Paisley Tokai Teles

Chris T · Mar 18, 2002

I recently acquired a Tokai ATE-67 model Tele with a red "Paisley" finish. Extremely fine looking, sounding and playing guitar-my first Tokai. I have been playing and collecting since the early 70s and this is the only one of these I have ever seen-I have seen quite a few Tokais but never another paisley finish. There is a picture of a blue "flower" Tokai Tele on the info site-I was wondering how rare this guitar is? There is a picture in one of the catalogs.

First time poster to this site-probably not my last. I am so thrilled with this Tokai I recently snagged a seafoam green Goldstar Sound Strat I expect to have next week-are these guitars addicting?

tokaiguy · Mar 18, 2002

Sounds like you are infected! I found a Paisley Breezy Sound back in October at a local shop, it was a trade-in that had dice for knobs...so I bought some replacements to restore the original integrity of this fine piece! The guitar is pristine, also included was the tweed case and a Tokai version of a tweed Fender Champ, this shop is very snobbish about Vintage American guitars so to help them out, and ride them of this package from the land of the rising sun ...We settled on $400 cash for the whole package and I removed the offending items Mucho Rapido! You can tell I'm terminal when it comes to Tokais! MH

Chris T · Mar 18, 2002

Cool! So there is at least one more-thanks for the reply-I also wondered if I overpaid but I gave up about the same even though I didn't get an amp or tweed case. I did get a nice case though.

Interesting that so many are snobbish about made in USA guitars. I have a 65 Strat, a Relic Strat and two soon to be three import Strats and I get just as much pleasure out of the cheaper ones as I do the so called "real" deals-but as long as it works in my favor in purchases so be it!

tokaiguy · Mar 18, 2002

The reason they are snobbish is they have to justify the ridiculous prices of "Gibson" and other's that are living off an old rep!Think about it, the only Gibsons and Fenders that anyone wants today are "Thier Replica" models! The best value in domestic guitars have got to be Rickenbacker and Heritage, still the handmade attention to quality and consistancie! Gibson and Fender today have very little to do with who they were in the "golden era" of the 50's and early 60's." Like some bands that tour the country with one third generation member billing themselves as the originals" The guys and machinery that made the 58/59 Les Paul are still there doing it at Heritage and Rickenbacker is a "Rock"! !What makes a great guitar then and now is Value, If ya got it I don't care what your name is! Tokai kicked thier ***'es back in the 80's!! The Japanese were buiding "Replicas" of the greats while Fender was making 3 bolts and a Les Paul had a Maple neck and a body made of fragments of fragments! Not that they haven't made some nice stuff , but thier prices are crazy inflaited!

Peter Mac · Mar 29, 2002

Hi Chris,
In Australia we got both the Paisley and Blue flower Teles. They were designated TTE-70 and sold for around AUS$800.00 in 1985
We imported around 24 pink and 6 blue so the Blue ones are rare.
The headstocks did not have the angle cut and the bodys were alder. The logo was the same as the 1984 "script" type.
regards
Peter

Chris T · Mar 29, 2002

Thanks for that info-I hope to find a blue one someday but am not holding out a lot of hope. But who knows? I wasn't looking for the pink one and it just appeared like magic!

tokaiguy · Apr 5, 2002

Found 2 more paisley tele's at the Dallas Guitar show, bought em both ! one is a Japanese Fender from the 90's and the other is a Tokai that has that "Relic" vibe spent $470 on the Tokai and $300 for the Fender, also got a N.O.S. Kendrick "Texas Crude" amp in the original Leather covering{after the first run they went to tweed} Got to cool the guitar jones for a while and do some home re-modeling! So Sez Mrs. Tokaiguy.

Paisley Tokai Teles

Help Support Tokai Forum:

Chris T

Member

tokaiguy

Well-known member

Chris T

Member

tokaiguy

Well-known member

Peter Mac

Well-known member

Chris T

Member

tokaiguy

Well-known member

Similar threads

Latest posts

Paisley Tokai Teles

Help Support Tokai Forum:

Member

Well-known member

Member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Member

Well-known member

Similar threads

Join the conversation!

Join today and get all the highlights of this community direct to your inbox. It's FREE!