Can anybody help identify this Tokai ES 335 style guitar?

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Music Man

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May 19, 2006
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Location
Toronto, Canada
I recently bought this N.O.S. ES 335 style Tokai guitar, no serial or model number anywhere on it. The guy who sold it to me says he bought it on ebay. It has a decorative inlay on the headstock unlike any other one I have seen. Same goes for the pickguard. The tuners are made by Grover (I don't know if they are stock or not). Other features: dark wood binding around fingerboard, and ivory binding (same as around top and bottom of guitar) around the inside of the f-holes. I would like to know what year and where it was made. Any help is appreciated. See photos below:

tokai_es_335_front.jpg

tokai_es_335_back.jpg

tokai_es_335_headstock.jpg


Bridge pickup and pickup cavity:
tokai_es_335_pickup.jpg


If you can't see the photos for some reason, please email me, and I will send them to you, thanks.
 
Music Man, welcome to the forum.
This is not a official Tokai guitar.
Probably forum member JSD is able to enlighten more.
 
Not meaning to offend: Well, today I found out this is a Chinese Tokai made for Canada. It sounded bad. Wouldn't intonate, and buzzed. I was going to return it to the seller, but my Luthier, the owner of two upper scale Tokai ES 335 style guitars was with me when I bought it, and was impressed. He called it a great entry-level ES 335 style guitar. 'Who cares if it is made in China, put some new 11s on it, and try intonating it again', he said. We had already put a lot of relief in the neck (the truss rod was much much too tight). I did what he said, and after putting on the new heavier-guage strings, spending an hour getting the intonation right, and adjusting the pickups, it found it's voice, and it spoke sweet music. Don't let the bad setup fool you - this guitar has potential. The finish is really beautiful too, except for a flaw in the binding on the neck (cosmetic). The other comment my Luthier made, besides telling me you would have to spend well over $1000 to get an equivalent guitar (here in Canada) is 'I am glad there's competion out there'. So much stuff is overpriced these days. Now, I know what you're thinking, but I am not a joker. I have been playing, adjusting, and tweaking guitars for more than 25 years. My complaints with this guitar are not in the build quality, but rather that it is not set up at all from the factory, came with bad strings, the truss rod was way too tight, one fret needs to be hammered down (my luthier noticed that), one tone control doesn't work (probably the capacitor broke off), and the pickups need to be potted. Once I take care of these issues, lookout! I think I am going to be happy with my purchase. It is already quite playable.
 

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