Dating Cat's Eyes CE-400

Tokai Forum

Help Support Tokai Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

royo

New member
Joined
Mar 31, 2008
Messages
4
Reaction score
0
Hi,

Can you guys help me Id and date my new Cat's Eyes CE-400.
It has this serial number: 4001006. Any other information on this model\guitar will be appreciated, Thanks Roy
 
Pics please so I can help you accuratly.
Show me the label inside the body.
 
Hi Luis
Thanks, here is a link to some pics on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/68279501@N00/[/img]
 
1984 made is my guess

Like this
clip_image013_0001.jpg
 
Thanks again !
what about some info on this acoustic ? is it hand made? MIJ ? how much was it worth when it came out ? It looks a lot like an old yamaha or a martin clone. How much are they worth today ? the action is quite high and the neck feels pretty thick, hopefully a nice set up will do this guitar justice


R
 
The CE-400 are nice guitars, copies of D-28 Martin, ebony board, spruce tops, rosewood sides and back.

Back in 1984 were 40,000 yen

Serial for Cat's Eyes 1983 = 300xxxx, 1984 = 400xxxx,

Why they used that serial type for those particular years, who knows...........

Mine has a fairly high action too, but, if it is of great concern, maybe take yours to the guitar doc.

regards
Mick
 
A high action is a common problem on Cat's Eyes and on Martins as well. Due to the light bracing they develop 'belly swell'. If you get a straight edge and put it across the top you will probably find it rocks in the middle. The correct way to recify this is an expensive neck reset, but a competent luthier should be able to shave down the bridge and saddle to get the action good again.
 
JohnA said:
A high action is a common problem on Cat's Eyes and on Martins as well. Due to the light bracing they develop 'belly swell'. If you get a straight edge and put it across the top you will probably find it rocks in the middle. The correct way to recify this is an expensive neck reset, but a competent luthier should be able to shave down the bridge and saddle to get the action good again.

edited
 
greco_burst said:
JohnA said:
A high action is a common problem on Cat's Eyes and on Martins as well. Due to the light bracing they develop 'belly swell'. If you get a straight edge and put it across the top you will probably find it rocks in the middle. The correct way to recify this is an expensive neck reset, but a competent luthier should be able to shave down the bridge and saddle to get the action good again.

hmm....
I wish I had really known about this before I bought the CE-400 from TF member DaveWW about 6 months earlier or so.....when i was member Mickdal...
It was received like that....I wondered why it was so high, just thought that was the way it was...that is why i never questioned it.

I will definately know what to look for now, and thank you for letting us know....

BUYER BEWARE!!!!!!

Shaving down the bridge is no big deal, a decent luthier should get the action down by doing this and it should only cost $30 or so. Are you sure it was DaveWW that sold you the guitar, he's a good honest guy and knows his guitars, if there was any serious issiue he would have surely mentioned it.
 
The swelling will have happened slowly over the last 25 years, shave a bit off the bridge and it'll be great for another 25 :D Absolutely no need to put it in the 'junk' catagory, you get the same thing happening with vintage Martins.
 
I guess I got late,sorry.

Yes a 1984 made CE-400,the label got different at that time.Not solid wood for that price but a nice guitar.
 
Only just found this post as it's not an area of the forum I often visit.

Grecoburst - I'm quite insulted by the tone of your posts but nevermind. I wish you had said something at the time. I'm sure that you don't give a toss but if you have problem why don't you take it up first in private. If you'd said you weren't weren't happy I'd have taken it back. I didn't check the front with a straight edge to see if their was any swell but there was certainly not any visible noticeable distortion!

You didn't make any comment about the problem when you received the guitar. IMHO the action was not high for an acoustic but pretty normal.

I'll add some pic's shortly
 
Link to pic's of the guitar sold to grecoburst in September 2007 when it was sold.................

http://s319.photobucket.com/albums/mm467/davidkw2001/Tokai%20Cats%20Eyes/

copy of email received from him when he got the guitar :evil:

"Hi Dave


Arrived yesterday, fantastic, received as described, and, ONLY A TOKAI IS GOOD ENOUGH!!


Cheers mate


Michael"
 
As I said Dave, IF there is a problem it's easily sorted anyway. I know you, and know you wouldn't sell anything with an undisclosed issue. Martin style acoustics do normally have higher actions than Gibson style ones, the 'buyer beware' statements were definetely uncalled for.
 
Thanks John, Don't worry I'll get over it. This guitar had a normal action for the type of guitar. As a matter of fact I'd still buy it back for the ?246 he paid for it inc' shipping. I would NEVER sell something like this with an undiscolsed problem I was aware of. I don't need the money that badly!

Seller beware is more appropriaste in this case.

Rant over - hopefully but I doubt it.............
 
Posted by Mickdal: Sat Feb 02, 2008 2:43 am Post subject: Re Cat's Eyes
"Yep it's a nice acoustic, mine is a CE-400 Cat's Eyes from 1984, fantastic guitars..."
 
Back
Top