Custom made through The Guitar Shop

[JVsearch]

The customer is ALWAYS right.

Yeah I guess...
In this case the customer wants to go for the different bridge option, so Tokai are still wrong?
They are just a guitar company, and don't appear to have done anything wrong to me, some places would just bodge it up and send it out. He's been given 3 options (none of which is a bodge job) and the choice to pick what he wants, there's no underhand behaviour here (like some seem to be suggesting).

 

[Minoupark]

Let's take it easy on Tokai. They are the maker of guitars that we all love. With custom-orders, they are not following established manufacturing protocols and mishaps/errors/accidents are bound to happen. It unfortunately happened to me, but I am not unhapppy with what they have offered to me as a compensation.
Like I said, it sux to be a lefty. This is a problem that would'Ve never occured if I were getting a righty built.

 

[stratmoto]

#2 top- Looks to me like an unacceptable irregularity.
I do not see mineral at all. It looks like a splice of wood and a blemish. Its a second (flawed) offer after a a primary tooling mistake of the Custom order for a left hand guitar.

Order should be redone. Not lame options... 2 wrong = no right.

Sheet its a brand new order, Is this coming from AU? or Ca?
where's joe when we need 'em?

You seem reasonably certain about this "unacceptable irregularity". However, being able to state with 100% certainty that it is flawed, based on one image that is really neither large enough nor shown from an oblique angle, is a big call.

In my experience, the odds are in the favour of Tokai. You claim that the top is flawed, although I have yet to see a Japanese Love Rock that has any flaws, either major or minor, in the maple tops. One small photo, compared to 4~500 Japanese Love Rocks that I have seen so far, up close and with my own eyes, and none have "unacceptable irregularities".

The order should be redone?? It isn't finished. You do not know what the final sanded and painted body will look like. It is not your guitar anyway. As I mentioned above, I have yet to see, as you have named the pic a "sh!t tokai".

We know it is a brand new order, thanks for that...genius :roll: Er, what do AU and Ca have to do with it? Nothing, but thanks for caring enough to ask.

Joe, I understand, is in the process of moving to his paradise in Okinawa and I am sure he would confirm that Tokai take the utmost in care to produce their instruments.

Sure, there was a small mistake and Tokai seem to have been honest, and helpful and more than kind in their handling of the matter.

I could reliably predict that when the instrument is finished, that Minoupark will be more than satisfied. In fact, I am sure that it will exceed his expectations.

Trouble is when some laundry is aired, there is always a zipper sniffer out there somewhere.

 

[Mono]

Steady on.

Yes, Tokai have been kind enough to alert the buyer to their mistakes and have made him some offers to circumnavigate them.

But I don't think a guitar-manufacturing company should be making mistakes like this in the first place. How much skin is it off of their noses to totally re-do the build and ensure that the customer is satisfied? I'm sure they have plenty of supplies to get it right second time round.

To me, the 2nd top offered does look to be blemished and I would not be happy with that shining through. I agree, we can't know for certain without seeing it up close and personal, but they sent a photo so that the buyer can decide whether they like it or not. If I were the buyer, and only had a photo to go on, it would be unacceptable.

We aren't being hard on Tokai, we are being realistic. They should not make errors like this and should not be willing to sell a guitar that is in any way defective, particularly in this instance of a custom order.

 

[JuniorEnthousiast]

Let's take it easy on Tokai. They are the maker of guitars that we all love. With custom-orders, they are not following established manufacturing protocols and mishaps/errors/accidents are bound to happen. It unfortunately happened to me, but I am not unhapppy with what they have offered to me as a compensation.
Like I said, it sux to be a lefty. This is a problem that would'Ve never occured if I were getting a righty built.

Don't you dare make this sound like it's YOUR fault! I'm a lefty too and I will not hear of it. :wink: [/rant modus off]
If you are not going to accept the #1 option, Tokai sure as heck isn't going to scrap the body. They'll finish it the way they offered you (so the non-vintage specs) and sell it to someone who'll love it to bits. Might even be me.

 

[Special K]

In fact, I am sure that it will exceed his expectations..

Clearly many have expressed a less enthusiastic approval for this custom order.
In addition Tokia's offer to redo their blunder with a far less desirable top is widely agreed upon... including the person who placed the order.

Visually, the second top certainly fails to exceed the clients expectation as well, Thus influencing his decision to stay with the original blunder.

Minoupark has been patient and gracious throughout.

Tokai should concede that the 2nd top offered is not one of their best.
(Perhaps you should too)

 

[Minoupark]

Don't you dare make this sound like it's YOUR fault! I'm a lefty too and I will not hear of it. :wink:

:lol: Ya, it's my parents' fault making me a lefty. Just kidding. It's funny how there is 1 lefty in every 10 people, but 99% of the world seems to be intended for righties only. :evil: Maybe this is more of an issue in Asia.
Back on the topic, Tokai just confirmed with plenty of apology that option 1 will not be a botch job (i.e., the new holes will completely remove the old misplaced holes). Problem solved, and I get a better bridge (one I would have preferred had I known better at the time of ordering) for a 100$ discount. Not saying that Tokai did not make a mistake. Just that it worked out better for me in the end 8)

 

[Special K]

Good news, continue to share you thoughts, and enjoy your Tokai.

 

[JuniorEnthousiast]

Good to hear you could work it out together. I look forward to seeing the finished guitar! Nice to see a custom lefty!

 

[Minoupark]

Another update from the land of the rising sun.
They sent me another photo of the body from the front. Seems like they have used dowels to fill the holes. Maybe a cautionary measure in case larger holes do not entirely enclose the misplaced holes? Let's wait and see how things pan out before making further comments 8) .
On a different note, I asked whether they could make the burst a little smaller (i.e., make the brown parts a bit wider, leaving less yellow in the middle). Although I find the current color absolutely gorgeous, there could be a little more brown to cover up the garish yellow color (I guess you can see why I have my guitar custom-made. 8) I also dislike pickguards and flame tops). They agreed to do so without any extra charge. This means stripping the nitrocellulose coat and re-spraying the top. Good service, eh? :wink:

 

[DrillerKiller]

love the color

very striking !!!

 

[Minoupark]

love the color

very striking !!!

Dude, it is isn't it? I ordered "faded violin finish" , just a tad lighter than the regular VF and it looks crazy good :lol:.

 

[Spider19]

Just so you know, the holes were filled with dowels before being redrilled to prevent the drill bit from wandering into the existing hole resulting in mis-alignment and to minimize the chances of chipping as the bit catches that edge on the way in (I do a lot of woodworking and always dowel any hole I'm redrilling even if I'm just drilling it in the same spot with a larger drill bit)
And yes, that is a gorgeous colour.

 

[Minoupark]

Just so you know, the holes were filled with dowels before being redrilled to prevent the drill bit from wandering into the existing hole resulting in mis-alignment and to minimize the chances of chipping as the bit catches that edge on the way in (I do a lot of woodworking and always dowel any hole I'm redrilling even if I'm just drilling it in the same spot with a larger drill bit)

That makes everything clear. Thanks.

 

[Minoupark]

Another update with photos.
1) repainted body. Nitro goes on top of this and that will probably change how it looks. This is what I was looking for.

2) Closeup of the filled holes

Cheers

 

[marcusnieman]

Looks nice

 

[JuniorEnthousiast]

Just so you know, the holes were filled with dowels before being redrilled to prevent the drill bit from wandering into the existing hole resulting in mis-alignment and to minimize the chances of chipping as the bit catches that edge on the way in (I do a lot of woodworking and always dowel any hole I'm redrilling even if I'm just drilling it in the same spot with a larger drill bit)
And yes, that is a gorgeous colour.

This what I meant to say by 'safe drilling'.
And that is a HUGE improvement on the color. Man that's gonna be a beauty. Probably make GOTM somewhere when it's finished.

 

[TubeToneFreak]

to: Minoupark (or others if you know) if you don't mind me asking...

How much do the Custom Lefty Tokai SG and LP 's run?

What options do you have to select from for woods, scale, fret size and metal, bridge, neck radius and profile, neck joint etc?

How and where would I get a Tokai Momose Navigator/ESP or Bacchus made (All Deviser right?) for me here in the States?

Quality differences in brands, custom, standard?

Thanks

(I am trying to sell my backup/blues amp and just missed being able to get my first MIJ guitar, a Tokai SG85 Lefty for $625 shipped : ( due to flake buyers here in the states. Yet a bassist friend of mine got a MIJ Fender Strat for next to nothing)

 

[Minoupark]

Hi TubeToneFreak,

First of all, I have no idea whether Tokai will make custom-made guitars for anyone outside of Japan.

They charged about 100$ extra for my custom guitar. Bear in mind that includes the extra cost associated with making a lefty, which leads me to believe that the additional charge for a righty custom-made will be even cheaper (maybe 50$?). They will pretty much take any kinds of requests in terms of material, hardware, joint spec, etc., provided that they are within reasonable bounds (i.e., they will make a guitar out of any of the woods that they typically use for their guitars, but won't make one out of, say, concrete. Neither will they make guitar bodies that are distinctly different from any of the conventional body shapes. You have to let them know which production model your custom-made guitar is to be based on).

Quality-wise, I think custom guitars will be on par with other Tokai guitars. If you request high quality finish, hardware, materials, that is what you will get. For example, nitro finish on a custom-job guitar will be no different from nitro finish on any other production guitar.

Hope that helped.

These are my speculations and I haven't spoken to guys at Tokai to confirm any of the above.

 

[leadguitar_323]

Tokai Momose Navigator/ESP or Bacchus made (All Deviser right?)

Tokai is Tokai, Bacchus and Momose are deviser and Navigator is a model of guitar made by ESP.......

Tokai will make anyone a custom guitar but it could take up to 12 months after ordering..

Mick