Japanese vs. Korean build

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Dr. Wu

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I'm looking at buying one of the 335 clones, and have not test driven any. Having done a little homework online, it seems to me that you can generalize like this,more or less: The Korean models are very good value, but to do a serious job, you would likely want to upgrade the pickups and maybe some of the other electronics; whereas the Japanese models can compete with the top American brand names without upgrades being necessary.

Right?
 
Dr. Wu, I recently bought a new Korean made Tokai Explorer through ebay. To my dismay it's pretty shoddy, you can see runs in the clear coat finish, they have tried to buff them out but they're still visible. The neck joint has needed adjusting during assembly, so a 2mm slither has been inserted on one side to true it up, the other side is a flush fit but it's been blended together in a very poor way. The tuning peg guides are pushed through in a very uneven fashion, and it has a strange crack in the finish by one of the pegs and also a blemish under the paint. The matching of the wood colour is also very bad......

I am returning it to the dealer (theguitarcellar.com) for a refund, they have been very good about it and are good to deal with.
 
Dr. Wu said:
I'm looking at buying one of the 335 clones, and have not test driven any. Having done a little homework online, it seems to me that you can generalize like this,more or less: The Korean models are very good value, but to do a serious job, you would likely want to upgrade the pickups and maybe some of the other electronics; whereas the Japanese models can compete with the top American brand names without upgrades being necessary.

Right?

That's about the size of it, though there are Korean fans here who've had great experiences with the MIK line.

Jap models could do with a better nut IMO but otherwise top notch.
 
Hi Dr. Wu,
I've got an ES120 which after a little TLC and a pro setup plays,sounds and feels great.A lot of owners have been putting aftermarket pickups on their guitars (ie Seth Lovers, Fralins etc) but I'm happy with the originals.Have a look on Harmony for reviews.Sorry I can't comment on the MIK guitars (never tried one).
Pals right about the nuts on Japanese Toks they could be a lot better.

pb
 
Dr. Wu said:
...whereas the Japanese models can compete with the top American brand names without upgrades being necessary.

Right?


Are you saying low grade American guitars and High grade Japanese guitars compete equally?
 
Hmmm.... Thank you. It seems that these offshore types are doing the two-grades thing. Another example is Washburn, which has its 335 clones (HB-30, Korean, & HB-35, Japanese.) The latter costs twice what the former does. According to the Harmony Central reviews, the double price doesn't guarantee double satisfaction, but that doesn't mean anything.

I suppose Epiphone and Epiphone Elite is the same thing.

prince bishop, you are referring to people upgrading the pickups on the Japanese models, right? (That seems to negate the purpose for buying Japanese in the first place.)
 
drt said:
Are you saying low grade American guitars and High grade Japanese guitars compete equally?

That's not true. High grade Jap guitars are serious competition to high grade American guitars.

Low grade MIA are usually obliterated by MIJ of the same price in my experience.
 
Dr. Wu said:
prince bishop, you are referring to people upgrading the pickups on the Japanese models, right? (That seems to negate the purpose for buying Japanese in the first place.)

Nah, buying Jap gets you better wood, better construction, usually better QC and better components. Just an all-round better guitar, which is also a better base to build on for any upgrades you may want to do.
 
washburn HB35 and 35S are Korean made guitars - not Japanese, build quality is excellent.
 
I had a MIK Love Rock flame top for a week last year. The guitar wasn't that bad but the pickups are nowt to shout about and the nut was an absolute disgrace I would say it was on a par with a MIK Epi. I took it back and got a MIJ Tokai Gold Top instead. The neck pickup ring cracked so I replaced with new Gibson rings and the top strap button kept coming loose, repaired with a match stick. Overall though I would say the GT is the best finished guitar I've ever owned the frets are amazing.

The last time I was in the shop where I buy my guitars the owner was sending back a Tokai MIK Rickenbacker clone to the distributer, it was the worst finished guitar I've seen in a long time. MIK Tokai's do seem to me to be getting a lot worse in the QC dept.
 
vaporboy said:
washburn HB35 and 35S are Korean made guitars - not Japanese, build quality is excellent.

I can only talk about my HB35, but it's definitly a japanese model. I've bought it new in the very early nineties though, so it's possible new ones are korean.
 
Never had a problem with a Korean made Tokai, top notch workmanship. 2 Strats and a Love Rock, inlaw has a Gibby hollow body copy that is great also. Guess every line has there lemons. If you buy from a good dealer and talk with them, there not going to sell you a lemon just to be returned.

Of course I like to tear down guitars as soon as I can to see what's inside and change what I don't like.
 
Shall I eat my words? :-?

No, but I did have a little play on a Korean 335 copy on Tuesday evening.

It was pasty a looking blonde model but my friend had set it up for a client and it wasn't too bad. Felt very 'plastic' though. The guy paid ?350 new.
 
I'm working on getting a MIK Love Rocks. Will do a full review. Am also planning on using it as a test mule so it will get the "50s" electronics mod and new pups.

All of which will be used for content on the site.

Ned
 
The 50's mod entails changing how the capacitors are connected to the tone and volume controls.

I just submitted for samples from CTS (who have been making the pots in Fenders and Gibsons for years). The trick is to get true 500K pots for volume as they all come +- 20% variance around 500,000 ohms. I'll measure the resistance before installing, this is critical for volume but no so much for tone controls.

Ned
 
That interesting, look forward to the review. May have to give it a shot myself. After your review of course!

Spelling edit.
 
Very nice Ned,I am interested.I was always wondering about thata 50's mod on Lp guitars.Is that mod applied to semi-hollow and hollow bodies guitars?Any sense on that?
 

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