Greetings from Raleigh NC

[catseye]

Relatively new to guitar (sax player), fan of telecaster. Found what was advertised as a 80s Japanese Tokai thineline with a Bill Lawrence neck. It was cheap, so I had a look. There were no identifying marks at all. Took it apart, nothing. It was kind of a mess, but I could tell there was something about it, potential. After a decent enough setup, it plays really nicely.
Any ideas what i may have here?

 

[Sigmania]

Welcome.

The neck plate is off of a Korean made Tokai from 2000 or 2002.

Korean Stamped Etched Impressed Neck Plate Serial Number Guitars

The rest of it is a puzzle.

I don't know of any Korean Tokai thinlines, so hard to know what you have.

2000 catalog with one Korean Tele



2003/04 catalog with Korean Teles.

 

[Homer J. Simpson]

Fine Corporation, Korea/China? (that's a name I found floating around repeatedly in context with Epiphone, but never saw any evidence/factory website/pics, but I didn't look very hard)

 

[Sigmania]

Fine Corp had factories in Korea and China.

FC Serial Numbers Fine Corp Made In China 2006 2007

That is the first link I have seen with them and Tokai production in Korea. Same serial number scheme.

Great find Homer !!!!!!

 

[Homer J. Simpson]

Yeah, having read the other threads now/again it seems almost plausible how they moved to China post 2003. Too bad we'll probably never know for sure if that was an "official" Tokai maker all the time even after the Korea factory was closed, some other thread brought up the Chinese "Saein" factory name in context with Tokai...

 

[Sigmania]

The earliest FC Chinese serial numbers I have found are 2006.

The latest stamped ones in Korea are harder to pin down depending on the interpretation of the numbers. Either 2000, 2002, or 2005.

 

[Homer J. Simpson]

Yup, I was just studying those a little, the list you made seems to check out just fine. The weird 8-digit numbers are mysterious for sure (and if the article linked in the other thread is right 1995 would be more likely for those) but that doesn't change the big image, given the seemingly clear break with the 2006 serials and the FC prefix.

 

[Homer J. Simpson]

So to return this thread to the OP, welcome catseye! Your guitar was likely made in the same Korean factory that made Tokais and (sorry for the lame pun) I'm sure it's a Fine guitar!

Hey, I got a Chinese Tokai...



... hat today!

I'm pretty sure it's not legit (so don't ask me where I got it) and it's polyester but it'll keep the sun from frying my balding noggin!

 

[Sigmania]

Yup, I was just studying those a little, the list you made seems to check out just fine. The weird 8-digit numbers are mysterious for sure (and if the article linked in the other thread is right 1995 would be more likely for those) but that doesn't change the big image, given the seemingly clear break with the 2006 serials and the FC prefix.

The AJB28 with the 8 digit has to be 2005 rather than 1995 even though it’s an outlier. It has the MADE IN KOREA ink stamp which are all 2000 and later. And the model is not shown as being made in 1995 but is in the 2003/4 catalog.

SN 50500080

May, 2005, number 80 ?

AJB28 YS R

All caps MADE IN KOREA stamp.

TOKAI AJB28 YSR Jazz Sound 2005 Korea Electric Bass Guitar | eBay

2003-2004 catalog


View attachment 31921

 

[Homer J. Simpson]

Actually the article says that the last "signs of life" the author saw were from 2003, so that doesn't necessarily mean they ceased to exist at that point (or at all, maybe they are into kitchen appliances or nuclear plant equipment and whatnot now).