Tokai Curveball Hall of Fame

[Sigmania]

Edit: The Mysterious Fake Tokai ES Models (Shine or Saein)

From the link you provided:

For the record....we categorically know for a 100% fact that this is a fake guitar...we know who placed the order in Korea and distributed them throughout North America.

335 What?Where?When?

 

[Sigmania]

Edit: Fakai

Manufactured Under License For... Fakais



Made in Korea PRS type guitar.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Tokai-Elec...2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0

 

[Sigmania]

Making replicas of their own 1980s replicas.

https://www.faberguitar.com/Tokai-TE120-OWB_1

 

[Sigmania]

Edit: No serial Fender clones of the 2000s

All Caps "MADE IN JAPAN" No Serial Guitars

Upper And Lower Case "Made In Japan" No Serial Guitars




Making a guitars in the 1990s or 2000s with “Made in Japan” stamped on the neck and no serial numbers.

What did I buy?

Can you help me identify this one?

My Goldie as requested

Tokai goldstar identification

 

[Sigmania]

Making a Guitars in the 1990s or 2000s with Made in Japan stamped on the neck and no serial numbers.

 

[Sigmania]

Edit: Tokai built Hondo Golden Era
The Tokai that dare not speak it's name. Isn't it about time we brought these poor neglected orphans back into the family?

Need Help To Identify Strats Style Tokai w Weird Headstock!!

 

[Sigmania]

http://www.tokaiforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=10345

Looks a lot like this Hondo Professional, also made by Tokai.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-H...2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0

 

[Voidoid56]

This one looked like a garden-variety 1981 SS40BB when I got it, maybe with a slightly wider neck than most you see...

[img]https://i.imgur.com/psNQybf.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i.imgur.com/d2f9tNp.jpg[/img]

...but when I opened it up, I could have sworn I was looking into Greco SE450 from the same year. Same squared-off body routs, used in all Greco SE's up until 1979, then in the 450 and 700 only.

[img]https://i.imgur.com/Ht2rRGh.jpg[/img]

Same non-standard microtilt hardware as the Grecos have.That style of stamped letter is common in them as well, though usually slightly earlier than the 80's. Is that T for Tokai??

[img]https://i.imgur.com/sdbN8Dw.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i.imgur.com/R7DwWV2.jpg[/img]

Different pickups than Excels though, and not Gotoh grey bobbins either. I've seen similar ones - with the thin red-white-blue wires and a slightly deeper triangular shape to the bottom bobbin - in Freshers and other low-end guitars. Replaced pots, pity, any date codes would have been interesting to get a look at.

[img]https://i.imgur.com/Xh8WFp8.jpg[/img]

I know the topic "Fujigen-made Silver Stars" has been up here before, but I wasn't aware of it when I got this. So I did a lot of head-scratching, then googled deep and found a few more. A couple of sources had them as "SS36" (one of them had a sticker iirc - this one had residue from one), a model number not officially in use in 1981, if it's correct, they're definitely an out-of-catalog entry level model.

it would be interesting to know at what point in 1981 these came out. Greco Fender copy production ended in April 1982, the Fender Japan deal was officially announced in March. Maybe Fujigen knew what was coming in late '81 and became aware of having Greco parts in stock that they would probably never have use for. Why not offer them to their competitors? It seems like a very Japanese-guitar-industry thing to do...

Who knows, but the guitars are out there. Literally.

 

[mdvineng]

Ser# starting 11 are from the Nagano Tokai factory which made guitars for other companies and the lower level model Tokai's.

 

[Voidoid56]

Hm. Well, if so, they certainly built them exactly like Fujigen, detail by detail.

The Tokai SS:

[img]https://i.imgur.com/Ht2rRGh.jpg[/img]

August '81 Greco SE450:

[img]https://i.imgur.com/FDnNouP.jpg[/img]

The Tokai SS:

[img]https://i.imgur.com/sdbN8Dw.jpg[/img]

August '81 Greco SE450:

[img]https://i.imgur.com/tBiNAy5.jpg[/img]

The Tokai SS:

[img]https://i.imgur.com/R7DwWV2.jpg[/img]

August '81 Greco SE450 (obviosuly a different stamp):

[img]https://i.imgur.com/BMha4Bs.jpg[/img]

The origin of the the SE450 is not in question, since the 1980-82 SE450 and 700 were (afaik) the only Greco models Fujigen actually "signed".

[img]https://i.imgur.com/A8yEZuX.jpg[/img]

I honestly can't see how these two guitars could have anything but a common origin.

 

[mdvineng]

Defo a Nagano made guitar, they did the squarer route and a recess for a battery. The notch cut between neck pocket and pickup is also correct. Nagano also did the shallow truss tod and small tilt adj.

The Nagano factory was setup to do work for others and the low level Tokais. So to save costs etc, why not use the same cnc setups. Keeps stock uniform and flexible!

 

[Sigmania]

Isn’t the Nagano factory the one thought to have made the “inkies”? Interesting.

 

[mdvineng]

80<81 only ls50<60. With a 1 in the 2nd position.

 

[Sigmania]

Edit: Serial Numbers On Trem Covers

Another Silver Star with a serial number on the tremolo compartment cover.

1985 (?) SS55

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Delivery-R...2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0

 

[ampmaker]

LS-320 with one-piece maple top. Custom ordered in 2004.

I will dig out a photo and update...

(edit) here we go:

It's now looks and sounds a little bit different, with genuine PAFs and a refin by Yuuki at https://www.instagram.com/playergradevintage/?hl=en

 

[Sigmania]

Wow. Stunning guitar.

 

[Sigmania]

Silver Stars built in Nagano?

http://www.tokaiforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=26422

 

[mdvineng]

Yes for about 3yrs with ser#'s 01. 11. 21.
Pickup wire colours are different using white for ground and red, blue or black for live. No brass ground plate either.
Body routings were more angular and with a battery reccess. Large disk on neck heel is missing too, just a tiny one. A few other changes like the truss rod route was shallower.

 

[dramatolog]

Hm. Well, if so, they certainly built them exactly like Fujigen, detail by detail.



August '81 Greco SE450 (obviosuly a different stamp):

[img]https://i.imgur.com/BMha4Bs.jpg[/img]

I honestly can't see how these two guitars could have anything but a common origin.

This is a stamp on my Tokai ss38 with 22 xxxxx serial Sigmania mentioned/showed a comment or two before.

I think it is safe to say that they came from the exact same factory!

 

[Sigmania]

What I didn’t absorb from the posts above is that Voidoid56 shows that Fujigen actually put their name on that Greco…

I’m asserting that there was no Tokai factory in Nagano. Rather they contracted either with Fujigen or some other builder in that town.

I think that’s as plausible as Tokai opening a factory for a few years to build budget guitars in the same town that Fujigen, Dyna Gakki, and Chushin Gakki were already building guitars….

And someone was already building Greco and Ibanez guitars long before then that were surprisingly similar to the Tokais that show up in this 1980/81 period.

Just putting that out there.