Greco, Tokai, Orville guitars...

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stratman

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I've been looking around for a good Les Paul copy that won't put me to bankruptcy. A friend of mine suggested the Jap made copies of the 70's namely Tokai, Orville and Greco. I know they're no Gibson but from the specs that I've seen they sure look like the real thing. Does anybody here own one of these guitars? Any inputs? Thanks.
 
The 'lawsuit' Tokai Love Rock guitars are as good as anything Gibson ever made. Although they're getting pricey, they're still a lot less than a vintage Les Paul.

I just picked up a 'lawsuit' Tokai strat copy and I'll be selling my real Fender strat, if thats any indication.
 
That's cool. I saw a few in Ebay and they sure looks good. Eventhough they look and sound good, I still have some reservation about imports. I guess that's just whats been fed to me growing up, "BUY AMERICAN". I might actually get me one of those Tokai or Orville Pauls. Thanks for the reply.
 
Take a look around ebay for Tokai's and take a good look at the ones with high quality photos and you'll start to see why they're getting popular in the 'vintage' market.

I got my Tokai strat from a guy in your area (Rowland Heights) and he has another strat, but you're looking for a LP.

There's a guitarist out here in the desert selling his Gibson LP for $1500.
 
Japan starts

I'm the owner of a 96 made strat, rosewood neck with texas special pickups, and flame maple top. The guitar is one of the 2500 limited edition strats made for the Fender 50th anniversary celebrations. I used to think this was one of the best guitars I knew, till I picked up a japanese Squier strat from 83, which is built just like any other 70's strat (still, it is made by CBS)

dropped custom shop 54s in and I'm telling you this guitar is AMAZING sounding. Much much (much) better than the american one !! it costed me only 350$ while the american market price is about 1000$ minimum. That Squier is so great I almost never play the american one and is about to probably sell it.

as for the Tokai if I'm not wrong this is the company that BUILT the japanese guitar for Fender. They probably made the same models carrying the Tokai logo.
 
Re: Japan starts

gilwe said:
I'm the owner of a 96 made strat, rosewood neck with texas special pickups, and flame maple top. The guitar is one of the 2500 limited edition strats made for the Fender 50th anniversary celebrations. I used to think this was one of the best guitars I knew, till I picked up a japanese Squier strat from 83, which is built just like any other 70's strat (still, it is made by CBS)

dropped custom shop 54s in and I'm telling you this guitar is AMAZING sounding. Much much (much) better than the american one !! it costed me only 350$ while the american market price is about 1000$ minimum. That Squier is so great I almost never play the american one and is about to probably sell it.

as for the Tokai if I'm not wrong this is the company that BUILT the japanese guitar for Fender. They probably made the same models carrying the Tokai logo.
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Fender considered Tokai for it's MIJ's but went with the company that owns Ibanez and they are the ones I believe that made those great Squires.

Tokai is kind of in the boonies by Japanese standards in Hamamatsu, but it's a city with a long musical history and both Yamaha and Kawai are from there.

Though they still make great guitars there, like every maker that's survived, they've grown and now farm a lot of guitars out to be made in Korea. Those $399 '52 teles you'll see new on ebay are from there. They could be good, I don't know, I do know I haven't been this happy playing a strat style guitar in a long time.
 
As Phil reports above - the Tokai 'Love Rock' was about as fine a guitar as you could buy new in the early 80's.

I ran the guitar dept of a large London store and they were great guitars.
The Strats were really fine, too.

foo
 
How would you compared them with the strats of the era ?
 
Great replies. Well, I ended up getting a Yamaha SL500 Les Paul copy from ebay. I believe this was made around late 70's or early 80's (I maybe wrong, though). Only sold for the Japanesse market to avoid legality problem with Gibson. Sounds sweet thru my Rivera and Marshall. Looks just like the real thing except for the headstock part. Great price for the buck. I'm still on the hunt for a nice Orville or Tokai within my budget. Thanks all.
 
gilwe said:
How would you compared them with the strats of the era ?
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You mean like the late 70's/early '80's? I think they're better. Nice tubular bell-like tones while some 'real' strats just kind of lay there, kinda like my Jewish girl friend did back then.
 
Hm,,i could be wrong but im pretty sure ive read that the Orville guitars ARE Gibsons under the Japanese name.
Dont quote or sue me of course.
And whin i gigged in Japan a lot of the bands(almost all in fact)were usuing Greco copies of Gibson shapes.
Are real Gibsons THAT expensive there?
Sounded and looked great though,so go for it!




stratman said:
I've been looking around for a good Les Paul copy that won't put me to bankruptcy. A friend of mine suggested the Jap made copies of the 70's namely Tokai, Orville and Greco. I know they're no Gibson but from the specs that I've seen they sure look like the real thing. Does anybody here own one of these guitars? Any inputs? Thanks.
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I have a reconditioned early 70's made strat by Yamaha that
looks more late seventies in body shape. The body was shaved to
look like a 71, repainted to replicate Yngwie Malmsteen's famous
71 "the Duck". Guess what, it sounds more vintage than my
94 U.S. malmsteen strat and 2 am std's I've owned. Fact is
it's really from early seventies. Certain brand Jap copies
sound good from my experience like many of those I tried.
They seem to sound less refined and have a kind of brittleness
that's darker compared to the newer strats.
 
This is exactly how my Squier start sounds ! darker but more lush... I wonder it that's the age or the differnt construction (or both)
 
The Strats of the era were pretty weak actually, and I think the Tokai compared very favorably to them.

The 'American' Strat was poor - the one with the jack on the scratchplate and two knobs.

The Elite Strats had a rubbish bridge - and the pickups weren't that great either - although they were quiet.

The '62 and '57 re-issues were good.
 
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