NGD :) 2017 MIJ Tokai Love Rock LS150 HDC

SteveF

As mentioned in the thread about haggling, I picked this up yesterday.  I'd been looking around at various Les Pauls, tried a 2018 Gibson Classic and Traditional but this blew them both out of the park both in terms of aesthetics (IMO, obviously) and playability.  QC is flawless on this, lovely fret work and finishing. 

As far as I can tell (and please correct me if I'm wrong, any Tokai experts out there - keen to know as much detail as possible about it) it's an unchambered 1 piece back, solid AAA maple top and rosewood board.  The neck has a lovely shape which I would describe as medium to chunky.  I believe the pickups are Tokai's own Vintage Mk II PAFs and it has a Gotoh bridge with brass saddles.  Not 100% on what the nut is. 

It has the UK style headstock with the "nipple" but I actually don't mind it at all.  I'm sure it will be less desirable if it came to resale, but I think it is the least offensive non-gibson shape LP headstock there is. 

Definitely worth mentioning the excellent service I got from Martin and his sidekicks (apologies if you're on here gents, I can't recall your names!) at the Little Guitar Shop in Birmingham.  Cups of tea and good chat for a couple of hours, pulled all of these out of the back so I could try each individual guitar as much as I wanted and I was trying various models too - no hard upsell to the higher models.  I will certainly be using them again.  Really knew his stuff with MIJ guitars and had some lovely Tokai Strats and 335s in too.  I managed to bag a deal that I was happy with and even after the deal was done, Martin threw a couple of sets of strings of my choice in a nice little guitar calendar too.  After a couple of years of mainly online or big shops for most of my purchases, this was a little reminder of why the little shops are still great. 

SteveF

Ah, managed to find a spec online on another site: 

The Japan Custom Tokai LS150 Love Rock features include a solid mahogany body; True AAA carved maple top; Long tenon deep set '59 rounded one piece mahogany neck with premium dark rosewood fingerboard; Tokai Vintage MKII PAF humbucking pickups; CTS pots; orange drop Sprague capacitors; Switchcraft switch and jack; Gotoh hardware including aluminium tailpiece, ABR1 with brass saddles; vintage style Kluson tuners; full Nitro-cellulose lacquer finish.

Legionreturns

Beautiful! Happy NGD

Winny_Pooh

Nice finish too! Great guitars

Limehouse_Blues

Very nice. Big Tokai fan here. I think your top is probably veneer over a solid cap and the back is 2 piece by the looks of things. The fretwork and playability out of the box of new MIJ Tokais is top notch

richardhomer

Very nice indeed - though I was surprised this wasn’t an @ellwood thread....

SteveF

Limehouse_Blues said:

Very nice. Big Tokai fan here. I think your top is probably veneer over a solid cap and the back is 2 piece by the looks of things. The fretwork and playability out of the box of new MIJ Tokais is top notch

Can't see any evidence of a veneer when I look in the pickup cavity.  It certainly seems to be solid.  Same with the back, I can't see any join to suggest a 2 piece. Can normally tell from looking end on, but I can't see any lines etc to suggest it's not a 1 piece, same with the neck.  Either way, it sounds great  

ellwood

richardhomer said:

Very nice indeed - though I was surprised this wasn’t an @ellwood thread....

Not guilty for a change!

That’s a stunner @SteveF  Happy NGD!

thermionic

I would have haggled for a pickguard

rico

Great score!

SteveF

thermionic said:

I would have haggled for a pickguard

It was (and is) in the case

BloodEagle

Thats a bit pretty - that will definitely not be a veneer for the record - on a Chinese Tokai yes, but on a full fat MIJ Tokai like this it is a flamed maple cap.

horsehead

Could be a sycamore cap

Philly_Q

SteveF said:

thermionic said:

I would have haggled for a pickguard

It was (and is) in the case

Stick a Gibson truss rod cover on and it's perfect.

Very, very nice.

LaCathedrale_UK

How much did it set you back? I've found my new Edwards '56-style LP to be all the guitar my USA Gibson is, aside from the finish - and I see this one is nitro?

SteveF

LaCathedrale_UK said:

How much did it set you back? I've found my new Edwards '56-style LP to be all the guitar my USA Gibson is, aside from the finish - and I see this one is nitro?

I paid £1600 for it.  It was listed at £1695.  I was happy enough, it seemed to match other prices I've found online for a new one in the UK.  It also blew the spots off the LP classic I tried in a similar price range.   FWIW, I believe this model is a specced as per a '59 (or a '59 reissue?).  

SteveF

@LaCathedrale_UK I did try the LS128 which is (I think) a 2 piece back and poly finish.  Guitar was very nearly as good as this one to be honest.  I would have been happy enough, but the violin burst wasn't very bursty and I didn't really like the lemon drop they had in. 

SteveF

@Philly_Q  I did think about that actually, I was wondering if one would fit - i.e. are the holes the same distance apart?  I might take a punt  (If this comment pops up 3 times, I apologise! - I have done it twice now and it hasn't shown for some reason!)

SteveF

horsehead said:

Could be a sycamore cap

From all the specs etc I can find online it is defo maple. 

Philly_Q

SteveF said:

@Philly_Q  I did think about that actually, I was wondering if one would fit - i.e. are the holes the same distance apart?  I might take a punt  (If this comment pops up 3 times, I apologise! - I have done it twice now and it hasn't shown for some reason!)

I don't know if the holes always line up, but I put a Gibson truss rod cover on my MIJ Tokai SG-155 and it fits perfectly.

SteveF

Great stuff I'll take a punt then