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Japanese les paul questions


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Ok, i love my Orville but was wondering what you guys think was the best of the Japanese les pauls of the 70s-80s-90s? Ibanez? Orville? Tokai? Burny? Greco? I asked a guy who i bought the orville from and he told me greco on the higher end models, burny on others? Ive never heard of greco being one of the best but id love to hear your thoughts.

 

As for specs, i prefer thin 60s type necks, paf classic sounding pickups and am not a fan of the whole push/pull thing (not sure if those even had this feature) but that's kind of what im looking for. The pickups really arent as important to me as having a thin neck, i find slim necks much easier for my small hands to get around on.

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The person you bought it from was lying through his teeth; many of these guitars were made in the same factories alongside each other. The model number indicates the original price and, therefore, 'trim level.' There are high-end Grecos and Burnys and Orvilles and Tokais and lower-end models as well. They will look superficially the same but may have differences in construction, finish, materials, and electronics, not terribly unlike Gibson USA v. Gibson Custom.

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Tokai Love Rock are one of the top Japanese Les Paul style guitars now...

 

Back then there were a number of makers coming out of the same factory, but yes with different accoutrements and finish/quality levels.

 

Memphis was one of those brands too that was involved in the lawsuits.

 

I had a Memphis in the 1980's and it was really good.

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Where I grew up, when I grew up, we all wanted to get rid of our Japanese copies and get a real guitar. Ibanez is, to me, still a company that copies real guitars, even though they haven't been that for a long long time.

 

You are comparing the crap to find the best smelling crap. They weren't real, they were fake copies, they were all crap. Period. We hated them.

 

Sorry. Had to get that out.

 

rct

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My buddy has owned several Orville and Orville by Gibson Les Pauls and they were just sublime,he has also bought Burnys that were equally stellar examples of the Japanese attention to detail and their striving for excellence.One of the most incredible Les Pauls that he bought however was a double cut Les Paul Special copy made by Edwards,that little guitar was a demon when it was cranked,the P-90s in that guitar were the hottest that I've ever heard,yet when you rolled back the volume she sounded as mellow and warm as you could ever hope for. The mahogany body was 2 piece but the join wasn't easily found and took a couple of minutes of real hard looking to find it. If you were to go on the Guitars Japan site you'd see some excellent examples of Japanese Gibsons-some such as the Momose even costing more than actual Gibson Les Pauls.You can find them here- http://www.guitarsjapan.com/ They also make great copies of Fender,Gretsch,Mosrite etc..

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Tokai Love Rock are one of the top Japanese Les Paul style guitars now...

 

Careful there. A lot of newer Tokai LPs are Korean made not Japanese made. Not sure they make them at all in Japan anymore and the nice used Japanese ones generally are over $1k.

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Careful there. A lot of newer Tokai LPs are Korean made not Japanese made. Not sure they make them at all in Japan anymore and the nice used Japanese ones generally are over $1k.

 

I have seen more bullsh1t written about Tokai Love Rock than any other guitar, usually by people that have never even walked past one.

 

rct

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I have seen more bullsh1t written about Tokai Love Rock than any other guitar, usually by people that have never even walked past one.

 

rct

 

Isn't that true of most everything people post on the Internet? (the lack of hands on, I mean). I owned one. Twas not bad - but not great. Better than the Epi I owned, truth be told, but not as nice as the Gibson LPs I have owned.

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Isn't that true of most everything people post on the Internet? (the lack of hands on, I mean). I owned one. Twas not bad - but not great. Better than the Epi I owned, truth be told, but not as nice as the Gibson LPs I have owned.

 

Oh yeah, for certain. Mine was not even meh. Pickups were thuddy, dull, and scratchy shrill all at one time, an accomplishment of sorts I suppose. It barely intonated a set of 9 - 42, probably the most common set of strings one could find on guitars at that time. The machines were garbage on mine, I never bothered to change them, because...

 

1. Tokai, Grecco, Eko, Kent, Degas, a slew of other Les Paul/Strat/Tele copies the names of which I can't even remember.

 

b. Les Paul, SG, Strat, Tele, Jazz, Precision, Tele Bass, and to a lesser degree, Firebird, Jr., L6.

 

The sum of the people I grew up guitar with, right on up to about the age of 25 when I started losing touch with them, that traded + cash one from group 1 for one from group b? EVERYBODY.

 

The sum of the people that I grew up guitar with that traded and got cash one from group b for one from group 1:

 

NOBODY.

 

Something in those equations doesn't square with the last...20 years or so of internet sales drivel. I know, we were only playing bars 4 nights a week three weeks a month and recording and stuff, what did we know?

 

rct

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Why not buy a used Studio and get the real thing? They're not that expensive and they're great guitars; surely you could find one with a neck profile you like.

 

Never mind, I see you already have a Studio. Better buy an SG, then!

 

 

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Why not buy a used Studio and get the real thing? They're not that expensive and they're great guitars; surely you could find one with a neck profile you like.

 

Never mind, I see you already have a Studio. Better buy an SG, then!

I own currently 2 les paul studios no need for a 3rd!

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