New Tokai LS-48

AlanRatcliffe

I saw on Facebook that Tokai have landed the new LS-48 Love Rock guitars. At just under R7K retail (about R5.6K street) they should be in direct competition with the better Epiphone Les Pauls.

It looks like they have changed the hard cases too (one of my few complaints when I looked at the Japanese models was that the cases weren't up to the same quality as the guitars).

I'll check them out next time I'm in Cape Town and report back.

Some pics:

Violin Finish.

Tobaccoburst.

Indigo Blue

Charcoal/Black

The new hard cases.

StephenG

are these then Made in China???

that tobaco burst looks yummy.

AlanRatcliffe

Yeah, these are the less expensive Chinese made models. Kind of Tokai's "entry" level.

Here is a review from Guitarist mag:
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d161/stratmoto/GIT25070.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d161/stratmoto/GIT25071.jpg

domhatch

pretty, very pretty. i'm almost tempted to swap out my prs for one of the japanese models. (i know, i know - same but different.) i'm just sooooo loving my goldtop...

IceCreamMan

Gotta say that i am loving my Love Rock ...it really is a great guitar ....

AlanRatcliffe

domhatch wrote: pretty, very pretty. i'm almost tempted to swap out my prs for one of the japanese models.

I'm not a LP player by any stretch of the imagination (I just can't handle the scale length), but I have come really close to LP GAS (LOL!) twice in the last ten years. First was the LS-95S I reviewed and more recently, Mojo JoJoe's Singlecut PRS.

singemonkey

I just hope the stores advertise them at decent prices. I felt that some of the sticker prices on some Tokais I checked out recently would put off people who don't know about the whole discounting system, while other brands seemed to be advertised closer to their actual sale price.

If the stores advertise these ALS48s at R9K, they shouldn't be surprised if they don't fly off the racks. At around R5.6K, as you suggest, I think they're gonna make TokaiSA a lot of bucks and keep him busy ordering more - especially given the quality of the MIC Epiphone LPs I saw some months ago ?

StephenG

singemonkey wrote: I just hope the stores advertise them at decent prices. I felt that some of the sticker prices on some Tokais I checked out recently would put off people who don't know about the whole discounting system, while other brands seemed to be advertised closer to their actual sale price.

If the stores advertise these ALS48s at R9K, they shouldn't be surprised if they don't fly off the racks. At around R5.6K, as you suggest, I think they're gonna make TokaiSA a lot of bucks and keep him busy ordering more - especially given the quality of the MIC Epiphone LPs I saw some months ago ?

well to be fair - if they dont know about the whole discounting system, then they hardly likely to know about any quality issues with the newer MIC Epiphones either...

so that type of buyer will most likely be influenced by name brand recognition, or seriously low - cant-be-refused- offer on the MIC Tokais.

singemonkey

Dude. I didn't even know about that system until I started hanging out on the forum. I just thought all the guitars in the stores were insanely expensive and only a lunatic would buy one from them. It never occurred to me to ask, "Is this MIM Stratocaster really going for R12K?" any more than I'd ask the same question about an item in the super-market. Yet I could already spot a POS guitar ?

domhatch

i just started buying all my stuff from the one store that would always give me a good deal, and a good deal more besides. sadly, that store closed its doors on saturday. (quiet sob.) ah well, the search beginneth all over again...

recommendations gladly accepted.
dh

VellaJ

So from what I've heard, the MIJ Love Rocks are excellent competition for the Gibson LP. So what about these MIC ones? If they're competition for the higher-end Epiphones, do they still sound like a LP?

AlanRatcliffe

Gibson scale length, set neck, humbuckers so they are in the ballpark at least and conventional size and thickness, which puts them above most of the inexpensive copies. According to the Guitarist reviews they compare well but are a little brighter than a traditional Les Paul (probably down to the maple neck - and not a bad thing IMO) and a little lighter (also good).

One thing I'm not 100% sure of is what the bodies are made off. Guitarist says basswood, so does tokai.co.za. But tokai.co.uk reports them as alder and online stores list them as either alder or agathis. Hopefully, it is basswood - basswood and maple (or in this case, its soundalike - sycamore) is usually a good combo.

Ray

When I was shopping round for a SG Toms offered me by faaaaar the lowest retail of any of the stores. Andf I called all over and tried the is that the lowest thing as well. I'll go take a look when in town again.

guyfeld

These guitars seem great value for money..(especially if you can organize one for R5.5K) Real used Les Paul Studio's are going for about this much in the States, though. I was recently astounded at the quality of the Classic Vibe Strats coming out of China..I was recently in the UK and the CV's were selling for well under 300 pounds full list, while they are about R5500 full list here! these Tokai's looks like the Les Paul version of the Classic vibes!

singemonkey

guyfeld wrote: These guitars seem great value for money..(especially if you can organize one for R5.5K) Real used Les Paul Studio's are going for about this much in the States, though. I was recently astounded at the quality of the Classic Vibe Strats coming out of China..I was recently in the UK and the CV's were selling for well under 300 pounds full list, while they are about R5500 full list here! these Tokai's looks like the Les Paul version of the Classic vibes!

I'm not sure how much I'd want an LP Studio if it was real used. ? It's a bit futile to compare used prices in the USA to new prices in SA. I'm guessing a new LP Studio here comes in very close to R10K - if not over. For that money I'd always go for the classic, solid body, bound body and neck, made-in-Japan Tokai LS98. I think the only Gibson that competes at the low end (R10K level) is the Flying V - if classic '50s and '60s Gibson designs are what you're after.

Grant-Fouche

I've setup a lot of these ls48 models in the last week or two, for the price they're hard to beat.
They look the part and they feel and play very smoothly, the necks and fretwork are excellent.
I was surprised at how good they are.

The made in Japan models are the best Les Pauls I've played or worked on, at twice the price they're worth the money.

Cheers
Grant

PJH

Grant Fouche wrote: I've setup a lot of these ls48 models in the last week or two, for the price they're hard to beat.
They look the part and they feel and play very smoothly, the necks and fretwork are excellent.
I was surprised at how good they are.

The made in Japan models are the best Les Pauls I've played or worked on, at twice the price they're worth the money.

Cheers
Grant

+1

Lance brought a Chinese Tokai to our gig last Sunday and I had a chance to sit with the guitar and play it for quite a while. This guitar hadn't been setup, it was straight out of the box. I could easily have played it at the gig if only it had 11's on it. The strings were a bit too light for me but other than that the neck, frets etc werew spot on.

I've been playing Tokais now for almost two years and the Chinese one was pretty close to what I'm used to. If I have to find anything that I didn't like it would have to be that compared to the Japanese ones that I have, the Chinese Tokai is bit too light for me. I want the guitar to be as heavy as possible. But then that's just my personal choice.

In fact these guitars could be the perfect gigging guitars.

Cheers,

Peter.