My second Tokai arrived yesterday

[Felipe Nacif]

Yesterday the DHL guy brought me my newest Tokai, a UES120SB, which is basically an ES120, but it's intended for the UK market, so there is a very slight mod on th top of the headstock.

So far, so good, this is guitar is a monster player. The neck is fatter than my LS320, and with factory 10s it's too light. It'll handle 11s with ease. It's one of the best feeling necks I've ever played.
The workmanship is top notch. Compare with the LS320, the biggest difference is in wood quality. The maple is good, and the whole guitar is pretty light for a 335, good mahogany too, but the only thing I didn't like was the rosewood board. Too dry and not great looking and feeling. But the guitar sounds really great. The pickups are good, but I've got a pair of Seths around, and that's goona turn that guitar in a monster.
That's a trully nice guitar, highly recomended for anyone seeking for the ultimate semi-hollow experience.

Kudos again to Tokai. The whole deal was smoother than ever, keep spoiling me like that, my GAS for Tokais will not end soon

 

[Anonymous]

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[luis]

Congratulations again Felipe,that semi-hollow seems very pretty.

 

[Anonymous]

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[20 century boy]

hmmm, I'm not sure. those copies from japan are often better than the originals when it's solid body guitars but I never saw a good copy of a hollow body yet.it's often the color that make the difference on the models I saw. Haaa if I could find a good copy of a epiphone (wich is-when it comes to talk about hollow bodies- the best brand). Especially the casino epiphone , my favorite!

 

[sneakyjapan]

try Yamaha`s SA-2200 model. You will not find a better made or sounding guitar. Workmanship is exquisite, their necks feel great but they have almost no resale value outside Japan.

 

[Anonymous]

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[Anonymous]

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[Felipe Nacif]

Now after a couple of days, I can give a better review of that guitar. I'm not sure, but lately there is no Epiphone to match this guitar, and it's as good as stock 335s I've played. Haven't played a Historic 335, but I'm pretty sure once I put good pots, caps and pickups, the Tokai will be very fine. Construction-wise it's pretty much flawless, all right it's not the 320, but it's very close. Complaints about the wood I've made, but pretty much the freatboard, but the flame top is really nice, the binding is excelent.
Playability is superior to 99% of anything I've played, in fact I even prefer over the 320 because of the fatter neck. It's an amazingly confortable carve.
Tone is subjective, and in my book the 320 still smokes the UES, but the 320 smokes pretty much everything.
For jazz and specially low power blues (thru a tweed Deluxe), the UES is simply superb, and will definitely improve after caps, pots and pickup upgrade.

See Barry, the diference is pretty small, but it's there.

 

[sneakyjapan]

yeah I`ve heard those Yamahas can be heavy which is why I haven`t bought one on line . There seem to be a lot of old Yamahas lately.

 

[Anonymous]

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[20 century boy]

The price seems to increase really fast on most of the japanese copies brand (especially on Greco, which is my favorite). But the Yamaha guitars are the only one to stay on an affordable price and they are really good guitars .
I also saw a few Aria ProII on ebay but I definitely can't go for that brand, it reminds me all those poor es335 copies we used to see everywhere 10 years ago.

 

[Anonymous]

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[sneakyjapan]

Tokai is now making a version of the 335 type... is yours a new one?

 

[esrjm22]

guys!

on the question of the headstock
read my post.(love rock mystery)

cheers

 

[luis]

I resurrect this post to ask Felipe if he has changed electronics in his guitar.......

 

[Felipe Nacif]

Hi Luis!

Yes, I changed pots and caps, also pickups. CTS, Orange Drops and a pair of Seth Lovers. Comparing with a stock 335 w/57s, it's a smoother guitar overall, sound is much more mellow than the Gibson, giving a better jazzy feel to it, while the Gibson sounds tougher, much more rocker overall.

 

[luis]

Nice Felipe!

Yes you're right again,in fact Gibbo 335 has a wider(bigger)body than Tokai which spots old measurements.

I agree this ES-120 is an excellent platform to get a 335 vibe guitar if you don?t want/need an Historic......and not very expensive. I have the curiosity about how a pair of Classic s '57 would be in this Tokai.

As far as I?m concert recent Classic '57 would be voiced to be thougher(higher impedance??) than old models.....Anybody can shed any light on this?

 

[hans-j?rgen]

Are the pictures still available somewhere? The embedded links on the first page of this thread do not work.

 

[Felipe Nacif]

http://www.microcity.com.br/felipe/Tokai/

The 320s are my all time favorite electric guitars!