Seen These?

[Diamond]

The headstock looks better than the Fender headstock.

 

[leadguitar_323]

Thats the Chinese one, here's the MIJ one.... :wink:

Mick

 

[Diamond]

My MIJ 62 RI in basswood is the coolest Strat I've ever owned...I love basswood, so do John Suhr, James Tyler, even the Ibanez JS1200 is basswood.
It's a great guitar wood, IMO.

Those ST33 models look like great bargains, I'm assuming at that price they must be made in China, and the ST70 in Japan?

Well I respect your opinion but I don't agree with you. I think this is why I've always preferred Tokais to many of the early Fender Japans - using alder or sen gives a more "authentic" vintage Strat/Tele tone than basswood does, & that's what I like. I think my 80s MIJ Tele is basswood - the two sen Tokais I now own are streets ahead in authentic Tele sound terms.

Basswood makes a decent guitar, but it's more of a modern mid-rangey sound - to me alder & sen/ash are the best woods for vintage copies.

I agree with you, Basswood wouldn't be my first choice.

 

[togps]

Thats the Chinese one, here's the MIJ one.... :wink:
Mick

Here too:
http://www.tokaiforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=12931&start=30
I do sell them since July 2009 very successful

 

[leadguitar_323]

Hi Togps, i forgot about that thread. What is your experience with them.? How are they to play and what are the pickups like?

Mick

 

[Axchisler]

Looks like Stratman is going to have to change his pants soon! :lol: Hell, this thread is giving me gas for a better Strat, preferably Tele. (that middle pup just gets so in my way :x .

 

[Anonymous]

They look good, & I congratulate Tokai, & I would like to try one, but I prefer older guitars. After 25 or 30 years, a good guitar stands a fair chance of having matured into a great guitar.

 

[Axchisler]

They look good, & I congratulate Tokai, & I would like to try one, but I prefer older guitars. After 25 or 30 years, a good guitar stands a fair chance of having matured into a great guitar.

Hey mate, help me understand the philosophy about old guitars. I usually don't keep a guitar for more than 5 years (if I play it all the time) because if it's starting to feel worn out to "me' I sell it. The Tokais I recently purchased will prolly be an exception. Nothing bugs me more than a B or G string that buzz like hell and while it's not ready for a re-fret, those are usually the first to buzz for me between 3rd and 9th fret. Sure it could be dressed, but I like really tall frets. I'll play any old guitar in great shape, as long as I wasn't the previous owner breaking it in, :-?. This may change when I receive the '94 Goldtop OBG hopefully Monday.

 

[Anonymous]

Maybe it's partly because I don't like big frets? On my two 1980 Springys, the top few frets have been dressed down to virtually nothing to enable me to get choke free bends on the top E, but that's not a problem for me. I guess I've got used to it on my 1986 Fender that I've owned since '91, that's not too far off needing a re-fret, which is why it's semi-retired.

Older guitars seem to have more character, vibe, mojo, whatever you want to call it. After 25 years of resonating together, the body & neck should be on pretty close terms with each other :lol: Good wood should improve with age.

Or maybe it's all purely psychological?

 

[Dave_Mc]

The ones with S in are sunbursts, though I can never remember which is 2 tone & which is 3 tone. BB is black, MR is metallic red, its the VWH I can't work out - not a code I've heard before. Some sort of vintage white maybe?

Thanks for that info. JV - very interesting.

thanks, mike. I already had MR, wasn't one of your strats that colour or something? remembered it from the forum.

I guess VW is vintage white... i remember seeing one of the teles had OWB- off-white blonde? Some of the abbreviations are weird, though. :lol:

And yeah, the "modified" headstock looks a bit less modified... nicer, less sharp, as you said.