Gibson lp v Tokai lp: which to buy

Dave_Mc

jaygtr said:

rolls1392 said:

Thanks for the advice
Tbh heart says Gibson

If your your heart says Gibson, you'll  always regret buying something else.

Agreed (and I'm a Tokai fan).

I guess if you wanted to be sure, you should try a bunch of each head-to-head... though that can be difficult because I don't think Gibson dealers are allowed to stock Tokais.

Three-ColourSunburst

rolls1392 said:

Tbh heart says Gibson

Emotion should never be allowed to override reason.

jaygtr

Three-ColourSunburst said:

rolls1392 said:

Tbh heart says Gibson

Emotion should never be allowed to override reason.

When it it comes to guitars emotion should always override reason!

Three-ColourSunburst

Perhaps you should consider a Harley Benton or a Chibson, the quality might well be better that a 'real' LP!

"This is what happens when you become a profit driven zombie company trading on reputation alone."

Dominic

I have actually decided that this is a very boring argument
Tokai People will vote Tokai
Gibson people vote Gibson
And plenty of good guitarists are Strat or Tele people and wouldn't thank you for either 
You may as well ask Fender or Marshall amps ?

goldtop

OP. Try to look past the BS posted on this thread. Search other forums for info, as this is an age-old question. Top hits from Google:

http://www.seymourduncan.com/forum/showthread.php?276843-Gibson-VS-Tokai-looking-for-the-the-best-value-for-my-money

https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/my-gibson-vs-tokai-experience.618202/

https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/high-end-bacchus-or-tokai-comparison-to-gibson-custom-shop.487358/

Only you can decide whether the brand name (and all that comes with it) matters.

goldtop

Boromedic said:

goldtop said:

So there you have it: simple brand loyalty means you choose a guitar on something other than its merits, and it's easier to resell. 

Who has said that? ...
 

Who said that? You did: "I personally had to have the genuine article when I bought mine new in 99".

Boromedic said:

goldtop said:

So there you have it: simple brand loyalty means you choose a guitar on something other than its merits, and it's easier to resell. Fair enough; brand is important, important enough for SRV (even) to airbrush out the Tokai logo on the Texas Flood album cover, after all.

> You can get a great second-hand Gibson for £2K.

Indeed you can. But until you've compared it to an equivalent £2k used Tokai, we're back where we started.

 the op has expressed he wants a Gibson and will try some others along the way..

He also said: "I am no longer convinced a Gibson is the holy grail." I'm not the only one here pointing out the £-for-£ thing.

Anyhoo, I'm guessing you're not going to be persuaded. So I'll leave this thread alone.

jaygtr

goldtop said:

Boromedic said:

goldtop said:

So there you have it: simple brand loyalty means you choose a guitar on something other than its merits, and it's easier to resell. 

Who has said that? ...
 

Who said that? You did: "I personally had to have the genuine article when I bought mine new in 99".

Boromedic said:

goldtop said:

So there you have it: simple brand loyalty means you choose a guitar on something other than its merits, and it's easier to resell. Fair enough; brand is important, important enough for SRV (even) to airbrush out the Tokai logo on the Texas Flood album cover, after all.

> You can get a great second-hand Gibson for £2K.

Indeed you can. But until you've compared it to an equivalent £2k used Tokai, we're back where we started.

 the op has expressed he wants a Gibson and will try some others along the way..

He also said: "I am no longer convinced a Gibson is the holy grail." I'm not the only one here pointing out the £-for-£ thing.

Anyhoo, I'm guessing you're not going to be persuaded. So I'll leave this thread alone.

I doubt anybody will be persuaded by this thread.
everyone that loves Gibsons will still love Gibsons, and everyone that loves the copies will still love the copies. 
Which is just how it should be. 

If we all agreed this would be a very dull forum. 

Boromedic

goldtop said:

Boromedic said:

goldtop said:

So there you have it: simple brand loyalty means you choose a guitar on something other than its merits, and it's easier to resell. 

Who has said that? ...
 

Who said that? You did: "I personally had to have the genuine article when I bought mine new in 99".

Perhaps you should re-read your statement before you reply: "Simple brand loyalty means you choose a guitar on something other than on it's merits...."

Therefore instead of trying to decide what you think I meant in my statement which I qualified before I wrote that line, stating that I thought Tokai guitars are great as are some of the other brands from the same factories. I've tried most Japanese brands in varying grades of quality, not all of them before I bought mine but the same tired old cliches were being trotted out in guitar shops long before the internet took over. What do you want that over priced american rubbish for? You should try this "insert Japanese Les Paul copy" as they're better and it'll cost you less.

When I tried the 2 that were available to me at the time, an ebony custom copy by Burny and a burst Tokai (god knows what age, grade, or spec they were as it was 18+ yrs ago, both were second hand though), no they weren't as good as the Gibson I bought. The Burny was actually better than one of the bursts I tried in Williams Music, but once I tracked down the Heritage Cherry one in another store it was the one for me. Therefore I bought the Gibson that so offends you on its merits as it was the better guitar of the ones I tried, not the fact that it had Gibson on the headstock. I wanted a Gibson yes, and when I found it was the best one for me, then "I personally had to have the genuine article" if that Tokai had been a better guitar then maybe I would've changed my mind. I'm not actually that much of a brand whore to be fair, in fact I like the idea of flying under the radar with something a little different like my Genz Benz amp.

So stop passing your bias off on everyone else's opinions and stick to your own as that's all that was asked. No one questioned your choices and just stated their own thought process, most of them said they quite liked the Japanese guitars, me included. Once again you're the only one trying to enforce an opinion on others all because they don't agree with you. In fact the post before the one I've quoted you start by saying, OP look beyond the BS in this thread..... which is just another way of showing you can't be wrong because look, some other people with opinions say so on the internet.... No one is quoting BS, they are talking about their experiences.

Jeez yes the world would be a boring place if we all agreed as would this forum as suggested above, but please stop telling everyone else you're right and they are wrong. We all know where you stand and that's great, I'm so pleased for you that you have made your mind up but we are all also entitled to our opinions based on experience, and no one has flamed you for your choices. Stop flaming ours and putting words or suggestions in our mouths implying we can't make our own minds up and are blinded by the mighty god Gibson ffs.

Dave_Mc

Three-ColourSunburst said:

Emotion should never be allowed to override reason.

jaygtr said:

When it it comes to guitars emotion should always override reason!

I try to do a bit of both. With varying levels of success...

LaCathedrale_UK

So as a side question to this thread - are any other builders making nitro-finished, classically appointed LP/335-style instruments which don't cost an arm and a leg other than Tokai? I ask specifically because Heritage and Collings appear to be the go-to, but way out of my budget.

EDIT: FGN notwithstanding

Chalky

WilliamAyerst said:

So as a side question to this thread - are any other builders making nitro-finished, classically appointed LP/335-style instruments which don't cost an arm and a leg other than Tokai? I ask specifically because Heritage and Collings appear to be the go-to, but way out of my budget.

EDIT: FGN notwithstanding

I've got Gibson, Tokai, PRS, Collings and Heritage. A PRS McCarty for about £1k is superb quality and value, and the Heritage is more Gibson-like for that price but much rarer. 

Jock68

Ignore the label, buy waht you feel is right.  I sold 2 Gibson Les Paul Customs and bought 2 Momose MLS1 in their place, far better guitars. I also have a Bacchus LP Classic that was more than a match for a Gibson LP Standard that I had.   I find it amazing that Gibson sell 59 Reissues every year and they actually change the spec every year and still people buy them.