Web sellers
- Thread starter fish78
- Start date
Help Support Tokai Forum:
marcusnieman
Well-known member
eBay for starts....
Ebay seems abit risky these days and also, what I am seeking is a stocking dealer who at leasts lists all the Love Rock models on the site...I cannot figure out the nomenclature and what distinguishes one model from the other...FWIW, I am not set on a flamed top...plain is fine with me, but what I do want are excellent pickups...PAF style...and great electronics and hardware...so which model, models should I consider? And again, who are the good web sellers?
I've pretty much drawn a blank on this. Ishibashi and Apollon Music don't handle Tokai any more. Places which do ship internationally don't seem to have any in stock.
Some of the UK dealers may ship to the USA but remember that their Tokais will have the extra 'dimple' in the headstock and that the price of shipping and duty will whack the price up a fair way beyond what you'd pay to get one in from Japan.
EBay, possibly Hisashi, is likely to be your best or only bet...
Some of the UK dealers may ship to the USA but remember that their Tokais will have the extra 'dimple' in the headstock and that the price of shipping and duty will whack the price up a fair way beyond what you'd pay to get one in from Japan.
EBay, possibly Hisashi, is likely to be your best or only bet...
leadguitar_323
Well-known member
Hisashi is excellent to deal with so give him a try..
http://stores.ebay.com/MIJ-Guitar-HISASHI
Mick
http://stores.ebay.com/MIJ-Guitar-HISASHI
Mick
Nani
Well-known member
New or vintage?
JohnA
Well-known member
fish78 said:
Definetely Hisashi for new Tokai's, good prices and very friendly!!
skalie
Well-known member
+1 on Hisashi, would buy from him again without hesistation
leadguitar_323
Well-known member
Hi all, I was speaking to Hisashi yesterday and he said the only Tokai's he has are the ones in his stock {most are on ebay} and it could take from 6-12 months to order a new one from Tokai...
Mick
Mick
sneakyjapan
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 12, 2003
- Messages
- 1,871
- Reaction score
- 1
might explain why the local Rock Inn is only stocking MICs and MIKs...I wish they`d come up with some MIJs to try...but not like I`m short on great Japanese guitars to play...it`s the reason I went with the History recently...couldn`t be happier with it.
sneakyjapan
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 12, 2003
- Messages
- 1,871
- Reaction score
- 1
if they were only making Tokais I think there`d be no problem.
leadguitar_323
Well-known member
Hi Fish, You can view most Japanese sites in English if you search for the shop in google you can then click on the "translate this page" icon next to the site reference, it can still be a little hard to decipher but its better than nothing. You can try "Musicland key" they sell Tokai MIJ guitars as well as Tokai custom order models.
Mick
Mick
marcusnieman
Well-known member
leadguitar_323 said:
It's a matter of supply vs. demand..... Same thing is happening with new Edwards guitars - try to find a new Les Paul Junior.
leadguitar_323
Well-known member
As Sneaky said also, they make a lot of other guitars for other companies, that wouldn't help being a small company themselves.
Mick
Mick
JohnA
Well-known member
ganzua said:
I'm sure they make more guitars for Fender Japan than they do with 'Tokai' on the headstock. From what I know all of the bolt-on neck Fenders are currently manufactured by Tokai, if you counted up all the Strat's, Tele's, Jazz & P basses then the Tokai plant must be pretty big.
guitarslinger
Well-known member
Last i heard was around 50 employees.....bob from Tokai UK sent me a couple of pics actually from his factory visit - i should try and dig them out.
In terms of increasing production - it is very much a question of taking on people for life, so they need a sustained run of demand for product before they'll put in extra resource. So it's a question of jigging around production.
From what i can gather the factory makes parts of other guitars and whole guitars for other brands. Fender, ESP and Zematis have all been mentioned. The fender work being the big one.
This is all second hand information, although from a reliable source, he was on a factory visit so i'm assuming he got the glossy version of what they do.
It's a small niche brand at the moment for sure.
In terms of increasing production - it is very much a question of taking on people for life, so they need a sustained run of demand for product before they'll put in extra resource. So it's a question of jigging around production.
From what i can gather the factory makes parts of other guitars and whole guitars for other brands. Fender, ESP and Zematis have all been mentioned. The fender work being the big one.
This is all second hand information, although from a reliable source, he was on a factory visit so i'm assuming he got the glossy version of what they do.
It's a small niche brand at the moment for sure.
Tokai had 55 employees back in 2005 as far as I was told. I visited the factory(in fact two facilities) courtesy of Tokai President and the places are not big.
Tokai is what is (I like it as is) so it?s not possible increasing production. It?s not a big factory,just remember this,we?re not talking a mass factory as the others we have in mind. As far as we were spreading the "secret" about how quality guitars Tokai made/make there are a lot of demand at this time,I?d say they are as busy as they did in the golden era. Tha?s bad for me as far as I have to wait a lot as I used to get a Tokai(I support Tokai as much as I can),but I?m pleased Tokai is a recognized brand(=quality). I feel bad when someone tells me(prtivatly or openly) he tried a Tokai and is not satisfied I do know he is not trying a "Tokai as far as I feel it is"......
Nowadays the person who wants a Tokai must be patient an wait some time(6 months? for a regular model).This means current Tokais(not Japan Vintage) are getting up in value....That?s great!
Tokai is what is (I like it as is) so it?s not possible increasing production. It?s not a big factory,just remember this,we?re not talking a mass factory as the others we have in mind. As far as we were spreading the "secret" about how quality guitars Tokai made/make there are a lot of demand at this time,I?d say they are as busy as they did in the golden era. Tha?s bad for me as far as I have to wait a lot as I used to get a Tokai(I support Tokai as much as I can),but I?m pleased Tokai is a recognized brand(=quality). I feel bad when someone tells me(prtivatly or openly) he tried a Tokai and is not satisfied I do know he is not trying a "Tokai as far as I feel it is"......
Nowadays the person who wants a Tokai must be patient an wait some time(6 months? for a regular model).This means current Tokais(not Japan Vintage) are getting up in value....That?s great!
