Finally got a few pics of the Tokai. Here's the first one:
I've had this guitar a few weeks now. I'm still deeply in love. Everything I'd read about Tokai is true. You can buy them sight-unseen.
For those who haven't been following and are wondering what this is, Tokai is a small Japanese company that has been making clones of 50s and 60s Gibsons and Fenders since the late seventies. Why? Because at the time the quality of both companies was at rock-bottom. Japanese players were crying out for the classic models that made these companies famous - something they chose not to give for profit reasons. Several local companies stepped into the gap and gave the world its first replicas of the famous vintage guitars.
Now they have been making these replicas longer than anyone else, even though Gibson and Fender have begun making their own replicas. Fender contracted their Japanese-made guitars to Tokai and other quality Japanese makers, while Gibson charged a huge premium for quality that came standard in the 50s and 60s.
Tokai has been doing it longer, and still at reasonable prices. This guitar is Tokai's equivalent of a 1958 Gibson Les Paul Standard. It's light, resonant, woody - and yet it's made from solid mahogany without "tone-chambers" or "weight-relief" that Gibson uses to bring it's low-grade mahogany down to 50s weight in its factory models. The stock pickups are comprehensively rich and deep. The tone is magical.
I think I know how Clapton felt when he plugged his 1960 Les Paul into an amplifier in the shop, played a bit, and said: "Yeah. I'll take it."
*update*
A pic I took of the guitar in its case at the same time as the pic above. I hear what Alan's saying about the cases - modern cases are much sturdier and plusher. But I do like the vintage Lifton style case for a Les Paul - especially since my other Les Paul's in a huge, bulky, plastic Gibson "Protector" (chainsaw case).
Anyway, I really dig this super-porno case.
Having just got a power supply I've been running this bad MF through a TS9 Tubescreamer and a Boss - Fender '63 Spring Reverb pedal. It has a
monstrous blues tone.
