#black ls paul custom neck

[allthedesiredusernamesaretaken]

... remembering ...

45 years ago today the 29-year-old, former T. Rex singer Marc Bolan (born Mark Feld) was killed instantly when the car driven by his girlfriend, Gloria Jones, left the road and hit a tree in Barnes, London. Miss Jones broke her jaw in the accident. The couple were on the way to Bolan's home in Richmond after a night out at a Mayfair restaurant.

" Time passes so slowly if you are unaware of it and so quickly if you are aware of it. "

[jacoopenwindowblog-blog]

My Tokai LC-122 Review

Today, I will be reviewing my guitar that I am using currently (and will be using for many more years to come, my Vintage collection Tokai LC-122.) I will be talking about the company and the guitar itself, so strap in and enjoy.

The company:

Before we can review the guitar, we first have to delve into why it is a special item. Anyone who knows about guitar (or music in general) will know about two main companies called Gibson (The founder of the Les-Paul shape) and Fender (the founder of the Stratocaster, and Telecaster shapes) In 1970 the companies quality started to drop and people believed the big main guitar companies were making very strange decisions, and cutting high quality things to a lower degree. This lead to an era called the Guitar Lawsuit Era, where eastern country’s started to create replicas of the American models, for a lower price and higher quality.

This brings me to the Tokai name. Tokai is a Japanese guitar company founded in 1947. At first the company made its own guitars based of models from other companies (This also started the cat eyes series, that is concentrated on the Martin name) but in  1977 and 1978 the company really started going deep, making replicas of Gibson and Fender guitars. To this day, this company is known for high quality instruments (some people believe the quality to be even higher than the main companies) at a much better price than an American guitar.

The guitar company’s different lines are as follows (we will only concentrate on the main Gibson les-Paul company lines.) (Pictures will be added of the Tokai version and the Gibson version) (Each series in the Tokia Company has a Chinese and Japanese version (or the traditional and vintage series of each series) and there’s an extra line called the premium series, which is even higher quality than the rest.)

So why do this? Why talk about the companies first? Well…without it, we wouldn’t be able to see the value of the instrument for the review.

So let’s start.

The guitar (SPECS)

My guitar, the LC-122, is a Vintage series guitar and is in an ebony finish. The specs are as follows:

BODY：Mahogany Two Pieces Top, Mahogany Two Pieces Back

NECK：Mahogany One Piece, Set-Neck, Head Angle 18°

FINGERBOARD：Rosewood

RADIUS：300R

FRETS：22F ♯213

SCALE：625/312.5mm

BRIDGE：LS-VB Bridge

LS-VT Tailpiece

NUT: (width) Bone(43.0mm)

INLAY：Block

PICKUPS：PAF-Vintage MK2S×2

CONTROLS：2V.,2T, 3way Toggle SW

JACKS：Switchcraft

COLOR：BB

PRICE bought: R 12000.

Price now: R 17000- 21000.

Gibson equivalent: R100000.

The guitar (Sound)

The sound of a Tokia is not the same as a Gibson. It is close, but the Tokai pickups have more high end, while the Gibson pickups are thicker and more muddy. (So in other words, a Gibson has more bite, but a Tokai has more clarity)

Recordings (Please find them above this post)

All sound demos are played through a Focusrite Scarlett solo audio interface, and all of the tracks are improvisation)

The first recording is a direct monitor signal, and has no effects; it is the guitar’s tone alone.

The second recording is the same track, but the guitars do have effects on them (the effects are used from the program Peavey Revalver 3) and some tracks have different amps, cabinets, mic’s and mic positions. (From the same program)

The third and final recording is a completely new piece, focused on heavy rock and dirty tones. (Both the bridge and neck pickups are used through all three recordings.)

Please remember tone is in the fingers of the person playing, and how the person plays the instrument, so many people could make a professional track in an hour, while I can only create a track such as those uploaded.

Conclusion:

I believe Tokai to be a great brand for musicians wanting professional quality, but not being able to afford Gibson, or fender.  

(Pictures added are my Tokai and a Gibson custom (the guitar it is a replica of)

The Tross rod cover is the only thing that is not stock (the bell)

As you can see the Guitar above is a real Gibson custom (The big difference is that the neck is made of Ebony and not rosewood, that is why it is black)

You can find the real Gibson here: http://www.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/2016/Custom/True-Historic-1957-Les-Paul-Custom-Black-Beauty.aspx (The one linked does have a yellow binding instead of a white one, but a white binding version does exist)

You can see the Tokai equivalent here: http://www1.odn.ne.jp/tokaigakki/products/premium/lc220s.html

And you can find my version here: http://www1.odn.ne.jp/tokaigakki/products/vintage/lc132s.html

Tokai is legal in South africa (Unlike America) and are sold locally by dealers. So if you are interested in getting a Tokai, contact your nearest supplier.

Thank you I hope you enjoyed this review  and that it was satisfactory.