowly cut plastic nut). The factory setup (Guitar Universe (Japan) might have re-setup the action for me when I requested for it to be strung with 0.010 string gauge) was really low and nice with no fret buzz anywhere on the neck. Having used to the tall frets (Dunlop 6105) on my Grosh and the jumbo frets on my Mcinturff, these frets felt a bit small and short to me but I was able to re-adjust my bending style to suite the guitar. I might refret it sometime in the future. String bend and runs are rather effortless, no sharp fret-ends and uneven fretboard or inlays anywhere on the neck.
The guitar fits comfortably to my body both sitting and standing. The strap buttons look really too small to hold the guitar, so I will change them to either Schaller or Dunlop when I get the chance. This guitar is only marginally heavier than my Grosh Retro Classic, which has a alder body. I was expecting a really heavy guitar knowing how Les Pauls are notorious for that.
Tone:
I?ve been playing single-coil guitars for the past 3 yrs (Grosh Retro Classic and the McInturff Forum Guitar with P90s) so I can?t really put the Gotoh pickups against any ?better known? brands. It does sound like a Les Paul to me. The neck pickup is really bassy and I have to adjust my volume sometime to balance out the tone. I would love for the bridge pickup to have more high-end, but if Tokai is aiming for a vintage tone when designing these pickups, then I think they are pretty darn close. I will have to re-access my initial impression on these pickups. Initially, I thought they sounded kinda hot to me but after playing them over the weekend, I think they are just nice for the style I am playing which is mostly Classic Rock and Blues. I am also trying to play some jazz on it. For the time being, I will leave these pickups there till I can get my hand on a Tom Holmes, or Seth Lovers. Oh! I just love the middle position where both neck and bridge pickups are selected. I was able to play around with the 4 vol/tone control and had a lot of fun getting some cool tone from the selection! Definitely one of the pros of getting a Les Paul!
Conclusion:
I am playing this guitar through a Tech 21 TradeMark 10 in my room. Didn?t get a chance to plug it into a tube amp or even my POD 2.0 yet. From the tone I can get through the TradeMark 10, I must say that I am truly impressed with this Japanese babe! Sure, the attention to details is definitely not at par with my Grosh and McInturff, but the price-to-quality ratio is definitely top-notch! I seriously recommend that you check out this guitar when shopping for a Les Paul style guitar!
Visually, I just love the chevron flame on this baby. The color is a lot browner than the pics. From different angle, the flame has a 3D effect. Everything about a Les Paul just spells class and elegant and this guitar does not fail in this area. I am not sure if the spec. is completely accurate as compared to a real burst but there?s really something about the sexy black headstock, the inlays, the flame maple top and the thick mahogany body that really makes me wanna just sit there and admire it.
I am a very happy guy. Glad to have bought this for my birthday.
:lol:
Specification:
A Les Paul replica. Two-piece mahogany body, a one-piece mahogany neck and a sycamore maple laminate over a rock solid maple top. Gotoh hardware throughout and tuners are Gotoh version of the Kluson type. 2 vol/2tone and a 3-way selector switch. Bought together with a Les Paul style case. I bought this guitar at one of the online Japanese Guitar store ? Guitar Universe and paid around 800 USD with shipping and insurance. For pictures, go to this site: http://www.angelfire.com/ar/davetang/tokai.html
Playability:
The neck has a slightly chunky ?D? shape to it, much like the ?57 neck on my McInturff. It feels extremely comfortable in my hand. The frets are short and wide, and action must be kept relatively low in order to bend strings on it (that explains the rather shallowly cut plastic nut). The factory setup (Guitar Universe (Japan) might have re-setup the action for me when I requested for it to be strung with 0.010 string gauge) was really low and nice with no fret buzz anywhere on the neck. Having used to the tall frets (Dunlop 6105) on my Grosh and the jumbo frets on my Mcinturff, these frets felt a bit small and short to me but I was able to re-adjust my bending style to suite the guitar. I might refret it sometime in the future. String bend and runs are rather effortless, no sharp fret-ends and uneven fretboard or inlays anywhere on the neck.
The guitar fits comfortably to my body both sitting and standing. The strap buttons look really too small to hold the guitar, so I will change them to either Schaller or Dunlop when I get the chance. This guitar is only marginally heavier than my Grosh Retro Classic, which has a alder body. I was expecting a really heavy guitar knowing how Les Pauls are notorious for that.
Tone:
I?ve been playing single-coil guitars for the past 3 yrs (Grosh Retro Classic and the McInturff Forum Guitar with P90s) so I can?t really put the Gotoh pickups against any ?better known? brands. It does sound like a Les Paul to me. The neck pickup is really bassy and I have to adjust my volume sometime to balance out the tone. I would love for the bridge pickup to have more high-end, but if Tokai is aiming for a vintage tone when designing these pickups, then I think they are pretty darn close. I will have to re-access my initial impression on these pickups. Initially, I thought they sounded kinda hot to me but after playing them over the weekend, I think they are just nice for the style I am playing which is mostly Classic Rock and Blues. I am also trying to play some jazz on it. For the time being, I will leave these pickups there till I can get my hand on a Tom Holmes, or Seth Lovers. Oh! I just love the middle position where both neck and bridge pickups are selected. I was able to play around with the 4 vol/tone control and had a lot of fun getting some cool tone from the selection! Definitely one of the pros of getting a Les Paul!
Conclusion:
I am playing this guitar through a Tech 21 TradeMark 10 in my room. Didn?t get a chance to plug it into a tube amp or even my POD 2.0 yet. From the tone I can get through the TradeMark 10, I must say that I am truly impressed with this Japanese babe! Sure, the attention to details is definitely not at par with my Grosh and McInturff, but the price-to-quality ratio is definitely top-notch! I seriously recommend that you check out this guitar when shopping for a Les Paul style guitar!
Visually, I just love the chevron flame on this baby. The color is a lot browner than the pics. From different angle, the flame has a 3D effect. Everything about a Les Paul just spells class and elegant and this guitar does not fail in this area. I am not sure if the spec. is completely accurate as compared to a real burst but there?s really something about the sexy black headstock, the inlays, the flame maple top and the thick mahogany body that really makes me wanna just sit there and admire it.
I am a very happy guy. Glad to have bought this for my birthday.
:lol:
