Hey, GAR...

[Coyote]

What's your opinion on them Tokai Love Rocks?

[GAR]

Freind of mine is convinced he's got a 68 Black Beauty, but I know from my research it's a Tokai Love Rock.

I've seen em on Ebay go around $375 up to $550 for real clean ones, I like 'em. The neck and (nonvolute) volute portion below the nut area is blended really well and its a choice stick of wood, balancewise.

I'd want one myself if I was into Gibson scale length right now, but I'm on a Fender kick. I go back n forth, between a short n long.. once in awhile I can't put down my Duosonic cus its scale length feels funky enough to get into for awhile - but I like the Tokai's alot. Fine guitars - nowadays. Depends on the year, 80s ones I'd seen before were crap to me.

[Coyote]

I'm planning to get one (brand new), so thanks for your opinion, dude.

Really helped me out.

[Cato]

buy with confidence Coyote. but don't take a Korea-made one...

this's my Love Rock, made in the early '80s. beautiful one...

[GAR]

He may not have a choice:

These guitars are not supposed to be in the U,S, because they're fairly exact copies of the Les Paul design, trademarked by Gibson. The Japoid copies are exact, and the korean ones may have some differences to make them not so precise.

Fender's agreement with its' Asian manufacturers' preclude the necks and bodies from being interchangeable - a giveaway that by moving the intonation point further towards the bride by 3/8", horns of the cutaways slightly wierd and the contours all funky and undershaped, one can then tell it's not a Fender but may be an Import.

.. how appropriate Cato should own more pirated items of copywrite infringement besides music.

[Coyote]

What kind of stock p'ups do these axes have?
I was thinking of changing the bridge p'up for a Gibson 500T.

[GAR]

Depends on level experience and rig youplay thru as much as what type of songs you wanna play.

I'd have a quick answer from the Seymour Duncan catalogue usually, but ebay's full of other stuff I'd suggest you try first now.

Any T-top Gibson humbucker made from 1970 up to about 1980 is a good start, you can find these onebay for under $100 and are a good value because they will increase in value over a number of years.

Any Seymour Duncan humbucker sh-1 thru sh-12 is a good bet too, because Duncans are about the most consistent pickup brand.

But the stock Tokai pickups aren't so great, and you do wise to change them to something US made. If not ofr the fact that youshoud be into trying different sounds for you rguitar to output from: pickups are just transducers and a bad or lame one will only provide limitations you later wish you'd upgraded from when in a band setting.

Upgrade now and build your library of pickups now, before your bandmates potentially tell you to.

[Coyote]

Well, my Les Paul-ideas (sonic ideas, that is) rotate around Zeppelin/Thin Lizzy, albeit I'm currently in a quasi-punk band.
And I'm applying to a pop/jazz conservatoire.

What's with these brand new 500T's? Why does it have to be specifically from the 70's/80's?

[Coyote]

Originally posted by GAR
But the stock Tokai pickups aren't so great, and you do wise to change them to something US made.

I noticed that upon testing the guitar in the store. It didn't sound as "solid" as I would've hoped it would... That's why I'd opt for a 500T, for that nice, solid sound. Hell, if I'd have the money, I'd get me a Les Paul Classic.

[GAR]

Originally posted by Coyote
What's with these brand new 500T's? Why does it have to be specifically from the 70's/80's?

The seventie's Gibsons were made during a period that the factory was owned by a corporation called Norlin, Inc. so we call that the "Norlin Era". Pickups made during this period were very consistentl as far as alnico magnet strength and the way the bobbins were wound. They're easy to modify and sound great when peeled down.

500T's are pretty strong output, and you can get em on ebay about $35 bucks, but I don't recommend them when, for at that price if you want a ceramic-bar magnet, why not get a Seymour SH-6 Custom or a Duncan Distortion humbucker for about the same price?

Buy a lot of pickups, invest in them and get used to switching them in and out for different types of responses. Youll find your ear gets trained a little differently with each pickup and its the cheapest way to having a totally new sound for the same guitar - beats the hell out of keeping a bunch of different guitars on hand just for differnt sounds.

[Coyote]

I just purchased it today. I'm in fucking love! Played through my setup it kicks out a pretty decent Aerosmith-"Toys In The Attic"-sound. The setup is just right. (they were nice enough to set it at the store.)

[Panamark]

Tokai Love Rocks, hey ?

Japoids are exact copies of Les Pauls ??
Thats a huge statement to make..
How do you know this for a fact ? (If you dont
mind me asking)

So these are better than Epi - Pauls ??

[Coyote]

reviews...

http://www.harmony-central.com/Guitar/Data4/Tokai/Love-Rock-01.html

http://www.harmony-central.com/Guitar/Data4/Tokai/LS-320-Les-Paul-01.html

website...

http://www.tokai-guitars.co.uk

BTW, Gar, do the covers on some pickups have any significant meaning? (nickel, etc...)

[GAR]

Yeah, they do because the less magnetism (MU factor) the covers cut out reaching out from the polepieces to the guitar string, the duller sounding its gonna be.

That's why some pickups sound better when the covers are removed and why most replacement pickups are sold without covers.

Duncan's Antiquity Series come with an intentionally tarnished/fucked up nickel plated cover and it does sound abit more on the "live" side to me, but since it too is magnetic its' additional clarity may be lost on the average player who does Pantera and Tool grunknoise so for them, the look without the cover is just for the look since tone is not an issue.

If the MU factor of magnetic penetration could be measured you'd use a Gaussmeter and hold the sensor tip over the polepieces, and then pass the covers you want to measure between the sensor. I used to collect covers and had a shit load of oldies, I had once planned to investigate magnetic penetration amongst older covers to make a determination of what's the best, most transparent sounding cover. But I quickly came to the conclusion that sound is affected more by the way the coils are wrapped and the way the cover is attached than anything, so at this time I have no interest in the MU factor of covers.

I do insist there is a detectable difference to my ears, but to prove this to the deaf of ear one must show it on paper in some measurable gain-or-loss fashion by a/b'ing them all in a specific database which I currently have no time to do.

[Coyote]

So if I were to remove the covers from my pickups, what tools and how much patience would I need? 'Cause I'm getting tired of crankin' up the treble just to make sound good...