ALC 70 VS UALC 70

[revo]

What's the difference between the ALC 70 and the UALC 70?
I'm looking into buying my first Tokai and decided on the ALC 70 but I saw that there was a UALC 70 which was cheaper and they looked almost identical. I want to know if I should be cautious if there is any difference before I decide?
I've been trying to look for an ALC 70 with the ebony fb but its quite difficult to find one that is easy to obtain in my area (Ireland) so if there is some underground online shop that I never heard of that would be brilliant but worst case scenario I should buy the UALC70 with the non ebony fb?
Thanks in advance

 

[Sigmania]

The U and the A prefix relates to the market they were made for (European and American).

But sometimes an ALS has the export dimple and sometimes not. It is odd.

Can you post pics of each?

 

[revo]

Thanks for the reply!
Heres the links of both on Reverb
UALC 70
ALC70
(its the UALC I'm looking at and I picked a random ALC70)

 

[Sigmania]

Those both appear to be Chinese guitars.

Should be similar spec wise I believe.

Here is a 2018 catalog shot with the specs for an ALC70 from 5 years ago.

Probably similar to the ones you are looking at.

 

[Sigmania]

Note that the Chinese guitars use maple instead of mahogany for the top and neck.

The hardware, pickups and electronics are also different than the Japanese versions.

That is how they are able to keep the costs down. The entry level Japanese version costs twice as much.

A lot of bang for the buck.