LS195/150/150-UK figured top.

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TOKAI JOE said:
Knys said:
I have a 2005 ls150 VF flame top I bought two months ago here in this forum. It is a Uk version from coda music I think. Are they the same guitars as the ones sold in Japan ? I know the head is slightly different.
The top is not a 3A or even a 2A, I think it is between a plain top and flame top.



8) seems like there have been 3 major LS150s lately..........

1........LS135/150.........plaintop japa replica class.

2........LS150/195.........figuredtop japa replica class. 2A grade figured top.

3........LS150-UK..........figuredtop UK market only high quality japa replica



@ real cool huh this the UK only LS150 figuredtop model. super spec it even has western electric wires. too maniac!





"LS150-UK"

Price: ?1 195.00
Including Case Right or left handed

Top: Carved Figured AA or AAA Flame Maple
Back: One Piece Solid Mahogany
Neck: One Piece Deep Jointed Mahogany Fixed Neck
Bridge: Gotoh Vintage Type
Tailpiece: Aluminum Vintage Type
Controls: Switchcraft Jack, Pots CTS, Oil Condenser CAP III, Western Electric Wires
Pickups: Gotoh Custom P A F or Trev Wilkinson SL
Finish: 100% Polish and Nitrocellulose Satin matt option
Colours: All standard available and custom orders available







8) LS150/195 figuredtop series are real cool and affordable.
the best choice!





:wink: whoever has those UK special LS150 should be quite happy!
forget about a dimple, its only a very little there in between
and tokai is tokai not gibson. the trussrod cover is way more
different from gibson one anyways so not a bad matter at all
that dimple thing. no big deal. the UK LS150 is cool no doubt!
 
TOKAI JOE said:
ganzua said:
BTW way, this shop;

http://www.tokai-guitars.co.uk/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=39&category_id=16&manufacturer_id=0&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=31


states that;

Colours: All standard available and custom orders available

I don't catch this. Is it possible to custom order from Tokai?


8) yes the custom orders are all possible just we cant order brazillian RW
frertboard easily lately even its still used on the highest LS models.
what is tokai UK is giving us there are the custom order service
and the semi-special order service. (the options) which is only
a little modification and a little extra fee. ask tokai UK all about
that. the custom orders and the semi-special orders.





8)

Joe, usually shops in Japan sell Tokais at a discount from prices listed on Tokai's website. If I was to order a custom directly from Tokai Japan, do you know if the price would be discounted as well or full listed price? Also, can anyone at Tokai Japan speak English well enough to enable me to make a custom order? Thanks

Jason
 
stratman323 said:
It's not a dimple, it's a pimple or a nipple.

I don't like pimples, nipples or any other kind of protuberances in headstocks. :cry: I think it's ugly, not historically accurate and enough bulge to rest some value to the guitar. If it wasn't so, they would be sued by Gibson again.
 
I don?t like dimples at all also.I feel them ugly but It?s for a cosmetical reason, no influence in sound but...why getting a dimpled if you can get the other? But you are not watching headstock when playing also...
If the price is much lower and money is an issue then it would be a good option,but at the same price and being lower in many cases then the choose is clear to me. I would contact the shops Tokai Joe is recomending in other posts, Mr. Furuhasi specially,he knows Tokai.

Regarding Custom Orders, I recall Guitar Universe shop(very good shop) offering them back in 2003/2004 year at a small price up....Prices were good for buyers still and the market not demanding Tokais as much as nowadays. And Cat?s Eye acoustics had a custom order system you can see in catalogs.

Ganzua, if you buy here you will get a dimpled, they depend on Tokai UK people(which did a great job bringing Tokais to Europe again,in fact I found Tokai because them and their fantastic advertisement and marketing job).Not sure if Tokai Germany have any not dimpled Love Rock at this time.....
 
luis said:
Ganzua, if you buy here you will get a dimpled, they depend on Tokai UK people

I'm aware of this because some of them are advertising on my web :grin: However, the next thing I want to purchase from Tokai is a LS320/380/370/470 and I'm not willing to get any dimple at this price range.
 
Big Willie Style said:
TOKAI JOE said:
ganzua said:
BTW way, this shop;

http://www.tokai-guitars.co.uk/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=39&category_id=16&manufacturer_id=0&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=31


states that;

Colours: All standard available and custom orders available

I don't catch this. Is it possible to custom order from Tokai?


8) yes the custom orders are all possible just we cant order brazillian RW
frertboard easily lately even its still used on the highest LS models.
what is tokai UK is giving us there are the custom order service
and the semi-special order service. (the options) which is only
a little modification and a little extra fee. ask tokai UK all about
that. the custom orders and the semi-special orders.





8)

Joe, usually shops in Japan sell Tokais at a discount from prices listed on Tokai's website. If I was to order a custom directly from Tokai Japan, do you know if the price would be discounted as well or full listed price? Also, can anyone at Tokai Japan speak English well enough to enable me to make a custom order? Thanks

Jason


8) the custom orders are friendly possible these day from basically any
good tokai dealers in japan i think. but better choose premium
dealers for that coz they know well what you want and talking about.
the waiting time so far must be 8 months to 12 months. and the price
is perhaps around $6000? you first choose your best dealer and then
give them the special order form with your custom specs. and then
they give you the quote. this is based on the list price so after that
you talk with the dealer about the discount. usually at japa stores
we get 15% to 30% discount. for the japa gtrs usually around 15%?
for the usa gtrs 30% possible especially the super store like
ishibashi. brazillian RW is still no even by the custom order i think.
"real standard" and "neo" and "pacifix" and "rockin" and some
others will do you the best i think. for the english speaking guys
availability is unknown. lately its getting alot better i think.
the good man at real standard does it as you know him already.
and the man at pacifix will do good most likely.......................







8) tokai joe.
 
8) guys. when you have any good questions to tokai japan
then email at this address for the person named MRS.FURUHASHI.
she is the one who does take care of all the international businesses
and only one uses english well i heard. the CEO does ok too but
he is too busy so dont bother. only mick can email him sure
always, right mick? anyways to MRS.FURUHASHI.....................


[email protected]





8) tokai joe.
 
TOKAI JOE said:
8) guys. when you have any good questions to tokai japan
then email at this address for the person named MRS.FURUHASHI.
she is the one who does take care of all the international businesses
and only one uses english well i heard. the CEO does ok too but
he is too busy so dont bother. only mick can email him sure
always, right mick? anyways to MRS.FURUHASHI.....................


[email protected]





8) tokai joe.
 
TOKAI JOE said:
http://www.real-standard.com/stock/tokai/ls195cs/ls195cs-0817373.html

8) this model might be important so i do an individual post here.

Bad shop. He had an LS150 I wanted to buy, but he didn't respond to the 2 eMails I sent even though he claims that he ships internationally on his page. :evil:
 

Don't assume because he didn't reply that he is a bad seller. One of my buyers in Japan stopped replying to my emails and so i rang him only to find that his email was rejecting my emails and he found mine in his spam folder, this has happened to me twice now. He told me that most of the spam they get is from the US and other western countries and his spam filter just deleted them before he had a chance to see them. This could be the case here.

Mick
 
On his page he asks people to email since his spoken English is supposedly not so good so there's nothing I could have done.

Was a real beauty so I was pretty mad when it was sold a couple of days later...

ls150vf_0919285_012_344.jpg


ls150vf_0919285_015_700.jpg
 
Maybe I will have better luck next time, finding a nice plaintop over here in Europe isn't easy.
 
ArKay said:
TOKAI JOE said:
http://www.real-standard.com/stock/tokai/ls195cs/ls195cs-0817373.html

8) this model might be important so i do an individual post here.

Bad shop. He had an LS150 I wanted to buy, but he didn't respond to the 2 eMails I sent even though he claims that he ships internationally on his page. :evil:

8) please dont say that man please. you are very wroooooooooong
about him. mr.kamiya. one of the kindest gtr shop men i have
ever known. he is really actually very kind and he always helps
me more than he should. i always ask him for most of the japa
gtr parts and catalogs and when sometimes the charge is only
a few bucks he wont charge often. he just says "thats ok the next
time!" he already helped me about $10 free by that way. actually
right now i owe him $3 for the mick's last catalogs! its him mick!
i understand you got pissed off coz your 2 emails werent
responded. but trust me he is really good. maybe he was just so
busy too often since he does the shop plus the studio and more
all by himself i think. there must have been right reasons so.....
i email a lot to the english speaking world and often i dont get
the reply. actualy even from my friends i dont get sometimes.
and i dont get to reply well often coz too busy too tired no time
whatever. u know these email situations of us. and like mick says
the spam filter thing is also very possible. so please dont say
nothing bad about him and his store. its one of the best tokai
shops in japan lately and nobody does packing better than
mr.kamiya. thats the fact and truth. his package is almost very
beautiful everytime man. try to get ls150 from kurosawa they
are a big company like ishibashi so they do the business sure
no less or no more. you pay them exactly and get what you
ordered exactly. good luck for your gtr importing!






8) tokai joe.
 
150s are hard to find so it was twice as depressing, apart from the fact of course that nobody likes being ignored.

There are a few in the UK, but I don't like the finishes. And the seller didn't respond to my mail either :lol:

Thanks for the link, I will keep watching that page :D

Any idea why Ishibashi stoppped selling new Tokais? They wouldn't tell me.
 
8) ishibashi and some others are the big gtr chain stores in japan
who usually do the international business well. but after around
2005/6 when tokai gibson copys became very popular
around the world they stopped selling them somehow. why???



@ the possible reasons.


for ishibashi........they are worried of many rejects from the US custom
and canadian custom and maybe some others where
their custom can reject any gibson copys easily if they
want for the gibson's patent rights. once the gtrs got
rejected at the custom they dont send them back to
ishibashi most likely and instead they junk them laters
you get the refund from ishibashi but they dont get
nothing back for that so i guess when tokai copys got
pretty popular again around 2005/6 they stopped
selling them. when not too many it was maybe ok but
now too many orders are possible from USA and canada
so they stopped. for the european countries too. i mean
all the tokai gtrs or all the tokai gibson copys. fender
japan gtrs are also not allowed to sell to the outside of
japan usually because of the fender's market reasons.
they worry too many buy fender japan than fender
mexico or fender china/korea in the world. also its the
tokai's request to ishibashi for the tokai's own reason
explained below.


for tokai........tokai never mind if only some japan market models
are sold and sent to the foreign countries by ishibashi
or others but when the quantity became so much
they worry seriouslly coz gibson will attack them as
soon as they felt tokai is over selling the copys lately.
tokai sells ok in japan and some countries especially
in europe but not in USA and canada lately.
they seems to sell a lot in UK so thats why they have
to add that dimple on the headstock to avoid too much
popularity in UK that could cause the trouble from gibson.
in some tokai popular countries, only the trussrod cover
aint good enough. its the patent issue and its troubles
from gibson.


tokai is very afraid of gibson and USA i think. the company died once
basically for that. there were several reasons why tokai once died but
gibson was the main one and always has been since whenever
tokai become groovy. tokai always has to watch out the big daddy
GIBSON. tokai is always selling in where gibson isnt reaching to,
both the areas and price range. but tokai is good and their motto
is always " quality before quantity" and its been the same since 1947.






8) tokai joe.
 
I also support Mr. Kamiya,he is very kind and patient.Thumbs up for him from me.

Just remember when dealing with japanese people we have not the same rules.Comunication is broken a lot of times and conducting what we felt a strange way, but not so strange as we think.It?s not easy.

Regarding Tokai suply just remeber Tokai is not a big facility as we think and it?s a great thing for me,I don?t a want a big mass production where you cannot control quality,if quality is down ,Tokai would be down also because they are based on "Quality before quantity". Tokai products demand has grown so high in a few years they would have to adjust this also and had to hire a lot of new people but they do really good products, some good,some very good and some great as LS-320 series... And wood supply is not easy to get as before....
 
I haven't met Mr. Kamiya yet but I second that sometimes it is impossible to get an answer from a Japanese shop even if they claim that the do international shipments.

Maybe it is that they don't have too much stock to care about selling abroad or maybe it is that nobody speak english at the moment, I don't know. Maybe English is not so spread as we tend to think.

BTW, please send Mr. Kamiya greetings from Jose, just in case :lol:
 

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