Apologies if this has been covered before. I used to work in a music shop MANY moons ago, and I remember being told how Tokai came about.
As I remember it the story went as follows:-
Fender was looking to have some cheaper budget line copies made in Japan.
They approached Tokai who agreed to make some samples.
The samples were made and duly presented to Fenders representatives for inspection.
Fender reps were blown away by the quality, and said, ok, obviously these were built to impress us, but the actual ones wont be as good?
No...they are ALL like this came the reply.
We dont want them ALL like that because that means they will be better than the US ones.
Tough....thats the standard we make them to, so we will just sell them ourselves!
Fender than got all the first batch impounded by US Customs, and they all got the necks sawn in half.
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2nd part of this was that Fender gave Tokai some old stock necks and bodies to use for measurements/trials etc. Apparently some early Tokais feature old stock Fender bodies from WAY back?
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Last curiousity was that the music shop I worled for had some Tokai headstock logos in the till. I have one that has been on a Maya one piece body I built as a lad so they DEFINETELY did exist. I wonder is some skull duggery was taking place even way back then. Must have been about 1983 ish.
As I said...the first two may fall into Urban Myth territory. Curious to see if anyone can elaborate deny/confirm.
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As I remember it the story went as follows:-
Fender was looking to have some cheaper budget line copies made in Japan.
They approached Tokai who agreed to make some samples.
The samples were made and duly presented to Fenders representatives for inspection.
Fender reps were blown away by the quality, and said, ok, obviously these were built to impress us, but the actual ones wont be as good?
No...they are ALL like this came the reply.
We dont want them ALL like that because that means they will be better than the US ones.
Tough....thats the standard we make them to, so we will just sell them ourselves!
Fender than got all the first batch impounded by US Customs, and they all got the necks sawn in half.
--------------
2nd part of this was that Fender gave Tokai some old stock necks and bodies to use for measurements/trials etc. Apparently some early Tokais feature old stock Fender bodies from WAY back?
-----------------------------
Last curiousity was that the music shop I worled for had some Tokai headstock logos in the till. I have one that has been on a Maya one piece body I built as a lad so they DEFINETELY did exist. I wonder is some skull duggery was taking place even way back then. Must have been about 1983 ish.
As I said...the first two may fall into Urban Myth territory. Curious to see if anyone can elaborate deny/confirm.