Features : 7
Korean Tokai, Made in 2001, 21 frets, 1 volume 2 tone controls, 3 Single coil pick ups. Body 2 piece alder, maple neck, rosewood finger board. Satin finish String thru body thin frets. No case included.
Sound : 5
This guitar hummed quite badly out of the box, and had some cheaply potted pick ups in it, The tone pots were a laughingly small and the wiring was low budget as well. It hads a bright sound when plugged in to my amp, but as I say, it was hard to get past the terrible hum from the pick ups.
Action, Fit, & Finish : 5
The Guitar was set up nicely from the shop which I bought it from, MIKES MUSIC In Ontario Canada, Although I felt slightly mislead by the way which he represented the product, He "FORGOT" to mention it was the Korean Model, more on that later. It also had 2 small cracks in the finish near the neck, one which went into the wood.
Reliability/Durability : 7
I did a lot of work on this guitar to bring up to a playing standard which I would consider acceptable. I promptly replaced the pick ups, pots, and shielded it. The hardware seems like some stamped cheap metal, and I am not too sure about its longevity. I originally bought it to have a guitar to try some mods I have always wanted to do, without the fear of ruining my nicer guitars I wouldn't rate the finish all that well either, as it had cracks in it straight out of the factory. I am not a gigging musician, so I can't really comment on stage performance, we get together twice a week and play, and it has help up under these conditions well. With the new Lindy Fralin Pick ups, (woodstock specials) the pots, and a complete set up, it sounds and performs well
Customer Support : 7
I haven't dealt with Tokai directly, I have emailed Mike's Music a couple of times to deal with the cracks in the finish, the fact that there was no mention of it being a Korean copy of a copy, and I felt a bit mislead by the way he represented his products. To his credit, he did offer to let me have the guitar repaired locally and submit the bill to him for reimbursement. I didn't follow up on that though, and chose to live with the cracks.
Overall Rating : 6
I started playing guitar in High School and owned several Les Paul copies, a Jackson, and a strat. I would rate this guitar lower than those in terms of build quality, craftsmanship, and playabilty, If it were stolen or lost, I would not replace it with a similiar Korean model. I wasn't all that familiar with the Japanese copy models available , but heard they were of good quality. I wish I would have known it was a Korean model, because in my opinion, they are nowhere near the Japanese models, (now having played both). I also would not buy from Mike's Music again either. I left the deal with a bad feeling about the whole thing. This is a good beginner guitar, and I was priced accordingly. I learned a 400.00 lesson from all this (279.00 Guitar+120.00 shipping to europe) and that is : Buyer Beware!
Korean Tokai, Made in 2001, 21 frets, 1 volume 2 tone controls, 3 Single coil pick ups. Body 2 piece alder, maple neck, rosewood finger board. Satin finish String thru body thin frets. No case included.
Sound : 5
This guitar hummed quite badly out of the box, and had some cheaply potted pick ups in it, The tone pots were a laughingly small and the wiring was low budget as well. It hads a bright sound when plugged in to my amp, but as I say, it was hard to get past the terrible hum from the pick ups.
Action, Fit, & Finish : 5
The Guitar was set up nicely from the shop which I bought it from, MIKES MUSIC In Ontario Canada, Although I felt slightly mislead by the way which he represented the product, He "FORGOT" to mention it was the Korean Model, more on that later. It also had 2 small cracks in the finish near the neck, one which went into the wood.
Reliability/Durability : 7
I did a lot of work on this guitar to bring up to a playing standard which I would consider acceptable. I promptly replaced the pick ups, pots, and shielded it. The hardware seems like some stamped cheap metal, and I am not too sure about its longevity. I originally bought it to have a guitar to try some mods I have always wanted to do, without the fear of ruining my nicer guitars I wouldn't rate the finish all that well either, as it had cracks in it straight out of the factory. I am not a gigging musician, so I can't really comment on stage performance, we get together twice a week and play, and it has help up under these conditions well. With the new Lindy Fralin Pick ups, (woodstock specials) the pots, and a complete set up, it sounds and performs well
Customer Support : 7
I haven't dealt with Tokai directly, I have emailed Mike's Music a couple of times to deal with the cracks in the finish, the fact that there was no mention of it being a Korean copy of a copy, and I felt a bit mislead by the way he represented his products. To his credit, he did offer to let me have the guitar repaired locally and submit the bill to him for reimbursement. I didn't follow up on that though, and chose to live with the cracks.
Overall Rating : 6
I started playing guitar in High School and owned several Les Paul copies, a Jackson, and a strat. I would rate this guitar lower than those in terms of build quality, craftsmanship, and playabilty, If it were stolen or lost, I would not replace it with a similiar Korean model. I wasn't all that familiar with the Japanese copy models available , but heard they were of good quality. I wish I would have known it was a Korean model, because in my opinion, they are nowhere near the Japanese models, (now having played both). I also would not buy from Mike's Music again either. I left the deal with a bad feeling about the whole thing. This is a good beginner guitar, and I was priced accordingly. I learned a 400.00 lesson from all this (279.00 Guitar+120.00 shipping to europe) and that is : Buyer Beware!
