A story 15 years in the making! I saw a recent advert on marketplace for a Tokai pointy strat known as the JSD model, at a resonable price. i negotiated down to a better price with the knowledge it may not be all present and correct, generic floyd trem HSS set up etc. When I went to play and pay it was a great tokai neck but i wasnt sure about the body and its bad repaint. i took a punt and for sure it was just the neck.
At this point I remembered i had a snow white custom edition Tokai body so this seemed like the way forward. I had a quick check to see if i wanted to change the existing one as the new one was not that good a guitar. Here is the comparison:
note the Tokai brass knobs from Mr president himself! So not a light decision but I felt Tokai neck on tokai body should be the best option and unleash the mojo
I then wanted to compare it to its sister another JDS I got a while back:
Neck binding different and the white one has white finished neck.
So the rebuild began with the first challenge - does the neck fit? At first I thought I had a problem but it was so snug it had to be pursuaded in, it was either going to aid the overall resonance or a great crack was going to appear
Problem 2, the original body was routed for a 2 pivot trem (not sure which Tokai version - Im looking for a black Extra Tokai Trem is anyone has one?!?!?) so do I re-route as I had filled and converted to a 6 point standard trem.
Decision was to go with a black standard trem that didnt lock to check out the electrics and overall feel of the guitar. I could leave to the locking nut open and look for a proper Tokai trem in the meantime.
So i ordered some black strap buttons and a black jack socket from Amazon and commenced the rebuild.
Here she is and voila - a Tokai JSD that plays really well, some alignment issues maybe that can be solved when getting a professional to fit a proper locking toaki trem when i find one. Im glad I made the swap:
So friends reunited after 15 years - here is the link to the original story of the 2009 body which originated from 1986 or 7 I believe.
Fendai mark 2 | Tokai & Japanese Guitar Forum (tokaiforum.com)
and the knob story too
Tokai factory tour, Hamamatsu, Japan 1.6.16 | Page 2 | Tokai & Jap4anese Guitar Forum (tokaiforum.com)
hope you enjoyed my story and keep an eye out for that trem please !!!
At this point I remembered i had a snow white custom edition Tokai body so this seemed like the way forward. I had a quick check to see if i wanted to change the existing one as the new one was not that good a guitar. Here is the comparison:
note the Tokai brass knobs from Mr president himself! So not a light decision but I felt Tokai neck on tokai body should be the best option and unleash the mojo
I then wanted to compare it to its sister another JDS I got a while back:
Neck binding different and the white one has white finished neck.
So the rebuild began with the first challenge - does the neck fit? At first I thought I had a problem but it was so snug it had to be pursuaded in, it was either going to aid the overall resonance or a great crack was going to appear
Problem 2, the original body was routed for a 2 pivot trem (not sure which Tokai version - Im looking for a black Extra Tokai Trem is anyone has one?!?!?) so do I re-route as I had filled and converted to a 6 point standard trem.
Decision was to go with a black standard trem that didnt lock to check out the electrics and overall feel of the guitar. I could leave to the locking nut open and look for a proper Tokai trem in the meantime.
So i ordered some black strap buttons and a black jack socket from Amazon and commenced the rebuild.
Here she is and voila - a Tokai JSD that plays really well, some alignment issues maybe that can be solved when getting a professional to fit a proper locking toaki trem when i find one. Im glad I made the swap:
So friends reunited after 15 years - here is the link to the original story of the 2009 body which originated from 1986 or 7 I believe.
Fendai mark 2 | Tokai & Japanese Guitar Forum (tokaiforum.com)
and the knob story too
Tokai factory tour, Hamamatsu, Japan 1.6.16 | Page 2 | Tokai & Jap4anese Guitar Forum (tokaiforum.com)
hope you enjoyed my story and keep an eye out for that trem please !!!