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Alan, I'm intrigued by the Greco. Could you divulge where you got it and how much it set you back? :D
 
I picked it up right here from Tez ("tezza-j") for the sum of ?500. We made the transaction at Euston Station, which sounds shady enough without me looking like a hungover tramp from a ridiculous weekend of debauchery. I nearly left her on the train in Manchester too!

Sadly I may have to pass her on soon (along with a Custom Shop J5 Bigsby Tele) as a local shop is holding an ES-339 for me; if their promise of it being to my tastes proves right, i'm going to have to clear some room (and funds!) before my wife will ever allow another one of those "fat guitars" into the house!
 
I picked it up right here from Tez ("tezza-j") for the sum of ?500. We made the transaction at Euston Station, which sounds shady enough without me looking like a hungover tramp from a ridiculous weekend of debauchery. I nearly left her on the train in Manchester too!

I just sold one on eBay a month or so ago; it ended up going for the opening bid of ?345, which seemed painfully low for a guitar of its quality. Loads of watchers, one bidder. Mind you, one generously offered ?250! Some people take the proverbial...
 
Nice trio !
Seems like the perfect chance to inquire about the tonal variations between those three twins ? :wink:
What PUs do they have, and how do you rate them ?
Thanks,
stumble
 
stumble:

Honestly, I can live with all of them. There's enough tonal adjustment for me between the knobs and amp. But to your point.

Cherry has Gibson Burstbuckers and projects the Gibson tonality. A powerful set of pups with more edge/grit than Gibson '57 Classics.

Sunburst has Gibson '57 Classics, again with typical Gibson tones. Very sweet sounding towards mellow. This is my baseline tone as I have used these pups on a lot of guitars over the years. Nice balanced tone.

Blondie has WCR Crossroads at neck and Goodwood at bridge. I just received this guitar so I've not carressed her adequately. First take is a tad more clarity and punch than the other sets of Gibsons. With that a bit less mellow on the neck. Crunch tones are very nice to me.

Again, all sound pretty sweet. I'd love to have an old Tokai ES one day but, to me, these really do work well. The construction and finish on all three are flawless. Hats off to Tokai.
 
f5joe,
thanks, sounds like great choices !
In my MIJ Sheraton I have the '57 Classics myself, mellow but very versatile vintage Gibson tone like you said.
My '05 ES-120 has "a voice like a horny angel" (quote Jim Steinman) since she got a pair of Pearly Gates .
tokai3351yp0.jpg

tokai3353mt7.jpg

We recently did a comparison with a friend's genuine vintage '59 ES 355 and believe it or not, while the Gibson had a slight advantage unplugged and in the vibe department 8) , all three of us actually preferred the Tokai amplified, same result no matter who played and what amp (SF Deluxe Reverb, Peavey Classic 50 212, .Mesa Heartbreaker).
Go figure !
Cheers,
stumble
 
Pretty guitar !
Bad job on the f-hole binding though, not what I'd expect from a top of the range Tokai to be honest. This type of binding/finish issue tends to get worse over the years ime.
And then (purely subjective, ymmv) the ebony fingerboard is a matter of taste sonically.
That was arguably the main reason why the abovementioned 355 couldn't compete with my ES120, we were going for bluesy, clean to crunchy tones.
Imho rosewood is better suited for that style, same with LPs btw.
A clean jazz player actually might prefer ebony, same as a high gain player (who might love an LP Custom, but hopefully not an ES ! :eek: )
Ymmv,
stumble
 
Thanks, f5joe !
Those Tokai semis really are something special once you've found the right set of PUs.
Cheers,
stumble
 
Update: Back in July I decided to order a cherry ES135 from Richtone Music but recently learned that this model is no longer available. Now replaced by ES150 and it is due to be delivered in about a week. My first guitar was a cherry Hofner Verithin which I regret selling so I am really looking forward to have a cherry semi back in the collection.
 

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