Hi guys,
Finally, my LS80F in violin burst has arrived in Singapore (first Tokai to land on the Garden City?!) today! I went over to the post office to pay custom tax and picked up the parcel. First impression, upon lifting the box was how light the whole guitar was! I was expecting a really heavy guitar knowing how Les Pauls are notorious for the weight. What treated me when I opened the box, was a really funky looking les paul case with an almost tye-die finish. Almost looks like those tye-die Grosh's Retro Classic.
Excitedly, I opened up the case and crossed my fingers hoping for no shipping damage! Thank God what greeted me was an amazing looking les paul with very tight chervon flame (laminated sycamore under a rock maple top). The guitar was detuned when I got it, but a simple strum revealed an acoustically loud guitar. Hardware looks sturdy (all Gotoh), and no orange-peel of any sort anywhere on the guitar. Nice grained mahogany back. Even though it's two-piece back it was nicely book-matched.
It came with a Guitar Universe guitar cloth, a guitar cable, a trussrod wrench, a warranty card and nothing else. I plugged it into my Tech21 TradeMark 10 and played it both overdriven and clean. Overdriven tone is definitely les paul... first impression was the pickups are really hot. I would need to play with it more over the weekend and give a proper tone report another day. I will probably give these Gotoh pickups a chance before I change them to either Duncan or Tom Holmes.
This guitar only cost me around USD800 incl. shipping. I wish it would have genuinue mother-of pearl inlay and a bone nut (it's plastic but quite well-cut), but for the price I paid I think I can live with it for the time being. Sure, the attention to details definitely is lacking compared to my Grosh and McInturff but it's not a hand-made guitar! A 2002 Les Paul would have cost me around USD1,900 with shipping but I am happy with a Les Paul replica for the time being. Oh! it even came with the maple exposing underneath the binding on the cutaway much like a real burst. Of course, this is not a real Les Paul but for the price I paid, I think it beats any Korean made Epiphone or even the Santana SE.
Just to highlight some details on the guitar:
Nice binding with no visible excess glue filler
The plastic pearl inlays were nicely laid over the rosewood board
The rosewood board looks nicely grained and brownish in color. Not dry like some I saw on a real Gibson
The plastic nut is quite nicely cut but it would have been better. I might change it to a bone nut sometime in the future.
The action is set up pretty low and no fret buzz anywhere on the guitar
All the tone and volume pots work perfectly. No scratchy noise at all. The control cavity is also neatly assembled
Anyway, will give you guys a more detailed report in the future. I better stop here and go play my favorite Peter Green's tune! Better shut up and play my guitar now!
Please check out the pics if you've not seen it yet.
http://www.angelfire.com/ar/davetang/tokai.html
Finally, my LS80F in violin burst has arrived in Singapore (first Tokai to land on the Garden City?!) today! I went over to the post office to pay custom tax and picked up the parcel. First impression, upon lifting the box was how light the whole guitar was! I was expecting a really heavy guitar knowing how Les Pauls are notorious for the weight. What treated me when I opened the box, was a really funky looking les paul case with an almost tye-die finish. Almost looks like those tye-die Grosh's Retro Classic.
Excitedly, I opened up the case and crossed my fingers hoping for no shipping damage! Thank God what greeted me was an amazing looking les paul with very tight chervon flame (laminated sycamore under a rock maple top). The guitar was detuned when I got it, but a simple strum revealed an acoustically loud guitar. Hardware looks sturdy (all Gotoh), and no orange-peel of any sort anywhere on the guitar. Nice grained mahogany back. Even though it's two-piece back it was nicely book-matched.
It came with a Guitar Universe guitar cloth, a guitar cable, a trussrod wrench, a warranty card and nothing else. I plugged it into my Tech21 TradeMark 10 and played it both overdriven and clean. Overdriven tone is definitely les paul... first impression was the pickups are really hot. I would need to play with it more over the weekend and give a proper tone report another day. I will probably give these Gotoh pickups a chance before I change them to either Duncan or Tom Holmes.
This guitar only cost me around USD800 incl. shipping. I wish it would have genuinue mother-of pearl inlay and a bone nut (it's plastic but quite well-cut), but for the price I paid I think I can live with it for the time being. Sure, the attention to details definitely is lacking compared to my Grosh and McInturff but it's not a hand-made guitar! A 2002 Les Paul would have cost me around USD1,900 with shipping but I am happy with a Les Paul replica for the time being. Oh! it even came with the maple exposing underneath the binding on the cutaway much like a real burst. Of course, this is not a real Les Paul but for the price I paid, I think it beats any Korean made Epiphone or even the Santana SE.
Just to highlight some details on the guitar:
Nice binding with no visible excess glue filler
The plastic pearl inlays were nicely laid over the rosewood board
The rosewood board looks nicely grained and brownish in color. Not dry like some I saw on a real Gibson
The plastic nut is quite nicely cut but it would have been better. I might change it to a bone nut sometime in the future.
The action is set up pretty low and no fret buzz anywhere on the guitar
All the tone and volume pots work perfectly. No scratchy noise at all. The control cavity is also neatly assembled
Anyway, will give you guys a more detailed report in the future. I better stop here and go play my favorite Peter Green's tune! Better shut up and play my guitar now!
Please check out the pics if you've not seen it yet.
http://www.angelfire.com/ar/davetang/tokai.html