Sigmania said:....
Reviewing new instruments for you guitar buffs out there is not quite the easy, pleasant task you may imagine it to be. By and large, there is more to depress the budding muso than there is to impress him, But once in a while along comes something that really catches your eye. The something that caught my eye is the new Tokai range of guitars from Japan, and the reason for this is Tokai made a 'new line' of instruments that are closer to forgeries than copies, so closely do they resemble the real thing.
The Tokai factory in Hamamatsu, just outside Tokyo, has for some time now been producing instruments under license for some of the major names including the Yamaha company. The factory is huge, ten times the size of either the Gibson Kalamazoo or Fender Fullerton plants. Word has it that Tokai owner Mac Seshimoto has done a deal with Fender, and he will now be producing instruments for them at his factory.
The distributors in the UK for Tokai (pronounced tock-aye) are Blue Suede Music of Lancaster, and initially they will be importing around 55 of the 100 or so models in the Tokai range; they've already sold the first shipment. Amongst these will be an amazing copy of a 1958-1960 Gibson Les Paul Standard, complete with tiger stripe top. Though this is more expensive than Gibson's Own ill-fated reissue, the Heritage series. It is a much more accurate copy, the pickups don't sound mushy and the neck angle is correct. If bass is your thing then Tokai have several choices for you, six variations of the Precision Bass (more of these later) and a choice of nine Jazz basses, three of them fretless. If dot fret board 335's are your turn on take your pick from four of these. You may have had trouble finding one of those beautiful old Custom Telecasters, the type with the double binding that Andy Summers uses. Tokai have one of these too. Where these Japanese 'pirates " are really going to score is with their range of Stratocasters which number around two dozen. Tokai have copied the neck profile of the 1964 Fender Stratocaster (pre CBS of course) and come up with the ST 64 range. They've also copied a 50s maple neck Strat and given us the ST 54 range, which to my mind is the biggest thrill in guitars since way back when.
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Max Kay
E & MM
FEBRUARY 1982
http://www.tokaiforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=26140