gitarrero
Member
Dear Tokai community,
I am located in Germany and recently acquired a guitar that looks almost identical to the 1989 Tokai "Super Limited" VC-75 (Vivian Campbell signature) in Cherry Sunburst finish, with the exception of the headstock.
All the major specs mentioned in the 1989 catalog check out. However, the front pickup does not have any logo. The rear pickup was replaced by the previous owner. The licensed Floyd Rose system is a Takeuchi TRS-101, the tuners are Gotoh, and the locking nut has interesting grooves for string alignment in the base and locking pads which are about 0.5mm shorter than the standard Schaller/Floyd Rose/Gotoh equivalents. There is a production stamp "z-14" under the pickups, and there are hand-written markings in the neck pocket.
The key observation is that the headstock shape differs from the one used on the Tokai VC series, and it shows no logo or serial number whatsoever. If you look at it from a certain angle (impossible to photograph) you can tell that there are traces of letters that spell MONARCH, either a removed screen print, or a logo covered under a black finish coat.
I did some WWW research on my VC-75 lookalike and found a guitar which is identical to the Tokai VC-55 except for the headstock, which has the same shape as mine, and it features a MONARCH logo. The brand MONARCH was used in the 1980s for Hi-Fi and audio products by the German company Inter-Mercador that is now known as MONACOR.
The question is - how did these guitars come about? What is known about Tokai manufacturing OEM guitars for diverse brands? Has anybody come across more MONARCH branded Tokai guitars?
I am located in Germany and recently acquired a guitar that looks almost identical to the 1989 Tokai "Super Limited" VC-75 (Vivian Campbell signature) in Cherry Sunburst finish, with the exception of the headstock.
All the major specs mentioned in the 1989 catalog check out. However, the front pickup does not have any logo. The rear pickup was replaced by the previous owner. The licensed Floyd Rose system is a Takeuchi TRS-101, the tuners are Gotoh, and the locking nut has interesting grooves for string alignment in the base and locking pads which are about 0.5mm shorter than the standard Schaller/Floyd Rose/Gotoh equivalents. There is a production stamp "z-14" under the pickups, and there are hand-written markings in the neck pocket.
The key observation is that the headstock shape differs from the one used on the Tokai VC series, and it shows no logo or serial number whatsoever. If you look at it from a certain angle (impossible to photograph) you can tell that there are traces of letters that spell MONARCH, either a removed screen print, or a logo covered under a black finish coat.
I did some WWW research on my VC-75 lookalike and found a guitar which is identical to the Tokai VC-55 except for the headstock, which has the same shape as mine, and it features a MONARCH logo. The brand MONARCH was used in the 1980s for Hi-Fi and audio products by the German company Inter-Mercador that is now known as MONACOR.
The question is - how did these guitars come about? What is known about Tokai manufacturing OEM guitars for diverse brands? Has anybody come across more MONARCH branded Tokai guitars?
