OK guys, Here's the REAL and Complete story.
Mel Kaufman (owner of Active Musical Products),
has his own line of guitars under the "Dillion" brand name.
Some time ago while in Korea, he went to the factory that builds some of his Dillion guitars for him.While he was there, he noticed that Tokai's were being built at that factory. This made him quite curious because like the rest of north America, he thought that Tokai was out of business.
He asked the factory president about the guitars, and he was informed that Tokai Gakki was in fact still around.
When he got back to Canada, he contacted Tokai and arranged to be the Canadian Tokai distributor.
Since that time, Active musical has been actively involved with the Tokai production in Korea.
With Tokai's blessing, he had that factory change several models, making them all have set necks.
The first few shipments caught fire in the USA and Canada really fast with the help of Ebay.
The demand grew, so Mr. Kaufman stepped up production and actually worked directly with the Korean factory to build Tokai guitars. (with Tokai's permission, of course.)
Active musical has the flexibility to offer it's dealers virtually ANY model guitar ANY way they want, WITH the Tokai name on the headstock. (les paul, SG, Mosrite, PRS, Rickenbacker, etc.)
Please note that although these guitars are the brainchild of Mel Kaufman and not actually made by Tokai directly, They are in fact totally authorized by Tokai Gakki in Japan. Hence making the guitars special and limited in the sense that they are made exclusively for the Canadian market.Tokai is quite pleased with the input and creative ideas of Mr. Kaufman, because sales have increased dramatically because of his participation in the production. Tokai's are no longer a well kept secret. They are now high demand mainstream instruments.
As far as Mike's limited editions, contrary to what Mike says, they are NOT true Japan spec models.
They share the same wood combinations that the Japan models are made with, but the design specs are still the Korean specs. (scarf joint, 2 piece neck heel, multiple piece body, dyed fretboard, plastic inlays, poly finish, Korean bridge, chrome hardware not nickel, and the serial numbers are the same on each guitar)
Please keep in mind that the factory that actually builds these guitars also builds all of the Korean made BC Rich guitars and basses, so the quality and setup is excellent.
THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH KOREAN GUITARS!
Well, I think that's it. If I've left anything out, I'll be back to post it when I remember it.
If anyone has conflicting information, please let me know. I want this information to be totally accurate and correct.
[Anonymously Posted by: 'luis']