What guitars have you put your Tokai pups into?

Hello I'm a newbie - I've noticed that a lot of Love Rock owners have replaces the pickups for Duncans etc.
What guitars have forum members put the spare Tokie's into and what were the results? I've got a couple of 57 PAF's mark 11's lying about and would like tips on where to stick em. Has anyone put them into a genuine Les Paul standard for instance? Perhaps an Antoria or Ibanez Paul copy? I'll consider buying anything as long as theres a good chance they'll sound good.

Perhaps I'm in the minority but I like the sound of the Tokai (Gotoh?) PAFs in my Japanese Love Rock.
My favourite humbuckers (at the moment) are my PRS McCartys, but these are not dissimilar to the Tokais. They both have that slightly lower vintage output that I find appealing (I find it easier to dirty up a good clean sound than vice versa).

If I had a spare pair of Tokai PAFs, I'd love to hear them in a semi. Something like my Yamaha SA2100 (335 copy) would fit the bill, which came fitted with with high output stock pickups.

I'd love to try some of the more exotic pickups (Seth Lovers, Antiquities, Fralins etc.) but having priced up a set of covered Seymour Duncan 59s I realised that even they (with UK prices) they would cost over one third of the price I paid for the guitar new!

Perhaps it might be worth trying to get hold of a reasonably priced, used semi (Yamaha/Ibanez/Washburn/Aria etc) and bunging them in that?

Cheers
Brendan

I actually bought the pups on Ebay for justover ?50 which I thinks a bargain for two classy humbuckers - I'm not that keen on the feel/weight of your average Les Paul/Loverock and so a 335 style of guitar is certainly a good suggestion/option. I have a Brandoni Tele that has a one piece elder body - sticking the two in this is something i'm toying with perhaps with a coil tap. Not sure if elder and Humbuckers compliment each other too well.

?25 each! A bargain.
Funny you should mention the Tele kit. I was thinking of this also as I've got a mate who is just putting a Tele kit together and he's going to use a DiMarzio PAF he's got for the neck position.
I've always liked the Yamaha "Mike Stern" Pacifica, which was recently praised for it's sound in the "Tele shootout" in that new UK Guitar mag (What Guitar?). I think that's got an Alder body. It certainly has a Seymour Duncan 59 at the neck, which is basically a PAF type pickup.
The only trouble with bunging them in the Tele would be the body routing.

I'm not sure I'd bother with coil taps as the Gotoh PAFs come with two conductor wire, meaning you'd have to get someone to create the coil tap for you (I think). I'd look at putting a "phase" switch in there though, as I love the honky scooped tone this gives.

I'd expect that the pickups would sound great on a Tele. I'd imagine there would be plenty of Tele "sprang" left in there.

Brendan

Cheers - yep I think the Tele/PAF combi could be a winner.

Anyone out there who has already added Tokai pups to other guitars or even other Tokais?

Hi, I have a Mike Stern 1511 and they are ash. Excellent guitars but a bit narrow at the nut for me.

Another option I'm considering is finding a used Gordon Smith on Ebay - he makes superb guitars including Les Paul types and their resale prices are relatively low.
Anyone ever owned/played one?

I've played a Gordon Smith - fantastic guitars and if you buy new they'll hand-build it to your specs. I almost bought one over a Love Rock, and still think it had the best neck I've ever played.

I used to own a Gypsy II small bodied semi. I thought it was very well built but seemed "neither fish nor fowl" in that it seemed to have some kind of 335/Solid bodied identity crisis.
I'd love a solid bodied GS but would probably consider replacing the pickups as I wasn't that knocked out by the stock humbuckers (though there are much better players than me who swear by them). Certainly the coil tapped sounds were better than most.

As Paladin pointed out, they'll use whatever pickups you want if you order a new one from them. You can even supply them and they'll give you a discount of ?49.72 per humbucker!

Mmmm - discount for having Tokai pickups - I like the sound of that - I think I may have to Email Mr Smith

By the way my Tokais have stickers on the base - on the neck pick are the letters LL-A with a second A underneath - the bridge pickup has LP-A with an F underneath - both pups are stamped Japan.
They are mint as the guy I bought them from had them taken off the guitar in the shop and replaced because he didn't like chrome covers!

Well after much consideration and debate the I've fitted my Tokai bridge pickup to - my Burns Marquee - I love the action/neck and resonance of this guitar but the pickups have never quite match the quality of the rest of the guitar - the guitar nearly as thick and heavy as a Les Paul - it's made from a quality wood - it's seemed like a good idea and thankfully the results so far are fantastic - Tokai make awsome pickups!! - it sounds like a Les Paul/Love rock - honest! I'm putting one PAF in the bridge and the other at the neck with the covers kept on - they look wondeful on this guitar - i've kept the middle Rezomatic in the middle as this always sounded the best of the original three- great for rythmn - the out of phase position now gives me a mad Hendrix style phased effect - great for solo's! not quite sure why this but i'm not going to rewire it - the Burns has a pull push tap and I'm not sure what is going to happen when this is pulled with all three pickups fitted I'll let ypu know when the work is completed.

Well the work is finished and while i'm still keen to know what guitars other forum members have put their spare Tokai pups into, the sound i'm getting from my Marquee + mrk II Pafs are outragous.

Here are the combinations:

1. Bridge paf pickup only (slightly brighter than yr average Les Paul tone but not at all harsh)

2. Mid Rezomatic + Bridge (Phased sound - bottom strings sound thinner than top - phased effect pronounced with frenetic play)

3. Mid Rezomatic only (Strat tones a go go)

4. Mid ReZ + Neck PaF (thin out of phase tone - handy for instant clean sound when playing at high overdrive - think Brian May live)

5. Neck PAF only - (classic Les Paul tones - benefits from slightly brighter output)

With tone pot pulled:

6. Neck + Bridge

7. Neck + Bridge + Middle Rezo' - (thin out of phase tone again- more bass tones than prev)

8. Middle Rezo only

9. All three pups again (very very thin phased sound)

10 Neck PAF only


I'm sure I can get many different combinations out of this guitar but I'm not really confident/knowledgable enough to wire it in any other way than as it is at the moment + cannot find schematics for the Marquee on the web.

The overall sound thru my VOX AC15 is exceptional - the guitar already played like a dream but just needed that extra bit of Tokai magik :wink: