Those of you with MIK Love Rocks

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red king

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Those of you with MIK Love Rocks....

How would you rate your instrument? I am considering getting one myself and I want to know if I am getting good value for my dollar.

My expectation is that if I basically gut the electronics and hardware and put in some Duncan pickups and Tone pros / Grovers - I would have a pretty sweet axe since the body is basically made by a CNC router. My only question is the finish work - frets, inlays, binding, etc. - how does it play / look from that perspective? From the pictures that I have seen, the maple tops actually look better than Gibsons!

thanks!!!

Red.
 
Well my opinion might be slightly biased....;) but the electronics in the MIK Love Rocks are pretty decent. Now if you want to upgrade them to top notch stuff then your sure to have a killer axe on your hands. I know one customer of mine that upgraded the electronics in his Love Rock and made a >put big name company here< killer out of it. He got a pots and caps kit from RS guitarworks and some WCR pickups and said the difference was amazing.

The fit and finish is excellent, the frets are smooth and nicely polished. Its a very well put together guitar and nice to play.
 
JSD - I read in another thread started by a Tokai retailer that he got a few Korean Love Rocks that were made from alder instead of Mahogany, and a few other differences and offered to allow buyers to return these ones to him. Have you received any of these Love Rocks in your store that were not made to spec?
 
What about these Korean Love Rocks with changed cutaway and headstock (both rounder than the original), do they only exist in Europe?
 
red king said:
JSD - I read in another thread started by a Tokai retailer that he got a few Korean Love Rocks that were made from alder instead of Mahogany, and a few other differences and offered to allow buyers to return these ones to him. Have you received any of these Love Rocks in your store that were not made to spec?
Click to expand...

That was a load of BS. The reason that person posted that fluf is because he was cut off from being a Tokai dealer and was trying to promote a lesser known and lower quality brand by trash talking the Tokai.
 
A friend of mine was talking to me about buying one koean LR and make some changes: usual electronics and pickups for better quality ones and a brass nut.I'll report results when he finally did that.
 
I thought the korean Tokai were using the metric system (like the ?piphone) so it was difficult to upgrade with the best stuff availiable (like Gibson stuff) for the stop bar and things like that...
 
Gotoh uses metric and Tonepros the same....Rockinger has some metric hardware too,so it's very easy.Schaller is a German company and they use metric besides imperial measurements.
 
I've got a Zakk Wylde Korean Love Rock. I put in a set of real EMG active pickups in there and the thing screams. It is built like a tank. Heavy as all get out. The only thing I might do is put some real grovers on it. Otherwise for the money it is an amazing guitar. I was very surprised in the quality since I was used to the Japanese love rocks. I think the newer Korean models are really hard to beat.
 
I bought 2 of them when they first started showing up on ebay from the Canadian dealers a few months ago. The 1st one was an Orange flame one, too heavy for me at 9.5+ lbs. Nice fretwork, well put together , multi piece body. Necks are different wood and don't match the body at all. Pretty okay guitar for the money. A little nicer than the epi/ agiles out there. Second one was a goldtop, I asked the same dealer for a lighter one and this one was about 9+ lbs. The neck matched the body much better on this one. I replaced the stock pups with Gibson 1&2 BB's, and all the hardware with nickel. Also put a Gibson toggle switch in. The goldtop now sounded much better. I put the orange one on ebay and no one bid on it. So I dropped the price 100 dollars and still no one bid on it. Then I bought a 2005 MIJ Love Rock LS90F from Ishabishi. There was no comparision at all between the two. I sold the GT and the Orange one at huge losses , but I was able to sell them. If you're going to buy a brand new MIK and put new Duncans and hardware on it, I would suggest you buy the MIJ instead. I think you'll be a lot happier. I know I am.
 
buckwild said:
The only thing I might do is put some real grovers on it.
Click to expand...

You'd be wasting your money just for names sake. The tuners on the bullseye model are 19:1 ratio and are made in the same factory as the real Grovers, they just have a different name on them.....;)
 
Even to totally gut the MIK, and replace with top of the line hardware, the guitar would cost $800 CDN with case and taxes + $500 for mods = $1,300. A Japanese LR would cost probably $1,600 or $1,700 CDN, close to the same as an Epi Elisist (with ugly headstock). After totally hot-rodding the Korean - you appear to be way ahead, as long as your intention is to buy it to play and keep, and not re-sell. And if some of the HW and electronics on the Korean perform well and don't need replacement - you are way, way ahead, as far as I see it.

Anyone disagree?
 
JSD said:
buckwild said:
The only thing I might do is put some real grovers on it.
Click to expand...

You'd be wasting your money just for names sake. The tuners on the bullseye model are 19:1 ratio and are made in the same factory as the real Grovers, they just have a different name on them.....;)
Click to expand...


Oh Cool! thanks for the heads up.
 
whitehall said:
The MIJ Love Rocks are 850 USD including shipping .
Click to expand...

Thats over $1000 Canadian plus you'll need to add Canadian taxes and most likely customs brokerage/import fees. Still cheaper than "the real thing" but it all depends on your budget.
 

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