Music Workshop Sydney hooked me up with a Cherry Red Tokai ES-135 and it arrived today.
I must say its awesome. Initially I found the action too high so it felt a little strange to play but then I lowered it a tad and tweaked the truss rod to dial out a little relief and it was awesome. I have been playing it all night.
I really think it sounds better than my 2005 les paul that has had every mod done to it under the sun, including very new Throbak DT-102 pickups that made it sound amazing. They are similar but the Tokai is clearer sounding and has more punch and more bass reponse. The neck pickup is just sublime.
and this is just stock!
I plan on swapping most of the hardware, because they seem to have that cheap asian'ness about them with loose tolerances. I was wondering if the bridge is on regular ABR-1 posts or thicker ones that fit a nashville style bridge? I was planning on using a regular gibson bridge. I will probably go faber locking for the tailpiece.
The only other complaint besides the hardware (which isn't really a complaint) is it has rubber burn marks on the headstock where it must have been hanging in the shop. I thought it was pretty common knowledge not to do this with nitro guitars. But at least I know its definitely Nitro (at least the top coat). Its not a major deal.
I'll take some pics shortly.
I must say its awesome. Initially I found the action too high so it felt a little strange to play but then I lowered it a tad and tweaked the truss rod to dial out a little relief and it was awesome. I have been playing it all night.
I really think it sounds better than my 2005 les paul that has had every mod done to it under the sun, including very new Throbak DT-102 pickups that made it sound amazing. They are similar but the Tokai is clearer sounding and has more punch and more bass reponse. The neck pickup is just sublime.
and this is just stock!
I plan on swapping most of the hardware, because they seem to have that cheap asian'ness about them with loose tolerances. I was wondering if the bridge is on regular ABR-1 posts or thicker ones that fit a nashville style bridge? I was planning on using a regular gibson bridge. I will probably go faber locking for the tailpiece.
The only other complaint besides the hardware (which isn't really a complaint) is it has rubber burn marks on the headstock where it must have been hanging in the shop. I thought it was pretty common knowledge not to do this with nitro guitars. But at least I know its definitely Nitro (at least the top coat). Its not a major deal.
I'll take some pics shortly.
