This is really none of my business, as I have no intention of bidding on it, but I think that it's a responsible thing to do to open up a debate on this item. People are already bidding on it, but I really have my doubts that it will be worth the final price :-? .
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Tokai-Jazz-Ba...al_Instruments_Guitars_CV?hash=item2a0511788a
So, the seller acknowledges (albeit a little ambiguously) that the neck (and tuners) are not original - which is obvious to all Tokai bass fans anyway. In fact, the untidy truss rod slot and the cheapo tuners make it look like one of those ?25 replacement necks that eBay is awash with.
But, the more serious concerns about this "Tokai" are to do with the rest of it. The seller implies (by lack of disclaimers) that the rest of the bass is Japanese Tokai. Three things make me doubt this:
Firstly, that's not a vintage style bridge and is unlike anything ever found on a Japanese Jazz Sound. It doesn't have threaded saddles and it shouldn't have those to front screws in the base plate.
Secondly, the bridge itself is mounted way too far up the body, towards the neck pocket to be 'original'. The body could have been re-drilled and had the bridge moved, of course, if the new neck was a different scale length, but that's really something that should be mentioned in the listing.
Also, the scratchplate is, without doubt, not an original Japanese Tokai one. They were always drilled for the thumb rest (which was never installed on the Jazz Sounds, to my knowledge) and they also have the centrally positioned screw in front of the neck pickup - this one doesn't!
Looks to me like a very poor copy of a Fender Jazz Bass, possibly made in Japan (but more likely in China) and the only part of it that looks to me like it could actually be original Tokai are the knobs ... which the seller has already told us are original Fender ones :lol: !!!
The bids are already up to ?230, so it is my very firm belief that somebody is about to get ripped off! I just hope that it's nobody here
.
What do you folks think?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Tokai-Jazz-Ba...al_Instruments_Guitars_CV?hash=item2a0511788a
So, the seller acknowledges (albeit a little ambiguously) that the neck (and tuners) are not original - which is obvious to all Tokai bass fans anyway. In fact, the untidy truss rod slot and the cheapo tuners make it look like one of those ?25 replacement necks that eBay is awash with.
But, the more serious concerns about this "Tokai" are to do with the rest of it. The seller implies (by lack of disclaimers) that the rest of the bass is Japanese Tokai. Three things make me doubt this:
Firstly, that's not a vintage style bridge and is unlike anything ever found on a Japanese Jazz Sound. It doesn't have threaded saddles and it shouldn't have those to front screws in the base plate.
Secondly, the bridge itself is mounted way too far up the body, towards the neck pocket to be 'original'. The body could have been re-drilled and had the bridge moved, of course, if the new neck was a different scale length, but that's really something that should be mentioned in the listing.
Also, the scratchplate is, without doubt, not an original Japanese Tokai one. They were always drilled for the thumb rest (which was never installed on the Jazz Sounds, to my knowledge) and they also have the centrally positioned screw in front of the neck pickup - this one doesn't!
Looks to me like a very poor copy of a Fender Jazz Bass, possibly made in Japan (but more likely in China) and the only part of it that looks to me like it could actually be original Tokai are the knobs ... which the seller has already told us are original Fender ones :lol: !!!
The bids are already up to ?230, so it is my very firm belief that somebody is about to get ripped off! I just hope that it's nobody here
.What do you folks think?
