"There's something more full about this one." I also own both. Tokai make them more like they were made in the '50s. The sound people expect. A modern Gibson Standard is quite different from an old fashioned LP. He could only tell from the modern features of the Gibson. I love both of mine, but the Tokai is more like the guitars that made me want to play Les Pauls in the first place.
+thecaveofthedead Hi there, thanks for the comment. Yes the more modern features of the Gibson are a dead giveway to a Les Paul enthusiast. This is the reason why we picked Daf to do the test as he's more of a Strat kind of guy.
@@andriebayuajie6503 That depends on the model. E.g. Tokai LS2-models have selected woods and guaranted max. weight of 3950 gram (8 lb and 9.5685 oz), which presumably is lighter than most of Gibson LP Standards or Traditionals, w/o weight releif, that is.
@@PeteWizzle Yes, gibsons the guitars you need to keep fixing yourself to do basic shit like stay in tune. How about the shitty neck/headstock scarf joint and terrible neck heel. Can you fix those?
Schaller Roller bridge and a well set Tuscany nut with graphite grease in the slots. Remember to stretch the strings out of the nut when tuning down to pitch then tune back up to the nut. My les hardly goes out of tune unless I am playing very heavily with super bendy riffs then l let the guitar sit for sometime. With that said….they all fall out of tune without a good set-up. So moot statement.
i have an upgraded tokai love rock and i did the same thing with a guitar luthier blind folded and he picked tokai as the les paul, those tokai are so well made, mine was not cheap at all.
yeah all the armature guys do this drown it in reverb so the test is useless,alos these sorts record reverb on there lps making them sound instantly cheap
I'm a french guitarist and bought a Tokai in the 2000's, where Gibson's where judged to be rather over-expensive in regard of the given quality. I had several Gibson's myself before, and had the pleasure to play on numerous Gibson's on my "quest of the good old Les Paul" sound. And it's the upper range Tokai that putted a stop to this quest. They look like nothing special from far, but they are incredibly well crafted and a pleasure to play. The sound is all what you expect from an old Les Paul. I don't say that it smokes Gibson guitars. But my 2'000 bucks LS195S is an absolute equal guitar to a Gibson 1960 VOS that would have been carefully select from a bunch of a dozen other VOS. Its that good.
I read in an article that Billy Gibbons owns and loves a Tokai Les Paul. So if one of the all time greats and one of the most respected guitarists in rock history is impressed, then i call bull shit on the Gibson snobs who look down their noses at anything that doesn't say Gibson on the headstock. Gibbons is used to playing a '59 Les paul which would easily fetch $ 250,000 if it ever went to auction , so if a Tokai had the tone and playability to impress Gibbons then there must be some very special models floating around out there. Just my opinion.
I’ve been a Gibson player for 40 years. I’ve played a few of the Les Paul copies Edwards- Burny- Orville and Tokai. The Orville and the Tokai are the closest that I’ve found to a genuine Les Paul. These are Customs that I’m talking about. The Tokai especially have the proper neck profile, most of the other ones have been very thin necks. I like the Tokai so much I’m looking to buy one you really can’t go wrong with the Japanese quality and what you get for the price is incredible. That was a cool video would have loved to see it done with a 3rd guitar of a different brand. I’m currently looking to get a Tokai LPC 156. Beautiful guitars!
I've had both now. Still have the tokai. Re: the comments below, everyone wants to play with the hottest pickups they can find, and you put a PAF in guitars and 15% of the players (usually the better players who want to record or play in a serious band) will prefer the old setup with the lower output pickups, but the other 85% of the market where the maker needs to make the money - they just want hotter and hotter pickups and the promise of lower actions and thinner necks. Those super-hot pickups don't sound that great on a record, though. The difference that I can see between tokai and gibson is gibson's standards are about 2k used now (mine is now gone, but when I bought it in 2004, it was $1600 used, and I bit it a little and sold it for $1400 a couple of years later). I got a tokai HLS -160 that is as good of a guitar, and it cost less than half as much. The person who would change the stock pickups on either would probably change them on both (instead of learning what they like and playing them just as they are), so there's not much difference between the two except you're gambling sometimes trying to get consistent quality out of Gibson. They got me on a '61 reissue SG that never should've left the factory and could never be made right for less than the cost of just buying another one.
Funny he feels a "real Les Paul" with the Tokai. I've been reading about these Tokais and how they are more like the original Les Paul's than the modern Gibson Les Paul's
Reason why I own one, and before its over.... will own another Love Rock. This one currently is a complete P90 beast. Have 4 super die hard Gibson guys ready to buy it if I ever sell it.
c Johnson hi i to have both and know a bit of history , i will share with you. The japanese at the time were trying to win a contract with Gibson for manufacture, so they did there upmost to make a sample better, to impress Gibson ( which they did) ; unfortunatly Tokia didnt get the order and had invested a lot of time and money in tooling , so they produced an initial batch of 200 then ended up in a law suit and lost, hence its name of the "illegal model" it got banned from the states (making it more valuable) basically Tokia did the job Gibson was supposed to do! and at that time Japan had all the latest equipment for mass production so to conclude people will be waiting for you to sell it maybe more so now if they have read my reply to you. A very well known man in the worlds top 10 of guitarists, owns one and paid £7500 for it 5 years ago and states its a bargain find; it was this guy who told me the history. so my thoughts on this video is which one should be called a copy? or to be fare which one is the better quality i know.
Tokai Vintage and Premium are more like the Gibson Custom shop LPs in the way they are built and are probably closer to vintage specification than any Gibson USA Les Paul. Another matter if comparing a top end Tokai to a Gibson Custom Shop LP!
I like that he plucked a couple of notes and really did not play anything. Not sure I could really gauge a guitar by hitting the low E on the 3rd fret a few times!
Hi there, thanks for the comment! Its hard to say. In some areas, the Tokai is better, such as build quality. I believe the newer Gibson's are far better when it comes to build quality. The Gibson is better than the Tokai as far as tone and resonance goes, but nothing a new set of pickups wouldn't solve.
It would have been better if both guitars would have same pickups. :) And if player has any experience about many different pickups, it's more easier to notice which is which.
Yes the tokai does sound and play better than the Gibson I have an ls 95 gold top, also hardly any difference between the higher tokai models ( if you can get a lighter ls 95) 8lbs or so ,but even some of the higher models on the tokai range are heavy as well. They are better made than Gibsons finish and uniformity.
That is a lot harder to do than most people think. :) Right up to 7:20 he seemed sure the Tokai was a Gibson. Even at the end he wasn't sure, he was "hoping" he was right.
Interesting to see how close these are... as an owner of both, they are a lot closer than many people will give credit for and the small differences are subjective.... just go to a Gibson dealer and play 3 LPs back to back.. they're all different anyway... some you'll like the feel of and others you won't.... fun video though - nice one!
Every guitar is different. But the build quality between these two guitars is quite similar. I think the Gibson edges it but the Tokai is just as good and plays great.
i know i'm a bit "late" her...(...6 years on...!!!)..but this must be the blind fold challenge with the least played gutars....haha......why not just "hold" them??? overall pretty chaotic test guys...hope you've "improved a bit since then ....:-)
I noticed a slight but distinct Gibson roar as the Tokai was swapped over to the Gibson. Good test, both guitars sound great. Maybe Epiphone vs Tokai next time?
the reverb is too much to really tell but the Gibson pickups sound a little better in my opinion, however I only play Tokai and Yamaha now a days, bang for the buck, pickups can be changed... sold my gibsons quite some time ago, just not stage friendly...what i mean can't afford to hack them up on stage, so i play a 500 dollar tokai.
la verdad que si te costo tomarte 7 minutos para comparar a la famosa gibson q sale fortuna vs una Tokai significa que gibson es puro mito de marca... ya que si te guias por sonido se acerca muchisimo y la diferencia de precio es abismal..... insisto.... gibson no vale lo que cuesta mucho menos en esta epoca
Could be price Placebo if you think the Gibson sounds better. Tokai know what to be at when it comes to making vintage-esque Les Paul's. Superior guitars.
Tokai 1400€ Gibson 1930€ It s a few BEST Gibson but if You won't be música profesional better tokai and tokay reborn 2100€ same Gibson 2900€ the tokai reborn the BEST 800€ diffferents
These videos comparing copy Les Paul's to the real thing says it all!!! Their copies!!! My 2003 honey burst standard and 2017 goldtop classic play awesome and stay in tune!!! In the end they are still copies or fake...and still longing for the real thing!!!
Tokai's Premium range are staying in tune too. When I compare my instrument to Gibson SG or Les Paul Standard, it has a better stability in tuning. I strongly believe that, even when you copy, you can search to outpass the original. And it looks like exactly what Tokai is aiming for.
@@savedandblessed79 I own a 2000 model, in not kidding when i tell you a friend of mine borrowed it for a gig cause his les pual was in the shop, then he called me saying that he was going to deliver his Les Paul instead if i was willing to trade, i said no.
Id steal either/both guitars I do not discriminate wen it comes to guitars...wonder if the judge will see it the same way..or the musician I liberated any saud instrument from...bandit guitar...or thinking you musical types would throw in to buy the guitar thief a decent guitar...or the thefts continue. .your lps will never be safe...
"There's something more full about this one." I also own both. Tokai make them more like they were made in the '50s. The sound people expect. A modern Gibson Standard is quite different from an old fashioned LP. He could only tell from the modern features of the Gibson. I love both of mine, but the Tokai is more like the guitars that made me want to play Les Pauls in the first place.
+thecaveofthedead Hi there, thanks for the comment. Yes the more modern features of the Gibson are a dead giveway to a Les Paul enthusiast. This is the reason why we picked Daf to do the test as he's more of a Strat kind of guy.
Is tokai guitar weight the same like gibson or lighter?
@@andriebayuajie6503 That depends on the model. E.g. Tokai LS2-models have selected woods and guaranted max. weight of 3950 gram (8 lb and 9.5685 oz), which presumably is lighter than most of Gibson LP Standards or Traditionals, w/o weight releif, that is.
better quality craftsmanship too....superior in fact....
I can hear ya' !
If it goes out of tune, you know it's a Gibson.
lol
allgoo19 that's old 🙄🙄🙄
Learn to set up your Gibson... then it doesn't go out of tune so often.
@@PeteWizzle Yes, gibsons the guitars you need to keep fixing yourself to do basic shit like stay in tune. How about the shitty neck/headstock scarf joint and terrible neck heel. Can you fix those?
Schaller Roller bridge and a well set Tuscany nut with graphite grease in the slots. Remember to stretch the strings out of the nut when tuning down to pitch then tune back up to the nut. My les hardly goes out of tune unless I am playing very heavily with super bendy riffs then l let the guitar sit for sometime. With that said….they all fall out of tune without a good set-up. So moot statement.
I have a Tribute LP and never out of tune... graphite on nute is love
i have an upgraded tokai love rock and i did the same thing with a guitar luthier blind folded and he picked tokai as the les paul, those tokai are so well made, mine was not cheap at all.
Having the reverb so high would have made it harder to tell them apart, don't you think?
Hi, thanks for the comment. You can clearly hear the difference through some quality studio monitors or headphones.
I agree with yer man. Way too much reverb for comfort or pleasure
agreed, reverb like that buries tone.
yeah all the armature guys do this drown it in reverb so the test is useless,alos these sorts record reverb on there lps making them sound instantly cheap
theguy with the "turban" hardly "played" either of them too......not much to go by.....
I'm a french guitarist and bought a Tokai in the 2000's, where Gibson's where judged to be rather over-expensive in regard of the given quality.
I had several Gibson's myself before, and had the pleasure to play on numerous Gibson's on my "quest of the good old Les Paul" sound. And it's the upper range Tokai that putted a stop to this quest. They look like nothing special from far, but they are incredibly well crafted and a pleasure to play. The sound is all what you expect from an old Les Paul. I don't say that it smokes Gibson guitars. But my 2'000 bucks LS195S is an absolute equal guitar to a Gibson 1960 VOS that would have been carefully select from a bunch of a dozen other VOS. Its that good.
I read in an article that Billy Gibbons owns and loves a Tokai Les Paul. So if one of the all time greats and one of the most respected guitarists in rock history is impressed, then i call bull shit on the Gibson snobs who look down their noses at anything that doesn't say Gibson on the headstock. Gibbons is used to playing a '59 Les paul which would easily fetch $ 250,000 if it ever went to auction , so if a Tokai had the tone and playability to impress Gibbons then there must be some very special models floating around out there. Just my opinion.
mine too...by the way....:-)
So did Steve Ray Vaughan and many more
If the neck feel is the only give away, that shows how good the Tokai is.
I’ve been a Gibson player for 40 years. I’ve played a few of the Les Paul copies Edwards- Burny- Orville and Tokai. The Orville and the Tokai are the closest that I’ve found to a genuine Les Paul. These are Customs that I’m talking about. The Tokai especially have the proper neck profile, most of the other ones have been very thin necks. I like the Tokai so much I’m looking to buy one you really can’t go wrong with the Japanese quality and what you get for the price is incredible. That was a cool video would have loved to see it done with a 3rd guitar of a different brand. I’m currently looking to get a Tokai LPC 156. Beautiful guitars!
I've had both now. Still have the tokai. Re: the comments below, everyone wants to play with the hottest pickups they can find, and you put a PAF in guitars and 15% of the players (usually the better players who want to record or play in a serious band) will prefer the old setup with the lower output pickups, but the other 85% of the market where the maker needs to make the money - they just want hotter and hotter pickups and the promise of lower actions and thinner necks.
Those super-hot pickups don't sound that great on a record, though.
The difference that I can see between tokai and gibson is gibson's standards are about 2k used now (mine is now gone, but when I bought it in 2004, it was $1600 used, and I bit it a little and sold it for $1400 a couple of years later). I got a tokai HLS -160 that is as good of a guitar, and it cost less than half as much.
The person who would change the stock pickups on either would probably change them on both (instead of learning what they like and playing them just as they are), so there's not much difference between the two except you're gambling sometimes trying to get consistent quality out of Gibson. They got me on a '61 reissue SG that never should've left the factory and could never be made right for less than the cost of just buying another one.
I chose between an SG and a PRS SE Custom, second hand. PRS won easily. Then I added some Seymour Duncan pick ups. Mint.
Funny he feels a "real Les Paul" with the Tokai. I've been reading about these Tokais and how they are more like the original Les Paul's than the modern Gibson Les Paul's
Reason why I own one, and before its over.... will own another Love Rock. This one currently is a complete P90 beast. Have 4 super die hard Gibson guys ready to buy it if I ever sell it.
c Johnson hi i to have both and know a bit of history , i will share with you. The japanese at the time were trying to win a contract with Gibson for manufacture, so they did there upmost to make a sample better, to impress Gibson ( which they did) ; unfortunatly Tokia didnt get the order and had invested a lot of time and money in tooling , so they produced an initial batch of 200 then ended up in a law suit and lost, hence its name of the "illegal model" it got banned from the states (making it more valuable) basically Tokia did the job Gibson was supposed to do! and at that time Japan had all the latest equipment for mass production
so to conclude people will be waiting for you to sell it maybe more so now if they have read my reply to you. A very well known man in the worlds top 10 of guitarists, owns one and paid £7500 for it 5 years ago and states its a bargain find; it was this guy who told me the history. so my thoughts on this video is which one should be called a copy? or to be fare which one is the better quality i know.
Just blindfold yourself and feel what guitar has the most fuckedup frets..
thats the gib !
I have the same desert burst. mine is a 2012 and I love it, its getting a worn in feel now after 10 years.
That Gibson is absolutely stunning though..
And this is supposed to be a test? Play a note, with the reverb turned up?
Love this distinctive Northern twang on the ligo, lads. Nice review BTW!
Tokai Vintage and Premium are more like the Gibson Custom shop LPs in the way they are built and are probably closer to vintage specification than any Gibson USA Les Paul. Another matter if comparing a top end Tokai to a Gibson Custom Shop LP!
Wich tokai model is it?
Of course you can tell the difference - the tokai plays better every time (assuming equal pro set ups)
he preferred the tokai tone but only noticed the gibson by the neck so for me he preferred the tokai which i do
I like that he plucked a couple of notes and really did not play anything. Not sure I could really gauge a guitar by hitting the low E on the 3rd fret a few times!
On a scale from 1 to 10, how close does the tokai gets to a real gibson?
Hi there, thanks for the comment! Its hard to say. In some areas, the Tokai is better, such as build quality. I believe the newer Gibson's are far better when it comes to build quality. The Gibson is better than the Tokai as far as tone and resonance goes, but nothing a new set of pickups wouldn't solve.
is this an early 80s tokai loverock or is it just stock newer love rock?
It would have been better if both guitars would have same pickups. :) And if player has any experience about many different pickups, it's more easier to notice which is which.
Did you put it on the bridge pickup when he asked for the neck pickup on purpose?
Cool video. Japanese Tokais are very good quality, maybe minus the stock pickups.
Btw, maybe tell more about the specifics / possible mods made in the future. Cheers!
Hi. Glad that you enjoyed the video! We have done a more in depth look at the Tokai in this video - ua-cam.com/video/mPVYNC2Mb4c/v-deo.html
Yes the tokai does sound and play better than the Gibson I have an ls 95 gold top, also hardly any difference between the higher tokai models
( if you can get a lighter ls 95) 8lbs or so ,but even some of the higher models on the tokai range are heavy as well. They are better made than Gibsons finish and uniformity.
what is the model about the tokai?
A little more reverb please.....Ridiculous testing
That is a lot harder to do than most people think. :)
Right up to 7:20 he seemed sure the Tokai was a Gibson.
Even at the end he wasn't sure, he was "hoping" he was right.
Hi, thanks for the comment. Glad you enjoyed the video. We will be doing more blindfold tests soon. Watch this space!
needs more reverb
Daf lost the bet on everything that actually mattered 😅. A bit like... which one smells of vanilla? 😁.
Surely he can't hear properly with that blanket round his head.
Interesting to see how close these are... as an owner of both, they are a lot closer than many people will give credit for and the small differences are subjective.... just go to a Gibson dealer and play 3 LPs back to back.. they're all different anyway... some you'll like the feel of and others you won't.... fun video though - nice one!
Every guitar is different. But the build quality between these two guitars is quite similar. I think the Gibson edges it but the Tokai is just as good and plays great.
so frustrating.., PLAY THE THING MAN!
Turn the reverb off!
i know i'm a bit "late" her...(...6 years on...!!!)..but this must be the blind fold challenge with the least played gutars....haha......why not just "hold" them???
overall pretty chaotic test guys...hope you've "improved a bit since then ....:-)
Well... Japanese have made some pretty impressive copies and alternates.
Beautiful Tokai guitar :) noticed the Dragon Ball Xenoverse poster too ;)
nice..why not clean sound..this has much compression and distortion? I liked brighter gibson..but look are on tokai side...
I noticed a slight but distinct Gibson roar as the Tokai was swapped over to the Gibson. Good test, both guitars sound great. Maybe Epiphone vs Tokai next time?
Hi, Yes we could do a Tokai vs Epiphone but, we don't have a standard model available, we have access to a Epiphone Les Paul Custom.
If the Tokai & the Epiphone custom are within each others price range I'd say you've got a good comparison.
how weird he hardly plays to tell.i need to hear to know my axes feeling is one way but hearing is believing
The narrower nut is usually a dead giveaway
the reverb is too much to really tell but the Gibson pickups sound a little better in my opinion, however I only play Tokai and Yamaha now a days, bang for the buck, pickups can be changed... sold my gibsons quite some time ago, just not stage friendly...what i mean can't afford to hack them up on stage, so i play a 500 dollar tokai.
Pls do one of the SG TOKAI VS SG GIBSON
Is it a chinese Tokai?
The Gibson has noticeably better Neck pickup tone at 7:43.
the wall in the background looks a bit like the background on the very very old chappers videos....
la verdad que si te costo tomarte 7 minutos para comparar a la famosa gibson q sale fortuna vs una Tokai significa que gibson es puro mito de marca... ya que si te guias por sonido se acerca muchisimo y la diferencia de precio es abismal..... insisto.... gibson no vale lo que cuesta mucho menos en esta epoca
Could be price Placebo if you think the Gibson sounds better. Tokai know what to be at when it comes to making vintage-esque Les Paul's. Superior guitars.
It could be, but when it comes to guitars everything is subjective.
@@TheToneShed Nope. A cheapo naff guitar will always sound naff, even when played by a maestro.
Not really a fair test because they're not comparable variants.
Lol ' the way he tries to play ' probably the 1'st he's ever held a guitar,
Even a beginner would have told you to turn down the dam reverb.
Turn reverb off ffs
7:54 " put it on the neck pickup" .... puts it on the bridge pickup
I'm sea-sick already and that was only in the first 5 seconds.............hughie.................
A tokai doesn't have fret nibs and a Gibson does so all he has to do is feel the frets
Gibson makes great guitar ... Tokai make it better
So in the end he was only able to tell by the physical feel of the neck profile, and not the sound or anything else.
Not that he played much lol
Why not go out in the street and ask a passer by...
I could tell the difference in cost just by placing the cash for each in my mitts
Does not really prove much, it is just one individuals opinion, so he does not know his les Paul from his elbow!...........so it seemed until the end!
I mean do you know how to play the freaking thing, geez man....come on.
Nice shirt, Aled.
Take the hell off that pickguard.
06:49 shit that was creepy
ahhh shoulda just kept watching
wtf are you doing whien you stop playing and clicking the pedal...that's how you determined which one was the gibson...lol
50% is in the fingers........ at least. This bloke can't even tell middle position from bridge !!!!!!!!! He's not even playing them
why the fuck the camera is chewing a gum with his mouth open in a video about music?? Like are we suppose to not hear it? lmao
Maybe you knobs could have tuned the guitars.
Tokai 1400€ Gibson 1930€ It s a few BEST Gibson but if You won't be música profesional better tokai and tokay reborn 2100€ same Gibson 2900€ the tokai reborn the BEST 800€ diffferents
Do the same test with electronics swapped from one guitar to another. That would be challenging.
Lo siento creí que me ivan a gustar las dos pero no me ha gustado ninguna, no entiendo porque.
Gibson great tone!
These videos comparing copy Les Paul's to the real thing says it all!!! Their copies!!! My 2003 honey burst standard and 2017 goldtop classic play awesome and stay in tune!!! In the end they are still copies or fake...and still longing for the real thing!!!
infoowetrust I'd put my 2001 Tokai standard against any gibson
Tokai's Premium range are staying in tune too. When I compare my instrument to Gibson SG or Les Paul Standard, it has a better stability in tuning.
I strongly believe that, even when you copy, you can search to outpass the original. And it looks like exactly what Tokai is aiming for.
@@savedandblessed79 I own a 2000 model, in not kidding when i tell you a friend of mine borrowed it for a gig cause his les pual was in the shop, then he called me saying that he was going to deliver his Les Paul instead if i was willing to trade, i said no.
er 6 minutes in and the guy hasnt played anything?
Id steal either/both guitars I do not discriminate wen it comes to guitars...wonder if the judge will see it the same way..or the musician I liberated any saud instrument from...bandit guitar...or thinking you musical types would throw in to buy the guitar thief a decent guitar...or the thefts continue. .your lps will never be safe...
Gibson have a unique sound...so clarity. Tokay really good but dont have the same sound
There is a distinct but subtle difference between the two, this guy is just deaf.
👎
Next time, ask your camera man not to chew gum...
Fuckin reverb. And play something pleeasee?
:/
fallez redonner 2 fois la même guitare au début vous êtes nuls
boring af
U don't tell where the tokai is made. Useless review.