MichaelW
Well-known member
Ok, so I know you're all probably getting sick of my guitar escapades lately, the timing was not planned to have all these things happening all at the same time. Honest I swear!
So you may be asking, "Gee, Mike how do you justify two new Tele builds, a bunch of necks and now another Les Paul?
I have one word for you....."compartmentalization"......
Different projects, different budgets out of the ol slush fund and MOST importantly, making sure I keep swapping guitars in and out of my closet so that it "looks" like a zero sum equation to my wife........
So the origins of this latest acquisition I'm TOTALLY going to blame on @SillyOctpuss. In my Tokai Goldtop NGD thread last year I believe his exact words were "You would a total bloody idiot to NOT also get one with P90's...."
So of course not wanting to be a total bloody idiot, I started looking at Gold tops with P90's. My leanings was towards another Tokai but there weren't any available at the time. Actually, still aren't, I believe they're only pre-order from the vendor that I got mine from.
I've been chatting with @szukalski about our mutual affections for Japanese made Les Pauls and just when I resigned myself to wait until a more appropriate time to make another guitar purchase, he sends me a link in DM and says "I'm just gonna leave this link here........" then he ghosted me.
What was I supposed to do? Not click the link? Of course it led me to a guitar that checked all the boxes for me. In the right budget, all the right specs and made in Japan by Tokai.
So the SECOND instigator in this self indulgent tale is non other than Michael Wong's most effective enabler..... @szukalski !
So what is it? Well, it's something I never heard of before, they're not sold in the US but seems like mainly for the global market where the long arm of the Gibson litigators don't have as much clout.
Yes, it's the same Faber that makes the best aftermarket tunomatic bridges and tailpieces. As I understand it, they start with a made in Japan Tokai then they install all their own hardware and wiring in Germany.
Took a few weeks to get through customs for some reason, but it arrived earlier in this week right when I was in the middle of my "Tele-thon" hahah.
Just as well since the pickups had to go.
I ordered a set of custom wound Wolfetones. His "Mean" P90 with a 5% underwind in the neck position and his stock "Meaner90" for the bridge. Same bridge pickup I used in my Les Paul Junior. They measure 7.9k neck and 9.3k bridge.
I can't even begin to tell you how great these pickups sound. Absolutely stellar. The neck has a full, throaty sound yet the slight under wind gives it some clarity as well. The bridge pickup just snarls like a junkyard dog. Wolfe Macleod has a magic touch.
So pro's and cons:
Pro's:
The guitar came extremely well set up and the fret work was immaculate. I didn't have to touch them.
Of course the hardware (I'll get to that in a bit)
Long neck tenon (if that matters)
Plays fantastic and the sustain is amazing.
The gold top finish looks good, very authentic. It's a little lighter gold than my Tokai.
Con's:
Finish work was not up to the same level as my Tokai. I believe they started with a lower range than the Tokai I have.
3 piece body. Looks like the same African mahogany they used in my Tokai, it's a very well blended 3 piece, I had to use a flashlight to confirm.
(Not really a con for me, but it might be for some folks)
3 piece neck. There's a scarf joint, again very well blended in, you have to look for it. Also a stacked heel. Again none of these are con's for me, but might be for some folks.
There's some strange juxtaposition of great components with somewhat iffy implementation. I'll get to that in a minute too
Scarfed neck joint.
Stacked heel, kinda hard to tell....
Binding is well done, the same level as my Tokai (and much better than a stock Gibson)
3 piece body, again kinda hard to tell.
So this was a pretty big surprise, they used VIP vintage taper pots and orange drop caps. Those VIP pots are pricey!
BUT....the pots were loose and not well tightened. I had to go snug everything down when I wired the new pickups.
So VIP pots but they used a cheap box style toggle switch and a cheapo jack. Doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
The mailman dropped off my new pickups today, Wolfe works lightning fast, he usually has the coils wound the same day as I place the order and I usually have the pickups within 2 or 3 days after placing an order!
The "9500" is the lower wind. He usually does 10k winds on this pickup.
The rosewood for the fingerboard is a very nice piece but came extremely dry.
Dry fingerboards is not something I typically have to deal with living in Florida hahaha.....but a coat of F1 fingerboard oil and she's looking good.
Note how well the frets are dressed. The thing plays fantastic. Also interesting is that the inlays are better done than my more expensive higher range Tokai, there's no slop at all. Another head scratcher.
Continued in next post.....
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