Les Paul Copies: Are They Better Than Gibsons?

[Village Idiot]

this thread is hilarious

 

[catawompus]

I have two Tokais, a Standard and a Junior DC. In terms of workmanship, they're absolutely flawless, probably better than my Gibson LP Custon '92. Are they better? Don't know, but they tick all the right boxes for me. You get a whole lot of bang for the buck with all the right quality parts.

 

[Mosster47]

If you don't care about cost or headstock logo you'll find yourself with a few Gibson keepers, but not many.

That applies to every brand. I've never owned a MIJ Tokai or a Gibson that I thought was a bad guitar, but a "OMG I'm never selling this" are few and far between regardless of brand or country of origin.

 

[MauiCliff]

Ive heard nothing but good things about Grecos and Tokais I should check em out! Some look superb with loths of character!

I know a bit about Tokai/Greco and so on....

Here is my inventory.

Cliff Jordan

Explore Cliff Jordan’s 12,273 photos on Flickr!

www.flickr.com

 

[Grenville]

I've been collecting some pretty amazing Japanese copies, clones, tributes, forgeries, or whatever you want to call them for the past 20-ish years. I don't limit myself to pure copies, I also like the funky MIJ stuff. I'm drawn to them because I find them to be fantastic guitars in their own right, regardless of how they compare to a Gibson. FWIW, I've owned many Gibsons throughout the years, but they never seem to stick with me.

My OPINION, based on my experience only, is that at the upper end of the spectrum, the MIJ copies (Crews, Tokai, Momose, g7 and others) are absolutely on par with the best that Gibson offers. I might be able to argue that one has some feature that is considered "better" over the other. And personally I prefer the MIJ stuff for a variety of reasons, some rational, some not. But you will never hear me say one is absolutely better than the other. Only that I have a strong preference.

Yep. I've had Ibanez copies of LP's, V's and Explorer. None of those were accurate replicas, but the V's and Explorer in particular were joys to play in a way that no "better built" Gibson I've picked up has been.

More recently I had a Bacchus V, beautifully made and great attention to detail. Not so much fun.

The two Tokais I have now are as good as it gets - for me - and are going nowhere.

In conversation with anyone, I would say "I love these guitars".
I wouldn't say "better than a Gibson" because I don't think I need to. Which Gibson are we talking about anyway?

 

[greens]

Was this article written by Chat-GPT?

That was my first thought

 

[filtersweep]

Ive heard nothing but good things about Grecos and Tokais I should check em out! Some look superb with loths of character!

Tokai are so poorly documented. They have some strange distribution thing going on. I had a Tokai— never actually knew what really was.

 

[zombywoof]

I've been collecting some pretty amazing Japanese copies, clones, tributes, forgeries, or whatever you want to call them for the past 20-ish years. I don't limit myself to pure copies, I also like the funky MIJ stuff. I'm drawn to them because I find them to be fantastic guitars in their own right, regardless of how they compare to a Gibson. FWIW, I've owned many Gibsons throughout the years, but they never seem to stick with me.

My OPINION, based on my experience only, is that at the upper end of the spectrum, the MIJ copies (Crews, Tokai, Momose, g7 and others) are absolutely on par with the best that Gibson offers. I might be able to argue that one has some feature that is considered "better" over the other. And personally I prefer the MIJ stuff for a variety of reasons, some rational, some not. But you will never hear me say one is absolutely better than the other. Only that I have a strong preference.

100% Agree

 

[Eagle X]

According to my personal experience, those 90, 70, 900, 700 series or lower grade MIJ copies made in 70s, 80s and 90s are NOT better than my 2000 Gibson Studio. Of course I like those old MIJ copies. I collected five of them and I ever tried more. Greco, Burny, Tokai, Orville, Aria Pro... you name it. They have something more charming and more interesting than today's MIC or MIK Epiphone. But I never expect them being better than Gibson Standard.

 

[Peter M]

Les Paul Copies: Are They Better Than Gibsons?

Only if you think they are.

 

[frehley76]

According to my personal experience, those 90, 70, 900, 700 series or lower grade MIJ copies made in 70s, 80s and 90s are NOT better than my 2000 Gibson Studio. Of course I like those old MIJ copies. I collected five of them and I ever tried more. Greco, Burny, Tokai, Orville, Aria Pro... you name it. They have something more charming and more interesting than today's MIC or MIK Epiphone. But I never expect them being better than Gibson Standard.

There are many better than a Gibson Standard. Not all Gibsons are great as with any other brand. I can say my old Tokais are very consistent and all sound very good.

 

[brokentoeswalker]

Japanese guitars are pure crap !!

Stay away at all costs !!

Dont swindle yourself.

Only a Gibson is good enough.

 

[Grenville]

#playinauthentic

 

[LtDave32]

Here's a link to a 1974 set-neck Ibanez LP for comparison. It even has the Norlin-era pancake body..

1974 Ibanez 2386 Flamed Top Set Neck Les Paul! | Reverb

For sale is my 1974 Ibanez 2386 set-neck Les Paul. I will make every attempt to give my best and honest description of this guitar so it can be passed on to the next owner. I am the 2nd owner of this guitar which I purchased approximately 10 years ago with the intentions to store and resell one day.

reverb.com

Listing ended, tis is just for pictures.

 

[LtDave32]

Japanese guitars are pure crap !!

Stay away at all costs !!

Dont swindle yourself.

Only a Gibson is good enough.

The Japanese Gretsch guitars of the 1990's are known to be the finest ever made under the Gretsch name.

 

[jimmyjames]

woooosh

 

[moreles]

The thread headline poses a pointlessly over-general question, given that copies range from meticulously-crafted fakes to mass-produced junk. Even within a brand -- Gibson, notably -- LPs vary incredibly over time. Of course some are great; most are mediocre, and many are lousy. The best general response comes simply from the market, and anyone can look at relative prices to see how the playing public values different instruments. What any individual's experiences and preferences (definition of "best") may be will vary, obviously. In my experience, of common brands, the market prices do reflect general quality. I have yet to encounter the Asian-made copy LP that is better than a good Gibson, but during the "low" period of Gibson manufacturing those companies were sometimes, for some models, staying true to more traditional specs and standards than Norlin/Gibson was doing.

 

[THAWK819]

I've been collecting some pretty amazing Japanese copies, clones, tributes, forgeries, or whatever you want to call them for the past 20-ish years. I don't limit myself to pure copies, I also like the funky MIJ stuff. I'm drawn to them because I find them to be fantastic guitars in their own right, regardless of how they compare to a Gibson. FWIW, I've owned many Gibsons throughout the years, but they never seem to stick with me.

My OPINION, based on my experience only, is that at the upper end of the spectrum, the MIJ copies (Crews, Tokai, Momose, g7 and others) are absolutely on par with the best that Gibson offers. I might be able to argue that one has some feature that is considered "better" over the other. And personally I prefer the MIJ stuff for a variety of reasons, some rational, some not. But you will never hear me say one is absolutely better than the other. Only that I have a strong preference.

This might be the most grounded, rational post I've ever read on the subject.

Personally; I love the way my Edwards and McCarty 594 play, feel, and sound. They're both clearly vintage Gibson LP inspired instruments; neither, however, sound exactly like my USA Les Paul. On any given day I inevitably end up preferring the sound of one over the others for whichever amp I'm plugged into and whatever I'm trying to play. I'd feel strange saying any one is "better" than the others, because my ears and fingers will prefer one of the others the next day.

 

[Angus Blackmore]

I HATE (really really) HATE to say this but the 4 (Stock) MIJs I've owned have out performed my 4 (stock) Gibson USAs... some slightly, some less slightly. The mods have closed the gaps so.

Still, I'm a sucker for my Gibsons. A Kawasaki Ninja will outperform a Harley Knucklehead any day of the week... but who wants to be seen on Kawasaki?

 

[Frisco Kid]

I’ve owned three Gibson LP Standards, an Historic 57 Goldtop, 3 pickup Custom BB and 54 BB with staple neck and P90 bridge pickups. I believe I have an idea of what Gibsons bring to the table in terms of quality and tone.

I currently have a Crews Standard Goldtop that was the equal in all regards to my Gibson…I prefer the Crews because it’s noticeably lighter than the Gibson GT.

I also have an Edwards LPC 130 with two P90s. The Gibson 54 was better built and felt like a much higher quality instrument. The Gibson also had more sustain and the staple pickup was sublime, I miss that one a lot. However, the Gibson was nearly four times the price. The Edwards has to be two pounds lighter and is nearly 90% there tonewise and the better value IMO,

TLDR:
Based on my experience, some MIJ are equal to the best Gibson has to offer. Other MIJ may not be as good but offer better bang for the buck value.