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Post by drbill on Jan 25, 2020 21:17:12 GMT -6
Hey guys -
I've got a chance to buy a Tokai Gold Top (Japanese Les Paul copy). I believe it's around 10 years old or so.
I completely trust the guy I am getting it from, but need some ideas on pricing. It's in mint condition, has had all the electronics, pickups, wire and pots changed out to high end $$ replacements. Pickup wise, he put in Fralin Sunbucker Blues in the Neck and Fralin Pure PAF in the bridge positions. Also, the work was done by a good luthier who also set it up. Plays great.
So....any ideas on what the fair going price might be? I know he bought the guitar bone stock for $300 awhile back before doing all the work to it.
Many thanks for any suggestions. I've been jonesing for a LP Goldtop for a long time, and I don't think I could afford one as dialed in as this one appears to be.... Aside from the branding on the headstock, it appears to be identical to a Gibson.
Cheers,
bp
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Post by christopher on Jan 26, 2020 23:35:00 GMT -6
the non Gibson guitars are a great way to go, Gibson is so overpriced ...and the headstock will still break off someday, so it’s just not worth it usually. Epiphone and others use mahagony, so there’s no downside. Upgrade the pickups, pots and caps, fretjob and setup, they can be really good guitars. I guess fair price if you were to upgrade a new Epiphone would be $700-$1300 depending how far you go (vintage orange drop caps etc). So that’s probably similar to Tokai? Used you can probably negotiate a better deal, knock a couple hundred off that range if need be?
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Post by drbill on Jan 27, 2020 0:10:22 GMT -6
the non Gibson guitars are a great way to go, Gibson is so overpriced ...and the headstock will still break off someday, so it’s just not worth it usually. Epiphone and others use mahagony, so there’s no downside. Upgrade the pickups, pots and caps, fretjob and setup, they can be really good guitars. I guess fair price if you were to upgrade a new Epiphone would be $700-$1300 depending how far you go (vintage orange drop caps etc). So that’s probably similar to Tokai? Used you can probably negotiate a better deal, knock a couple hundred off that range if need be? Thanks! Much appreciated. |
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Post by matt on Jan 27, 2020 11:26:27 GMT -6
Hey guys - I've got a chance to buy a Tokai Gold Top Bill, a quick search of Reverb finds pricing all over the map- older Tokais from the 70s/80s appear to be collectible for some people! I would say that the primary value is in the pickups, so my range estimate would be $500-800 at most since new guitars are priced at $400-500 as seen in examples out of Spain right now. Tokai ALS 48 Gold Top |
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Post by drbill on Jan 27, 2020 11:32:06 GMT -6
Hey guys - I've got a chance to buy a Tokai Gold Top Bill, a quick search of Reverb finds pricing all over the map- older Tokais from the 70s/80s appear to be collectible for some people! I would say that the primary value is in the pickups, so my range estimate would be $500-800 at most since new guitars are priced at $400-500 as seen in examples out of Spain right now. Tokai ALS 48 Gold TopYeah, that's kinda what I was thinking. The guy I'm buying from is a friend, and he's meticulous about his builds. Always replaces all the wiring and pickups and caps, knobs, etc. with quality items. I figure he probably spent $400 getting it set up for himself.... But there's no doubt you'd can't get that out of a sell. So, I think there's a happy compromise someplace... Thanks for your thoughts. |
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Post by drbill on Jan 27, 2020 12:16:53 GMT -6
Found out it's got vintage orange drops caps, bone nut, new high end bridge & tailpiece, new wiring throughout, new Fralin pickups, new NOS pickup switch, and complete setup, etc. Essentially the only stock things left are the body, neck and tuners. And the hard shell case. I think he's got more into it than he's asking.... Pretty sure I'm going to pick it up.
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Post by matt on Jan 27, 2020 12:58:08 GMT -6
Found out it's got vintage orange drops caps, bone nut, new high end bridge & tailpiece, new wiring throughout, new Fralin pickups, new NOS pickup switch, and complete setup, etc. Essentially the only stock things left are the body, neck and tuners. And the hard shell case. I think he's got more into it than he's asking.... Pretty sure I'm going to pick it up. Seems like a good deal, that's a thorough re-working of the instrument. |
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Post by christopher on Jan 29, 2020 11:16:10 GMT -6
Found out it's got vintage orange drops caps, bone nut, new high end bridge & tailpiece, new wiring throughout, new Fralin pickups, new NOS pickup switch, and complete setup, etc. Essentially the only stock things left are the body, neck and tuners. And the hard shell case. I think he's got more into it than he's asking.... Pretty sure I'm going to pick it up. Oh wow.. this one is done all the way.. thumbs up! |
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Post by drbill on Jan 29, 2020 11:52:10 GMT -6
Found out it's got vintage orange drops caps, bone nut, new high end bridge & tailpiece, new wiring throughout, new Fralin pickups, new NOS pickup switch, and complete setup, etc. Essentially the only stock things left are the body, neck and tuners. And the hard shell case. I think he's got more into it than he's asking.... Pretty sure I'm going to pick it up. Oh wow.. this one is done all the way.. thumbs up! Yeah, only downside I see is that it appears not to be Japanese, but in fact Chinese made. Still, most of the parts are top line, so only the body / neck are really Chinese made. Still seems to be Mahogany with Maple Cap though. Mahogany neck. |
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Post by christopher on Feb 1, 2020 10:53:40 GMT -6
Thats something to be a little cautious of, so you might ask for a lower price.
Most of the cheaper (and expensive) guitars are so very heavily coated in polyurethane that it’s like you are playing a dense slab rather than a resonating piece of dry wood. The good side from the manufacturer point of view is there’s almost no difference in sound guitar to guitar, and it looks showroom new for decades. The negative side is, it’s not like vintage guitar tone which should be more airy and upper midrange voiced. The other thing cheap guitars do is overuse glue. It has same affect damping vibration, but this is really only a concern for acoustics. These things can happen wherever it’s made. The fact is they all use CNC now. And the wood all come from the same sources. I was shocked to learn we send lumber from USA overseas, they put it on a CNC machine and we import it back.. and it’s way cheaper than putting it on a CNC here. So weird!
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Post by drbill on Feb 2, 2020 1:11:13 GMT -6
Poly or Nitro, it's kind of moot. The guitar sounds great. Had a chance to play it for awhile, and took it to a buddy that's a far better player than me. He loved it. I bought it! Thanks everyone for the thoughts and ideas. Cheers, bp
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