I really don't care either, but i'm gonna hazard a guess that no such email exists. I think the likelyhood that you or ANYBODY got a response from Tokai Japan, and i mean "the MOTHERSHIP" in Japan, is doubtful.
They don't even have a "real" website, they have a bizarre marketing strategy, if they even have one at all, still don't have an english website,
and don't care about the "good" guitars they made back in the 70's/80's.
I've been reading this site for years. Tokai "knowledge" , if you can call it that, is at the VERY LEAST, incomplete. Even the stuff they put out currently is without any support.
I guess "here's a guitar, buy it if you want" is a strategy that works for them.
Don't get me wrong, over the years, i've seen the knowledge base grow,
but it's all been piecemeal, with a skosh of guesswork.
Obviously Tokai.jp doesn't give a rats arse.
I'm not saying i KNOW this is or isn't a real one or not.
I believe it's real, it says "TOKAI" in a Tokai like logo,
it plays great and sounds cool. And is a very solid quality guitar.
That's good enough for me.
And frankly, i'm not going to stop the auction because a bunch of guys on a forum THINK it's a fake. If Tokai JAPAN wants to tell ebay that they are wary of a fake(any so called "fake") and stop a particular auction,
there are safeguards in place to do so. I've had it happen even recently when i listed a "Fender" type Pbass body. It wasn't a Fender, just a raw cut, but unpainted Pbass body, but ebay shut it down. They do it all the time.
Perhaps the "alleged" fakes don't get stopped because they really aren't fakes, and Tokai knows it................................hmmmmmmmmmmmm?
This is the only "new" Tokai i have, the other 7 (5 Guitars, 2 Basses)
are 82-85 and i've owned them since the early 90's (when you could still buy them for $200 WITH a hard case)
So i'm not new to this Tokai game, and i don't appreciate the knowitall attitudes, because i know how vague the REAL history of most of this stuff is.
I'm also going to give the "knowitalls" a lesson(for free)
Companies like Tokai, will make different styles for different parts of the word. You see the pics of the Es135 that you all call a fake. Well, it COULD be a model that was only supposed to be for sale in Malaysia. And for that market they decided that "style" of logo goes over better there. And perhaps the Malaysians have a much lower expectation of quality, so they make it junky, and it still sells like hotcakes.
Now, because it is cheap, it sells cheap, so the Canadian rep gets a store in Maylasia to ship him 100. These cost him HALF the price of the ones he's buying direct from Tokai Japan, but he sells them at full Canadian retail.
Few people know better, and most are satisfied, or don't care.
Tokai Japan, would in all likelyhood frown upon this because
1)They want to make more money selling to the Canadian rep.directly
2)They don't want these cheap guitars making it to countries where
the expectation of quality is perhaps higher, and the low quality
models diminish the Tokai brand and hurt sales.
This type of stuff is done ALL THE TIME, by companies
ALL OVER THE WORLD.
Different countries have different consumer protection laws and thus,
sometimes what is for sale in those countries can vary GREATLY from what one would buy in the US/Canada/EU
And in all likelihood, the Malaysian models wouldn't appear in any ENGLISH catalog. In fact what's the likelihood that someone from our side of the world would have access to the "Tokai 2007 Malaysian catalog"??????
An obvious example of what i'm talking about
would be the Gibson "Orville" line.
Made by the REAL Gibson factory.
Made in Japan, for sale ONLY in Japan.
Once they made it to US soil i'm sure people said
"OH MY GOD THEY ARE FAKES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"they are Gib-FAKE-son guitars!!!!"
And once they got off their high horse, the smart ones realized they were good guitars, and could be had at a good price.
i'll take my example even further.
I lived in Ct. near a non Fender, non Gibson guitar dealer who imported both NEW Orville and NEW Japan made, for sale only in Japan, Matching color headstock REAL Fender Strats and Telecasters.
Dude puts an ad in the local newspaper advertising them.
A week later a Fender rep walks into his store with Sheriff with a cease and desist order, and they walk out with all the Fender guitars.
Guess what? The Gibson rep walked in about 3 hours later with another sheriff and another cease and desist order.
I was there for the second one.
It's the way the world works, it's what manufacturers do, and it's subsequently what industrious "importers" do.
The smart ones keep it out of the newspaper tho.
PS- he found out later, that all he had to do was call them "used",
and Fender and Gibson would have had NO case.
Ya'll can believe all of this or not, don't care, i know its all true.
leadguitar_323 said:
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news Gwaggin, but this is not a small custom order or anything else. These guitars are definitely Fakes and we have confirmation of this from Tokai, i'll see if i still have the Email, if i do i will send you a copy. These guitars were made in Korea and YES there were a few small runs of "FAKE" Tokai's made in Korea there are also Fakes coming out of China as well now, and its simply because these guitars are {Tokai Japan} are very good and sort after guitars. There is a Canadian distributor that did just that, he couldn't get the guitars he wanted so he had another factory make them to his specs, if you don't believe us here {and i don't care if you do} send Tokai an email telling them how much you love this model guitar and you will find out yourself. Some other fakes were the Zakk Wylde replica. Don't be surprised if when sold , the new buyer comes here to get it checked out, it happens quite a lot and we will tell him the same thing and he will want his money back, these things have been well and truly proven Fake, once again, sorry to be the bearer of bad news.
Mick
either.
