I like the really good copies. the 'real stuff' is not whats being sold at the neighborhood Guitar Center or from the Musicians Friend catalog these days. Do you know that Gibson wont even sell guitars through Gruhn in Nashville anymore? The nicest Gibson Ive ever owned was a Gibson Custom Shop Historic '58 flametop reissue Les Paul that I was scared to play or handle becuase I might hurt the resale. Nice playing lightweight and resonant guitar, but honestly not any better than my '84 Tokai Love Rock that I can, do, and will play for a long time.
The Tokai's are definitely getting expensive. I always wanted a Tokai Love Rock while I was searching for the right Les Paul. The Japanese Tokais are not the easiest thing to find in the US. The Korean models are coming in from Canada, but I dont want to mess with those. I never managed to find a Japanese Tokai when I was really buying and swapping a lot of guitars, but that was before the internet
I owned an Ibanez Rocket Roll ('58 Flying V copy, lawsuit model) about 8-9 yrs ago and I paid about the same as they are selling for now. Still a lot money considering what they sold for. The Ibanez was a neat guitar. Im looking for another one of those.