[Greg1075]

Has anyone bought or tried one out ?

I am looking for a quality ES-335 copy and am wondering what people have to say about them. I have done quite a bit of research and know about other offerings (Yamaha, Heritage, Ibanez...) but for various reasons including cost (and pure aesthetics, let’s not kid ourselves), the ones that interest me the most are the Epiphones.

That said, I had totally forgotten about Tokais (I briefly owned a Love Rock in the early 2000s). Tokais look great and the company has cleaned up the quality control issues it seems they had a few years back (from what I read). However, their prices seem to have skyrocketed as well. They used to be known for being great guitars at a fraction of the price of the originals (Strats, Les Pauls, etc.), but they know seem to cost just as much if not more. MIJ ES-335 copies seem to cost $2500-$3500. Is that due to inflation? Better quality components? Something else?

One last question. I read in a couple of places that made in China Tokais were on par with pre Inspired by Gibson Epiphones quality wise (That would seem NUTS since the Tokai ES-78 still retails for ~$1200, but let’s roll with it). Now that Epiphone has seemingly stepped up their game, would you say their IBG line is better than MIC Tokais?

Thanks in advance.