simonmcroft
Member
- Joined
- Dec 16, 2023
- Messages
- 16
- Reaction score
- 9
At this point, I'd like to sound a note of caution. I'm happy to help to expand the pool of knowledge about Tokai instruments with serial numbers or specific features that don't seem to 'fit'. What I don't want this to turn into is some kind of witch hunt against Tokais we simply don't know enough about.
As a reference point, I used to own a Korean LP-style Tokai with a blank where the serial number should have been. It wasn't a fake: it was the pre-production unit Tokai took to the NAMM dealers' convention to create all the forward orders for the whole production line that followed. Although I no longer have the guitar or the documentation, I had a full paper trail, and it was totally genuine. Without that provenance, it would have been natural to wonder if the instrument was even a real Tokai. (Actually, it was a brilliant guitar and I was a mug to sell it, handsome profit or not.)
While I've had my doubts about the provenance of my Tokai Jazz Sound, the serial number appears to stack up, so I'm not going to rush to say it's a wrong 'un. It plays really well, looks very well made, and it stands up tonally to my two Fender Jazz Basses. (One has CS pickups and the other was made in the US in 1989. Both great instruments.)
The only reason I've changed the bridge, and am about to upgrade the electrics, is I know that's all it will take to turn this Tokai into a bass that is as useful as the other two.
As a reference point, I used to own a Korean LP-style Tokai with a blank where the serial number should have been. It wasn't a fake: it was the pre-production unit Tokai took to the NAMM dealers' convention to create all the forward orders for the whole production line that followed. Although I no longer have the guitar or the documentation, I had a full paper trail, and it was totally genuine. Without that provenance, it would have been natural to wonder if the instrument was even a real Tokai. (Actually, it was a brilliant guitar and I was a mug to sell it, handsome profit or not.)
While I've had my doubts about the provenance of my Tokai Jazz Sound, the serial number appears to stack up, so I'm not going to rush to say it's a wrong 'un. It plays really well, looks very well made, and it stands up tonally to my two Fender Jazz Basses. (One has CS pickups and the other was made in the US in 1989. Both great instruments.)
The only reason I've changed the bridge, and am about to upgrade the electrics, is I know that's all it will take to turn this Tokai into a bass that is as useful as the other two.