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stratman323 said:
It's a real shame that we have to brand these as "fakes" as it seems like they may be at least as good as the real MIK Love Rocks, which were decent guitars themselves. I think you have the right attitude Robert, just enjoy it as a good guitar, which is what you wanted in the first place.

There are a lot of "fake" Fenders & Gibsons out there, from all kinds of sources, which are great guitars.
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I had one of the Canadian Fakai (2003) for a short time recently. The original seller stepped up and took it back when we figured out it was not genuine. But I agree that the Fakai was actually a very excellent guitar and I suspect that many of them are. I did have one thing that may have been trouble and this has been reported in at least one other post on TokaiForum -- I had a lot of trouble getting fret buzz out of the low E string and I suspect (but certainly do not know) that the nut grove was either faulty or worn. I realize this isn't the end of the world and if I had kept the guitar, I would have replaced the nut and further experimented with the guitar -- as the original poster mentions, it's a little liberating to know that you're not messing with the "real thing" :).

I guess the point is that most of the Canadian 2003-2005 "Make in Korea" Fakai do seem to be very good guitars, but they are not necessarily the consistency that might be expected with a genuine Tokai. I am aware that genuine MIK Tokai have the same issue relative to MIJ Tokai. Complicated ...
 
I just searched the local Craigslist for Tokai here in Toronto. I found 4 Fakais (including the one I traded for). There were two Love Rocks, a Hummingbird, and an SG. The SG seller even listed the serial # which was 05******. Guess they are common here in the Great White North.
 
Made an additional searchon Kijiji Toronto and found two more Love Rock Fakais and Rosewood Tele - it had the one screw truss rod cover.
 
Seeing how the Canadian distributor had these made it is no surprise to me that they are everywhere in Canada. I searched guitar shops in Canada and found at least 5 shops selling these things as "Tokai's".
 
Seems to me the Canadian distributor who's responsible should be practising scales in a jail cell, on an Epiphone.

Had he done that to me, I can assure you he'd be doing time right now...
 
Diamond said:
Seems to me the Canadian distributor who's responsible should be practising scales in a jail cell, on an Epiphone.

Had he done that to me, I can assure you he'd be doing time right now...
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Notwithstanding that the Fakais in question are actually generally good guitars, I do agree with the sentiment. Besides the initial fraud, because of the volume of guitars made and sold, the economic and ruined relationship impact of the used sales market is huge. Even though the deed is done and finished, the fraud continues to generate bad deals and even legal cases for future owners -- such a continued negative impact and cost to society should be punished, no question.

P.S. I've now made it a hobby to ask all Kijiji posters of "Tokai" in my area to send me photos of the back of their headstock. Out of 4 posting in the last 2 weeks, 1 didn't respond at all but the guitar is still available, 3 responded, 1 I think was real, 2 of those were Fakai, 1 asked why I cared and I layed out the the story to them and they pulled their ad and decided to keep the guitar. It's going to be a couple of decades before this thing settles ...
 
I will be visiting Manitoba in sept and will be making my usual trips to the guitar stores in Winnipeg. I'm positive Encore music there was selling these Fakai's when I was there Last. I am curious to hear what guys in the shop are going to say because I dont beleive for one minute that they beleive that they are Tokai's.

On a different note if somone offered me one at a knockdown price and it played well then I would snap it up, as people are saying they are good guitars, just not what it says on the headstock!
 
I googled Active Musical Products and got several listings in local business web sites. Two of them still had it listed as the distibutor for Tokai. Some of these could be unchanged for the last few years though. Active is (was?) located in Waterdown, Ontario, which is east of Toronto and north of Hamilton.
 
I had a Member in Canada ring these guys and even left messages on their answering machine but no replies, they don't even have an email address. Those are all old listings. I am under the impression the importer told local music shops that these guitars were "real" Tokai's. I had some correspondence with JSD and Kevin {well thats the impression i got} never new that these were fakes. He does now.

Mick
 

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