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theplumber

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As a new member of the forum,and as a new convert to the Tokai brand,I have been looking in on e bay for a chance to build up my collection....I managed to get hold of a Tokia Jazz sound....in pretty good condition for....?70 (plus ?20 postage) The guy who was selling it didn't know anything about guitars...it seems it used to belong to his girlfriends father,who played it for years in Denmark. It was covered in stickers,which came off fine using a hairdryer....and had a plate covering the Tokai brand name on the headstock,which had the name of a brand of vaacum cleaner!
I emailed the guy a few hours before the auction finished,and asked what kind of guitar it was,and the serial number......when he said it was a Tokai,I went for it...praying no one else would see it. After getting it,I started looking for another one....I know that its a one off to get one at that price,but what I see now is Tokais with price's that seem to be going up and up.....I suppose I have been spoiled,but at the moment I can see guitars starting at about ?300/?375.....and one for sale in America,on e bay for nearly ?800!.......I know its a great guitar....but i could buy a pretty good new/used Fender at that price.......a bit of band wagon jumping I think......or am I just being the usual tight Scottish git!
I will try and post some pictures soon....but it goes to show,with a bit of luck there are still great bargains on E bay.........sometimes! :D.....ps I missed out on a Hardthumper a month or so ago....it went for ?260....I had the wife beside me and agreed to stop at ?250.....hard to justify anything else at this time of year.....it seems that I have to buy presents for others...not just my self!
 
theplumber said:
I suppose I have been spoiled,but at the moment I can see guitars starting at about ?300/?375.....and one for sale in America,on e bay for nearly ?800!.......I know its a great guitar....but i could buy a pretty good new/used Fender at that price.......a bit of band wagon jumping I think......or am I just being the usual tight Scottish git!

For any of the early 80s Fender clones, bass or guitar, you're lucky to get anything in decent nick for under ?300. If you get something for less than ?100 you've been extremely fortunate, so please forgive the rest of us for hating you! My Tokai Jazz cost me ?300 a year or so ago, & would probably sell for more than that now.

You see some Tokais advertised at ridiculous prices by some dealers - there was one seller who had a Silver Star at over ?1000! If someone wants to pay ?800 for an instrument that they could get for half that, good luck to them....

Mike
 
It all depends on what you're comparing these '80s Tokai basses to, IMHO :-? . Considering that the "Jazz Sounds" were built to mimic the sound, look and feel of a 20 year (1964 model) Fender Jazz, and considering that these basses have now aged to be an average of 25 years old since then, you're really talking about true vintage 'classics'!

At (roughly) the same period in history, Fender were having the Japanese Squier series basses made, which IME were not as authentically detailed, or as good sounding as the Tokais (I tried out a fair few of each back in the '80s ) :wink: .

So, you could either compare the value of a good, authentic Tokai to a 1960s Fender Jazz Bass (just for a laugh :lol: ), or an '80s Squier Jazz Bass - either way, the Tokais sell for a lot less!

With most recent Jazz Sounds that I've seen selling for between ?300 and ?500, I reckon that they represent just about the biggest bargain around today in the world of Fender bass copies. That's Mexican Fender 'Standard' territory, FFS!

Like the real vintage Fenders themselves (and the '70s crap too :wink: ), the prices of these Tokais is only headed in one direction, for the foreseeable futre (IMHO) and it's not the direction that the current recession might seem to suggest.

Personally, I'd wait until the prices go into four figures, before I start complaining that they are ridiculously over-priced, but that's just me :lol: !
 
Its true...it was a one off....but that doesn't stop me from looking for another bargain......When this christmas lark has died down,I will sell a bass or two and look for some more Tokai stuff.......next time I won't let the wife see the price before it ends....still mourning the one that got away at ?260!
I have even taken to looking for any beat up **** that just may be a Tokai without the logo.....I paid ?40 for a Precision copy.....trying to convince myself it was a Tokai that someone had let get in a bad state........It was in a bad state alright......I gave that one away.....no Tokai ! Next up was a Hohner P bass copy.....this looked pretty close to a hard thumper....even had the same 3 screwhole tuning pegs.......I bid up to ?90 on that one.....and it looked a bit beat up.....but I went for a nap before the auction ended...and being an old bugger......slept through it!....I got beat for about ?5......so I think I will have to part with some proper money.......lightning does not strike twice........or does it!
 
Trouble is, you may been beaten by a fiver, but the temptation then would have been to have got involved in a bidding war, and before you know it you've paid way, way over the odds!

If I see something I like, I stick my max bid on it then forget about it until I get the email from Ebay telling me what the outcome was.

Takes some amount of restraint on my part though! :lol:
 
forget the fender clones, if you want quality and don't need the clone get some original tokai models, absolutely bang for buck instruments.

My latest was a VB-80, 1981, 1 piece mahogony back, flamed maple top, maple neck, V-ish maple neck all for under ?300

the more traditionally built ones can be got for under ?200 and they have really slim necks (I presume modelled for Japanese hands?), on ebay here they'll go for ?100.
 
I bought this just before Christmas for ?75. I didn't have to pay postage either, I nipped round and collected it, so I suppose I could claim that I beat the original posters bargain price! I have just started a thread about it, looking for a bit of info.

TokaiBass1.jpg


Ian.
 
theplumber said:
:D Nice one!...if I can work out how to do it I will post some pictures of mine!
It's easy. Put your pics onto an image hosting site, I use photobucket, and then just add the image code into your text. The photo will show in your posting for as long as you leave it on photobucket.

If you need some good but simple photo editing software you can download a programme called Photoscape for free. I use it to edit mine before I upload them to Photobucket.

Ian.
 

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