How and where try tokai guitars?

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Jamesb

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Luxembourg
Hi everybody,

I've read a lot in internet about Tokai Guitars and I'm interested in them, but I've never had a chance to try one.

I live in Luxembourg, so where is it the closer place to do that?

I'm afraid to order guitars without having tried them before...do you know a goog shopm or someone that sell Tokai guitars?

Thank you in advance for your kind replay,

James
 
Hi and welcome,
pm togps he's around 400KM from you near Stuttgart. http://www.tokaiguitar.de/1.php
I've seen some Tokai's at Guitar 24 in Saarbruecken,but they're all Made in China.

Volker
 
If you don't mind a 4-5hour drive I'd suggest you visit TokaiGuitar in Aalen Germany. Run by a forummember, I'm sure he can give you ample room to try things out.
Check him at tokaiguitar.de

There may be others closer to you, there's certainly a good deal of shops that carry Tokai, usually MiC though. I'm not sure what you're looking for so I'd suggest you do a google run for shops in the neighbourhood.
 
Jamesb said:
I'm afraid to order guitars without having tried them before.

You don't have to try Tokais before you buy them, just choose your colour and model according to your budget.

Buy from Richtone or Tokai.de.
 
Hi everybody,

thank you for your replays.

About the china guitars: you know, I'm looking for a good guitar well made with good materials; I'm interested in Tokai because some people (porfessional seller also) told me that gibson (and Epiphone) are selling only the brand, not good instruments..so I'm looking for something that
rest in tone, good neck and good noise ...

For Diamond, sorry, why you are so sure about that? And why about Tokai Have you already purchased a guitar without try it?

James
 
Diamond probably doesn't need to buy that many for his own use: he's a dealer (in South Africa rather than anywhere particularly useful for you).

Think there are quite a few people here who regularly buy Tokais they haven't played, though it should also be added that some of those probably fund their keepers, or at least subsidise them, with the ones they sell on. Generally speaking, I keep the guitars I buy. Maybe not permanently in all cases, but at least for a decent period. So far I've bought three Tokais (two without playing them) and sold none. I wouldn't hesitate to do it again, so long as a) I wanted/needed that style of guitar and b) I trusted the seller.

But I only got to that point because I bought my first Tokai (a Springy) rather cheaply a very long time ago, and have only rarely found a Strat that matches up to it. So I was already a huge fan, from my own experience. When I couldn't find a Les Paul or anything similar that I really liked, getting a Tokai made perfect sense. Found one locally that I played and loved, but missed out, so ended up hitting eBay and buying an eighties Love Rock.

If you've never played one at all, or haven't got time to do the research, you should probably be a tad more cautious.
 
pretty much agree with what bluethird is saying. I've bought one tokai (and an edwards) without trying them first, but I have tried other tokais and edwards, so I wasn't buying completely blind.

I also wouldn't say that gibsons are "bad" (depending on the model, and certainly if you're willing to search until you find a good one); but you are paying a premium for the name, especially in europe.
 
I quite often spend a Saturday at my local guitar store, just playing and chatting with the owner, he stocks Tokais, and used to be a Gibson stockist too.

One day when I was there he had three new LS95F's in stock and 5 or 6 Gibson Standards and I played them all. I would have happily taken any of the Tokais straight from the shelf to a gig, none of the Gibsons played as well. I'm sure they would have set-up just fine, but out of the box they werent a patch on the Tokais, and considering they were almost double the price IMO anyone who wasn't stupid would walk out the shop with a Tokai and ?700 change rather than take a Gibson.
 
JohnA said:
I quite often spend a Saturday at my local guitar store, just playing and chatting with the owner, he stocks Tokais, and used to be a Gibson stockist too.

One day when I was there he had three new LS95F's in stock and 5 or 6 Gibson Standards and I played them all. I would have happily taken any of the Tokais straight from the shelf to a gig, none of the Gibsons played as well. I'm sure they would have set-up just fine, but out of the box they werent a patch on the Tokais, and considering they were almost double the price IMO anyone who wasn't stupid would walk out the shop with a Tokai and ?700 change rather than take a Gibson.

^^^ The truth.
 
As one of those people who bought a Tokai blind (gold korean made explorer) I'm with those above who wouldn't think twice about it... although I'm not so sure about the chinese made ones.
The Japanese ones are most definitely the ones to go for if you have the budget.
The key word with Tokais, as with many other top Japanese makes, is consistency.
Although there will be variations in tone as no two bits of wood are the same, there tends to be very little deviation in construction, fit and finish. Plus they tend to use good bits of wood to start with.
The only down point, in my opinion, is the pickups as tokais only MKII PAFs are not that great but I'm bit fussy about pickups.
Personally I wouldn't think twice about ordering another one on line from richtone if I had the money. Then again they're less than an hours drive from me and I may well just go try a few.
 
Im fussy about my pickups too, I have Peter Florence Vodoo 59's, BK Stormy Mondays and RD P1's in some of my Les Pauls but I also love the mkII's I think they are really nice pickups.
 
Derby Ant said:
The only down point, in my opinion, is the pickups as tokais only MKII PAFs are not that great but I'm bit fussy about pickups.

As you said.... that's your opinion. I think they are some of the best off the shelf STANDARD issue pickups around.... I've never swapped out MKII's whereas I've swapped out what people consider upgrades - Gibson Burstbuckers for instance.
 
marcusnieman said:
As you said.... that's your opinion. I think they are some of the best off the shelf STANDARD issue pickups around.... I've never swapped out MKII's whereas I've swapped out what people consider upgrades - Gibson Burstbuckers for instance.

I've actually got a soft spot for the burstbuckers... then again not enough to leave em in anything I got hold of :)

But you're right, the MKII's are pretty good for standard issue pups, but the ones in my love rock were just lacking in character or definition for my ears.
 
Man, if I lived only 400km from togps, on European roads, I'd be there like a shot trying all the Tokais I could.
 
Most every MIJ guitar I own was purchased without ever having played it or the brand if it was my first purchase of that make..... as stated before, do your homework and if you make an educated purchase, chances are you won't be disappointed.

Got my first Bacchus strat not long ago and it's become my first choice.... never touched one or seen one in person before I pulled the trigger. Thanks Rich.... your insightful posts and reviews (as well as the others who have enlightened us all on the brand) was plenty for me to know what to expect.
 
Derby Ant said:
The key word with Tokais, as with many other top Japanese makes, is consistency.
Although there will be variations in tone as no two bits of wood are the same, there tends to be very little deviation in construction, fit and finish. Plus they tend to use good bits of wood to start with.

I think that sums it all up pretty well. I've bought one or two Tokais online myself, & I've never bought a dog yet, the variation between one and another is small. And the 30 year old guitars are still as good as the day they were made, arguably they have improved with age.

As for pickups, let's put it this way. An MIJ Tokai will do justice to pretty much any pickup you choose to put in it. If you like the stock Tokai pickups, that's great, & many people do. But even if they don't suit your ears, replacing pickups is a small price to pay to make the guitar perfect for you. So you can't lose really.

8)

Mike
 
JohnA said:
and considering they were almost double the price IMO anyone who wasn't stupid would walk out the shop with a Tokai and ?700 change rather than take a Gibson.

there's a ?1400 note available now? ;) :lol:

agreed, though. I dunno if I've tried the 95s, but I tried a tokai MIJ relic at about the thousand pound mark, and it utterly annihilated a gibbo LP classic antique (which was a couple of hundred pounds more) which I tried on the same day.
 

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