Anyone seen a stamped "Made in Japan" before ?.

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GuitarMonk

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Looking at buying a 2002 Tokai love rock , instead of a made in Japan in ink on the back of the headstock it's got a stamped Made in Japan . Serial checks out for 2002 , has gotoh pickups , made in Japan pots . Has dimple on headstock that tells me it's for the UK market. I can't find any other tokai with a stamped "Made in Japan" !? .

Anyone encountered this before ? 🤔.

Driving me nuts .
 
Here are some more pics , most of it checks out , the pots , pups , bridge ect but that "Made In Japan": stamp really confused me ?

https://ibb.co/YB8Q3jF
https://ibb.co/j87KCnz
https://ibb.co/1GH0X7T
 
It has the proper pots , pups looks but this MIJ stamp has my alarm bells ringing. I can't find another tokai with this on it .
 
Is the truss rod cover a replacement too? What does the front of the headstock look like?

From what I can see everything on it looks legit, except that stamp. Bridge, tailpiece placement, cavities, pickups, even the stamped serial number. Mine had a sticker in '01 and it was shortly after they moved to inking. Perhaps they had a brief experiment with a stamp before realising it looked awful and moved to ink?
 
The seller didn't provide headstock pictures . The serial checks out as does many of the parts ect. This made in Japan stamp is a anomaly I've never encountered and I've put the hours in trying to find a simaler stamp from that period. Nothing . Very strange , thanks for all the help. đź‘Ť
 
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