Earliest Tokai Guitars

[Sigmania]

Just wanting to chronicle the earliest Tokai guitars.

From the period before they started making faithful reproductions of Fenders and Gibsons.


Tokai guitar timeline:

1947 Company started by making harmonicas and pianos
1965 Classical guitars
1968 First electric guitars (Hummingbirds, Mosrite clone)
1970 TOKAI branded acoustics
1970-1973 Made Conn acoustics
1972 Began making Sigmas for CF Martin
1975 Began making Cat's Eyes acoustics
1975-77? Began making Fernandes Fender clones
1977 Tokai branded Fender clone (Springy Sound)
1978 Tokai "Les Paul Reborn"


Sources in part:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tōkai_Gakki



1969 catalog

 

[Sigmania]

Classical Tokai from the late 1960s.

Item description:
Tokai musical instrument "Tokai No. 70" 1960s / Japanese classical guitar
This is Tokai Gakki's 60's classical guitar, "Tokai No. 70".
Although it is a popular price range guitar made of plywood, it has been used for many years, and it has a dry tone and good sound.
The top is made of pine wood, and the sides and back are made of zebra wood with a characteristic heather.
Since the paint is lacquer, cracks (weather check) have occurred over time, giving it a dignified look.
As for the exterior, scratches and deterioration over time can be seen, but there is no major damage such as cracks or scratches.
Thank you.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/TOKAI-Aco...2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0

 

[Sigmania]

Label shows was made in Hamamatsu.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/TOKAI-Toka...2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0

 

[Sigmania]

 

[Sigmania]

Tokai Hummingbird.

First electric by Tokai. Clone of a Mosrite guitar. Made roughly 1968.

https://www.myrareguitars.com/vintage-1967-tokai-hummingbird-electric-guitar

 

[Sigmania]

Another Hummingbird showing "TG" logo on head stock.

https://reverb.com/item/6880758-tokai-hummingbird-200-s-1968

 

[Sigmania]

Here’s a wild looking electric. Early to mid 1970s?

Here's an interesting Tokai version of the Black Widow. These pics were sent to me by the owner who has since lost the instrument due to a closing of the shop where it was awaiting service.

http://blackwidow.vintageusaguitars.com/index.php/misc-instruments/tokai/

 

[Sigmania]

Another of these 1960s classical Tokais.

Zebra wood?

Text on the internal paper label translates as:

Tokai
06227
No. 70
Tokai Musical Instrument Manufacturing Co., Ltd.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/353903772082

 

[Sigmania]

It’s interesting to me to see all those laminates. I’m sure the idea was to prevent twisting and warping (besides using smaller pieces). But what you get is a lot of glue. Seems like that would not only be heavy, but would reduce sound transmission/resonance/sustain.

Seems Tokai moved far from that technology within a couple years and valued single pieces of wood. Different market too I guess? Vintage versus new look pieces.

 

[Sigmania]

This looks like a commission build for G.M.C. of Cleveland Ohio from the early to mid 1970s?


https://offerup.com/item/detail/595637550

Similar guitar in this thread:

http://www.tokaiforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=4202

 

[Sigmania]

Here is a 12 string with very similar features (logo, TRC, fancy pick guard, etc.)

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-tokai-12-string-acoustic-12510470

 

[Sigmania]

meant to add this ages ago but it was on a tablet somewhere in the house.

http://www.tokaiforum.com/posting.php?mode=quote&f=1&p=198219

 

[Sigmania]

Never seen one of these before.

"E Series" acoustic

70年代 ジャパンヴィンテージ TOKAI E-400S ア... - ヤフオク!

 

[Sigmania]

Made in Korea.......

(KC) Tokai アコースティックギター 本体のみ ... - ヤフオク!

 

[Sigmania]

1967年製 TOKAI art no.540 ピエゾ内蔵 エレアコ... - ヤフオク!

"From the stamp inside the hall, it seems to be made in 1967, so it's a New Yorker size of a 58-year-old Japanese vintage."

 

[Homer J. Simpson]

Alas he doesn't show us the "stamp inside the hall" (heel?)! Here's another "Art.no 540" showing it:



But the style would probably fit the era and the little round sticker on the headstock caught my attention, the lower number could be a Japanese company registration number, alas I still couldn't find a low-threshold way to obtain historic company registration data to check.

Here's another example of this model with a few notes hinting on how that thing sucks :

https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=280384

 

[Sigmania]

No.7596 1円～【TOKAI】TOKAI Humming Bird 68F ... - ヤフオク!

Hummingbird.

Mustache bridge.

 

[Sigmania]

SH3189 フォークギター ハミングバード トーカイ... - ヤフオク!

1971 showa date? 46.11.6

 

[Sigmania]

ビンテージ 60年代 Tokai トーカイ製 ビザール ... - ヤフオク!

★This is a Bizarre vintage guitar made by Tokai in the 60's.
　Due to the change of the bridge that is concerned about bizarre,
　it has been upgraded to an octave adjustable specification.
　Good condition as an instrument.

◎ Body
　color = Sunburst
　neck joint There are crack repair marks on the left and right
　There are overall scratches, dents, paint surface cracks, etc. (image)

◎ Neck
　scale = 628 mm. 0 fret specification.
　Nut width = about 40.5mm. No sled. Only a few left on the rod tightening side.
　The frets are left at 50% overall (approximate sense value),
　and the pegs are the original open type of Planobu, so
　it is hard and difficult to tune. Normal movement.
　There are other overall scratches, dents, paint surface cracks, etc. (image)

◎ PU assembly
　PU sound output has been confirmed. ON/OFF switch for both rear and front.
　Jack & VOL & TONE & switch have some gully.
　There are many scratches on PG (image)

◎ 　Bridge It has been replaced with a
　replacement part (non-original) bridge for Rickenbacker 325 . 　Octave and string height adjustable. String vibration is also improved.




　The tremolo arm bar 　with string grounding (image)
　is non-original, but it fits and works well.
　It will be removed and packed separately for shipping.
　* Arms, springs, nuts x 2, washers x 2.

 

[Sigmania]

Help with determining guitar