Levinson Blade

Tokai Forum

Help Support Tokai Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

brokentoes

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 1, 2008
Messages
1,843
Reaction score
4
Location
Canada
Hi, i'm wondering if anyone knows anything about these guitars, we don't see many of them here in Canada, but since they are a Swiss company i figured some of our european members might be able to tell me about their perceptions of this company, and the guitars they produce.

Thanks
 
What do you want to know B?
My band mate owns 2; a 1989 RH4 and a 1994 Texas Standard Pro.
I believe that up to the late 90s they were MIJ, by Terada if my memory serves me well.
They both have pretty thin necks that are not radiused.
Although I don't like the neck profile, the RH4 is a pretty decent guitar, well constructed with a beautiful sen ash body and ebony board. I can't comment on the sound of the original pups for he has EMGs in it. The tonal possibilities with the circuitry are amazing, although everything sounds lifeless to my ears, no warmth. That might be the EMGs but the 1994 Texas has the same thing going on and has the original pups.
That guitar I don't like at all btw, very light wood which I can't identify, looks like alder but I suspect isn't alder. Very thick poly, even thinner neck and has the overall feel of a toy guitar. Acoustically I can't connect with it, no life in the lower end and mid range; a shrill sounding guitar.
My mate doesn't play them anymore since I introduced Tokai to him, he will be selling them soon :)
 
I've seen one, a 2007 model "texas vintage" model for sale, and was wondering what people thought of them, just because i haven't heard of them doesn't mean much, and i was impressed with how many combo's the pickups were set up to produce, when i did a bit of research on them. I'm not much of a strat guy, but my brother's birthday is coming up and he likes strats so i thought it could be a potential present for him. They seem to be quite pricey, and this one has not sold for a long time, seller keeps knocking the price down little by little and the price is almost at a point where i might consider it. I don't know anything about them, and i'd rather have some opinions from others that know first hand what they are like, mainly if they have a good quality control, i can always change pickups etc but i thank you for your honest opinion, I'd still have to try and figure out somehow if he likes seafoam green lol. I'm always curious about guitars i've never heard of, but look like they might have possibilities.

Here's the guitar in question

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271189047472?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649
 
i was under the impression that the dearer ones were still MIJ... don't quote me on that, though.

But yeah I don't think a texas vintage would qualify, it's presumably korean- or chinese-made.
 
I have 2 Levinson Blades from the early 90's. Both 100% original and both made in Japan.

1. RH-1 (bought new in 1992) which has a Mahogany Body, Maple Neck and Rosewood fingerboard. Sounds incredible and easily my favourite guitar.

2. RH-2 (approx. 1990) which has Sen Ash Body and 1 pc Maple Neck. Again incredible sound and sounds more like a fender strat than my RH-1.

The H denotes humbucker in the bridge and both have coils splitters and VSC which makes these guitars incredibly versatile. Neck profile is the best on any guitar I've ever played and both neck profiles are the same. All early 90's Blades that were available in Australia had the same neck profile. I have never seen/played the Durango's and 'Texas' guitars.

IMHO these are the best Strat style guitars on the planet and I've played just about everything including custom shop fenders and suhr's. As I mentioned earlier my RH-1 doesn't really sound like a Fender in some configurations but the RH-2 sounds like a 50's/60's/70's and modern Strat all in one guitar.

Surprised to hear them described as even close to lifeless sounding and I guess I've never understood why guys replace the original pickups.

Have never played the 'Texas' style Blades so cannot comment but have played all the R(H) varieties in the early 90's
 
Back
Top