Please help me make sense of Tokai’s ES models !

Hello all,

I’m interested in having a Tokai ES 335 copy (in sunburst or teaburst) shipped from a store that ships internationally, but I’m utterly confused by their offering. I know that the numbers they give their various models correspond to the price they charge in Yens, however they still seem to offer a boatload of different models. Can someone please be kind enough to help me make sense of all this?

I’ve spotted the following names on the Australian and NL tokai websites: ES-224, 198, 180, 158 and 78. I do know that the ES 78 is a cheaper model made in China.

All of the above look like distinct models, but I’ve seen other names on various websites: ES-86, 130, 148, 155, 158, 210...

Are ALL those all distinct models, or does Tokai change the names/numbers for same models from one year to the next if/when they change their pricing? If it’s the latter, how many distinct models are there and how can you keep track of what is what if names/numbers keep being changed ?

Also, I’m confused about the differences in dimensions between the ES-180, 78 and the 198. The 180 and 78 are 1070mm long, while the 198 is 1055mm. The 180 is 55mm deep, the 78 65mm and the 198 75mm. Those are pretty significant differences. I don’t understand the reason for the discrepancies. Nut width seems to vary as well. I couldn’t find specs for the 224...

Sorry for the long post. I’m REALLY hoping someone will be able to KINDKY shed some light on this and help ME get a clear picture of the Tokai line.

Thanks in advance!

I've never owned one but for simplicity.
The model number is price based, so different years for the same model causes the number to change over time.
Different specifications cause the price to change also.
Now in recent years, individual importers are requesting different specifications from TOKAI GAKKI. So this leads to a even greater spreading of the serial number range.
As to the dimensions, I have no idea! Are they all measured at the same identical place? Are they Tokai Gakki data or just someone in the dealership? If it's not direct data from Tokai, I would tend to ignore it.

It's a minefield

8) tokai has been changing the model#s on the same models whenever they changed their list prices in japan so the one model possibly has many model#s over the years. there are 2 types of the tokai ES335 copies. one is a dot marker model and another is a block marker model. the dot marker model is a copy of the 1958~1961 gibson es335 and the block marker model is a copy of the 1962~1964 gibson es335. these original gibson es335s were different on the specs so since tokai es335s are their copies, the differences also follows very possibly.

Thanks for the clarification, guys. It is a minefield but I understand the logic, especially if some importers impose their own specs which impacts the price and thus the name/number. I’ll dig more but at least I now have a better sense of how the nomenclature works. Thanks again!