What Cat's Eyes Were Made In Japan?

[Sigmania]

Before the past few days I had assumed that, like electric guitars, the lower priced Cat's Eyes were made off shore in Korea and China and the more expensive ones were made in Japan. I was wrong....

It looks like at some point production of all Cat's Eyes, save for a small number of special order guitars, were made elsewhere.

If you look at it over time, the Cat's Eyes line began in 1975, growing out of the Humming Bird line. Guitars were made in two locations in Hamamatsu from 1975 until at least 1981.

By the 1985 Tokai had shut down its banjo production which in many ways had mirrored Cat's Eyes production. It also shuttered piano production around the same time, apparently due to it losing money as pianos were being replaced by synthesizers.

If you look at the catalogs before 1985 they feature many different models of acoustics and an association with CF Martin which began in 1972. But that all changed after 1984.

1984 is the last year CF Martin is mentioned in a Tokai catalog. After that, Cat's Eyes disappear and all we see is cutaway electric models, the TEA line. And it is not clear where the TEA guitars were made.

In looking through catalogs I don't see any Tokai acoustics, other than TEA models, between 1985 and 1995 when off shore production had moved to Korea...

I am beginning to wonder if full scale Cat's Eyes production in Japan ended by 1985?

It looks like they retained some folks in Hamamatsu to make special order (and high end pieces like the TCV450 in 1995) and also likely to train folks in Korea and in China on acoustic guitar production methods that they learned by being trained in similar fashion by the folks at Martin in the 1970s.

By 2006 190,000 yen Cat's Eyes were being made in China!

This is not what I had expected. Kind of a secret hiding in plain sight.

People continue to mistakenly believe that because "Hamamatsu, Japan" is on a paper label in a guitar that it means the guitar was made there. It does not mean that. The company is headquartered there. It probably has not meant that since 1984....

 

[Sigmania]

1995 catalog stating the "new line up" of Cat's Eyes.



And super expensive models (450,000 yen) that were likely made in very small quantities in Hamamatsu, Japan.

 

[Sigmania]

1998 catalog showing order form.

 

[Sigmania]

1999 special order form

 

[Sigmania]

2000 special order form

 

[Sigmania]

2001 special order form

 

[Sigmania]

Super high end models in the 2003-2004 catalog. 500,000 yen. It says the CEV line was "handcrafted". That line went down to 150,000 yen. Hard to know where the cutoff was. Big jump from 500, 000 yen to 280,000.

Cat's Eyes
Handcrafted Guitar
Handmade masterpieces

Rather than producing as many finished products as possible, we must inherit the era when acoustic guitar manufacturing was heated, and do not compromise on time or price. Learning the spirit from pre-war craftsmen, the "Cat's Eyes Acoustic Guitar Project" was started in 1975. This project focuses on not only the details of historical masterpieces that have been used as role models by craftsmen all over the world, but also faithfully reproduces the vintage sounds that were played into them. From the careful selection of materials to the final quality check, Cat's Eye Teoh guitars are made by craftsmen who have been exclusively involved in custom orders for many years. It is a product born from our craftsmanship: ``We want to continue our tradition in the music scene of the new century.''



CEV Series Bracing

Uses German spruce that has been seasoned enough for X-placing. The same glue used in the 1970s is used for gluing.

Abalone Sound Hole(CEV220-OM). Vintage Grover Style Peg & Diamond Volute.

Vintage X-Bracing & Heel Cap.



With details, herringbone trim, snowflake and long slot.

This is a special work that I am proud of, and I would like you to play and compare to the origin of the acoustic guitar.

Faithfully reproduces that vintage sound.

Experience the project's commitment.

A mellow and warm tone with a bright outline of the sound.

For guitar connoisseurs who are fascinated by the mahogany tone, which becomes richer the more you play it.

This is a masterpiece of project that you should definitely get your hands on.




There was also a special order form in this catalog.


Cat's Eyes Special Order Made System

(Photo captions for factory pics: Using the same machine as in 1975, Putting work, Pasting work, Bead neck cutting.)

At Tokai Musical Instruments, we accept custom-made guitars for our customers. Our skilled craftsmen will use their skills and carefully selected top-quality materials to create your own handmade original guitar. In addition to regular specifications, the following order details are available.

Special order guitar making by Tokai Musical Instrument Manufacturing has a long history, and can be said to have started at the same time as the "Cat's Eyes Acoustic Guitar Project" which started in 1975. At that time, I received direct guidance from a famous U.S.A. guitar maker, and I worked hard day and night to learn everything from material selection to the painting process. A quarter of a century has passed since then, and many more guitars have come out into the world. Several times that amount of know-how has been accumulated here at Tokai Musical Instrument Manufacturing. Tokai Musical Instrument Manufacturing's ``Special Made to Order System'' is a craftsman from back then who continues to work on custom made products today. It will continue to be your ideal construction.
Head

Tuners
●Waverly 4060G
●Old Kluson type
●Original vintage Grover style

Face
●Rosewood
●Jacaranda

Body size
●D size
●T size
●C size

Top plate material
● Spruce
● Ezopine
●Engleman spruce
●German spruce

Side panel material
●Rosewood
●Honduras mahogany
●Jacaranda

Back plate material
●Rosewood
●Honduras mahogany
●Jacaranda

Others

Painting
●Polyurethane
●Lacquer finish
●All lacquer
●Top plate old style coloring
●Pickguard filling

Other
●Tortoiseshell pickguard
●Ivoroid cell binding
●etc., you can choose.




Tuners

 

[Sigmania]

Then by 2007 it looks like they are all definitely made off shore except for a handful of special orders.

In the beginning of 2007 it looks like models as high as 190,000 yen were made in China.

Higher End Chinese Built Tokai Acoustics

 

[Sigmania]

2012 catalog showing high end Chinese models.

 

[Sigmania]

This puzzle piece makes more sense in this context.

1985 seems to have been when banjo production had ended and possibly Cat's Eyes and other acoustics like Sigmas.

Fascinating find! Besides the pianos I also looked into the "Pianica" and harp production, but that didn't seem to yield anything useful, besides one gal who has a blog on melodicas (which seem to have a particular history in Japan). The sidenote about quality problems with the piano production seems to reflect in the surprisingly strong negative opinions I found in the piano forum(s) about them.

Hard to tell but that all sounds almost like guitars were the only still profitable branch in the company.

This is the first time I hear about Takeuchi in a different context than the infamous (there was a bit of story around them back then) locking vibrato systems of all kinds, and even the Japanese web was like they didn't leave any other traces of their existence. They have been one of my suspects for the origin of some of the strange hardware parts you find on LP style copies.

"Hi Gold Star flat head lovers,

Please let me make corrections regarding the production period of Tokai made Gold Star banjos. I mentioned before that all Gold Star flat head banjos built from 1978 to 1985 were Tokai made but I found that two different builders supplied Gold Star banjos during 1984 and 1985 period. I resigned Tokai in September 1980, three years after Gold Star flat head banjo development and joined Honda. So I need to ask someone who knows the true history from 1980 to 1986. As a first step, I telephoned yesterday Mr.Sumi of Sumi mandolin who worked for 1984 J.D. Crowe model at Tahara Gakki(musical instruments). He told me that Tahara Gakki started building their Gold Star banjos in around 1984 while Tokai was still in business. I also telephoned to the former Tokai Gakki design manager who was my supervisor, asking for Gold Star banjo production condition in around 1984 and 1985. He told me that the company began to focus more on the electric guitar production in those days. The demand for banjos declined especially in Japan, so supposedly the company halted banjo production before the company stopped their business in 1985, he said. Under such circumstances, Mr. Keldsen had to develop the other product source and Tahara was one. I found the hints to figure out the builder from serial number form. According to Will’s Gold Star eBay Price Table(Will is doing great work for us. I really appreciate him.), you can find two different serial number form in 1984 models, one is like ”840318 for GF100HF” the other is like “84.12.08 for GF200”. It’s supposed that the first one means Tokai made and the other one is Tahara made. Tahara made mostly maple models Sumi said, such as 1984 GF200 J.D. Crowe model(84.5.44) and GF200(84.12.08) nickel plate models. They also made GF85. GF85(85.10.38) seen on Will’s table and now it belongs to me has mahogany double cut-away neck, resonator, and tube & plate flange. Very unusual configuration. I’m sure they are all Tahara made. Tahara was a small company(total four or five craftsmen). Two digit could have been enough for showing total monthly production, so they designed their serial number as year.month.production number, I guess. But serial number seen often on Tokai made Gold Star still existed in 1986. Why? I will continue to investigate to clarify the true history for GS lovers. I borrowed two photos from Paul's Asian Banjo G site.

Thank you,

Toshi"

 

[Sigmania]

Another possible wrinkle in what I had thought was a pretty logical timeline where the electric and acoustic guitar production mirrors one another was exposed in something I read about the CE190 guitars.

I read that the folks making Cat's Eyes in China were trained for 5 years. So if the first high end Cat's Eyes coming out of China were made in the latter part of 2006, then that means that Cat's Eyes may have been made in China while electric guitars were still being made in Korea....

I have seen some Humming Bird examples in 2003 and then none until 2006/2007. I wonder if that is when they started making acoustics in China?

The latest verifiable Korean built Tokai acoustic I have seen was made in 2000.

Food for thought.