Whittlez:
"Just arrived today. I chose this one in part because it has an Ebony fretboard so I wouldn't have to deal with CITES nonsense. And duuuuude. I am glad I did. This guitar is EP-IC. This is a mod (Essentially Tokai Custom Shop) of their top strat at the time in 1983, the ST-130. As with convention, the # 130 denotes a retail price in 1983 of 130,000 Yen, whereas most of their strats sold from 40-60,000 Yen. Two piece Sen Body, flame top, ebony fretboard. The frets are bigger than vintage but not as big as Medium Jumbo. It has a very unique bridge. i am going to have to find a trem bar that fits it to test it out. It appears to be solid brass. If it's plated, it shows no sign of it. The fretboard feels relatively flat for a strat. I need to pull out my radius gauges and test it out. The original pickups (and battery powered mid boost setup) are gone. In their place are SSL-5, SH-14 Duncans, and CTS pots and Orange Drop caps. The three way mini switch is really interesting. as best I can tell it goes from rear pickup tapped, center is full hbucker, and third position allows me to combine neck and bridge pickup (like a tele) . Whatever it's doing, it does full strat sparkle and quack and also does full 80's superstrat humbucker growl depending on setting, great for EVH, AC/DC and stuff like that, as well as classic strat single coil stuff. Super bitchen. I generally find the coil tap of a Hbucker to be inferior to a straight up single coil, but this sounds **** good. It had two high frets that I corrected as quickly as I could so I could get to playing it. I am supah stoked!"
Very interesting guitar here. If you collect Tokai’s it will be hard to ever find one like this. Check it out.
Steve Vai toured Japan with Alcatraz in 1985 and while on stage he was playing his famous Green Meanie Charvel.
Months later Tokai guitars produced this fabulous Custom Edition ‘Green Meanie’ inspired axe. Even going as far as putting a red L-White pickup in the neck position. Seems like it really was a custom one off as you can see extra handwriting on the neck heel matching the body. Could have even been an employees personal creation at the factory.
This has the wonderful double locking Tokai Ayer’s Rocker Tremolo in it as well.
If you dig Tokai guitars and Steve Vai- this is a pretty special piece.
Description:
An incredibly rare bass made in Japan by Tokai as part of the late 80's "Custom Edition" series. Part of the "Modern" series of instruments, the MJB-70 features a Pearl White finish on a pickguard-free ash body (plus a matching headstock), maple neck and rosewood fingerboard.
The MJB's feature three JB-Drive Jazz Bass pickups with a 5-way selector and master volume/tone controls to give a full range of modern tones not possible with traditional JB wiring! Gold hardware gives it a really classy look. Brass nut with a 40mm nut width Weighs 4.6kg's.
Great overall condition. Pearl White finish still has plenty of shimmer to it with minimal fading, gold hardware is nice with minimal patina. It's all original and received a full teardown, clean and rebuild prior to listing. Truss functions well and the neck is smooth and straight.