I have several Ibanez copies from the 70's. These guitars were very well put together and most of the Archtops were hand finished. Above all they sound great. You must remember that Ibanez went through the courts with Gibbo in the 70?s so were forced to stop their replica production. So who knows what they would have come up with if they had carried on producing copies?
At that time, Ibanez were copying the guitars that Gibbo were making in the 70?s. In fact, I have a CSL catalogue that shows pictures of Ibanez copies that are in fact Gibbo?s with the logo blocked out (a CSL rep told me at the time). Also there were different ranges available to fit peoples pockets. For example, fixed and bolt neck Les Pauls, SG?s. In fact the fixed neck 2345 Ivory finished 3 pickup SG Custom that Ibanez made in the 70?s was a terrific copy of a 62? Gibbo. Same with the 2387 Rocket Roll (?V?) and the 2459 Destroyer models (?EXP?).
I would say that Tokai went further and redefined the whole concept of 'copying'. In my personal opinion, Tokai were able to reproduce guitars from the "golden" era. Namely the planks that Gibbo and Leo were producing back in the late 50's, early 60's. When Tokai hit the streets here, they filled a gap in the market that no one else was getting right. We all wanted vintage guitars but couldn't afford them. Tokai made that possible and they made them **** good and extremely accurate too. No question. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I've never played a bad Tokai in 20 years and the Tokai 335 rep is the Daddy of them all.
At the death, I'd go for a Tokai Love Rock and a Tokai 335 but you would probably pay more for one of these than an Ibanez. Don't think they were made in the same factory though.
