“Tokai’s LS series are probably the best-built Les Paul-style guitars that have ever come through my shop”: How the Japanese guitar market came of age with ’80s Fender and Gibson clones – some that would rival the originals

There’s no getting away from the fact that many major Japanese brands gained ground by cloning US designs, even fairly niche ones such as this 1972 Ibanez 2380 – a copy of the Gibson Les Paul Recording model of the era.

The 60s might have given birth to the Japanese guitar industry, but things got really interesting in the 80s when ever-more accurate and high-quality copies of classic US electric guitars emerged and even received official sanction from some US guitar brands. Keith Anderson of Japanese specialist Gas Station Guitars picks up the story

The 1960s and 70s were formative years for the Japanese guitar industry, but they really hit their stride in the 80s with official Fender reissues, accurate clones of Les Pauls and the like. What models stand out, for you, from this period, Keith?