Mark Abbott
Active member
Hi
It offical I now own a Tokai ST – 80. I have mixed thoughts about it, I love the neck, the body shape is great. The pickups surprise me they sound alright, it is a very useable sound.
The set up on the guitar is pretty terrible, the intonation obviously needs setting up. The guitar will require a shim in the neck pocket so the bridge is effective. So far the guitar has a high-ish action and the saddles are nearly all the way down.
The four screws holding the neck onto the body are enormous, no one could ever say the neck isn't securely held in. Same for the strap buttons, huge, you'd never drop your guitar as is possible with a Fender or a Gibson.
The switch for the pickups is pretty soft and not as defined as an America switch. One if the pots is a bit noisy, though I had thoughts of replacing the pots, cap and switch, as far as the original parts go I'd stow them.
The bridge is it is awful, it might be one piece cast. The metal in the block is quite soft as it was a bit of a struggle to get the ball ends of the strings out of the block. Looking at the block I could see marks in it left by the strings over the years.
There are a few options possible, the is the Callaham bridge which is a great bridge but expensive and then there are the plain Gotoh bridges which are cheap.
The first question is which bridges fit a Tokai and secondly which bridge sound the best?
Thank for your assistance.
It offical I now own a Tokai ST – 80. I have mixed thoughts about it, I love the neck, the body shape is great. The pickups surprise me they sound alright, it is a very useable sound.
The set up on the guitar is pretty terrible, the intonation obviously needs setting up. The guitar will require a shim in the neck pocket so the bridge is effective. So far the guitar has a high-ish action and the saddles are nearly all the way down.
The four screws holding the neck onto the body are enormous, no one could ever say the neck isn't securely held in. Same for the strap buttons, huge, you'd never drop your guitar as is possible with a Fender or a Gibson.
The switch for the pickups is pretty soft and not as defined as an America switch. One if the pots is a bit noisy, though I had thoughts of replacing the pots, cap and switch, as far as the original parts go I'd stow them.
The bridge is it is awful, it might be one piece cast. The metal in the block is quite soft as it was a bit of a struggle to get the ball ends of the strings out of the block. Looking at the block I could see marks in it left by the strings over the years.
There are a few options possible, the is the Callaham bridge which is a great bridge but expensive and then there are the plain Gotoh bridges which are cheap.
The first question is which bridges fit a Tokai and secondly which bridge sound the best?
Thank for your assistance.