Tokai finds at the Dallas Guitar Show 2022

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zbillster

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Here are the Tokai spottings at the latest Dallas International Guitar Festival in 2022.
Be curious what you think about the prices?
Enjoy!

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Crazy price on the gold top. Crazy if it’s an LS80. Insane if it’s an LS50 or 60.

Other prices on the plain tops are going rate on eBay it looks like.

Cool to see them though.
 
Sigmania said:
Crazy price on the gold top. Crazy if it’s an LS80. Insane if it’s an LS50 or 60.

Gold top vendor was Guitars West, the same vendor who had the shipload of MIC Tokai's back in 2014:
https://www.guitarswest.net/products/tokai-goldtop
Agree on the price. :eek:

The 2009 burst felt really nice. Tempted, but I've been out of touch on Tokai prices so couldn't make a safe call.
 
Brazilian rosewood fretboard???

That’s what that link is claiming.

Hey Gang,

Wow, recently in from Germany! What can I say? One owner with the original hard-shell case. Maple top with mahogany back and sides. All done in nitro... Brazilian Rosewood fretboard. nice...! This is like the '57 Replica. Not a cleaner one to be found.
 
guitar hiro said:
Check the below TF thread link, and check my post from Wed Jan 06, 2021 10:31 am.
According to the scan that I saw it shows the LS-200 as the only 1978 - 1982 LS model with a Brazilian Rosewood fingerboard.
The LS-150 & lower models are all listed as Rosewood for the fingerboard.
Is that correct? Who knows.

http://tokaiforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&p=192449&sid=01b2cd86996cdf219742a9eafefc3e5d#p192449


http://www.tokaiforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=25613&p=192493&hilit=Brazilian+fretboard#p192493
 
The Guitars West description also reads:

"These Tokai guitars are known for their quality build. I've sold over 350 Tokais in my day. Have never ever had a bad one unless it got crunched in shipping."

They're probably referring to the first MIC wine red Custom I ordered from them that got shipping damage. :lol:
Replacement one came through OK. Recently traded it for a 12-string Eastwood Gretsch copy.
 
It’s a weird adjustment as an American, but I realized that Japan being in Asia sources it’s mahogany from Africa and not Central America, and it’s rosewood from India and other parts of Asia and not South America, and it seems it always has done it that way unless specifically stated.

Again, part of being American centric. If he’s in Dallas, it may be his bias as well. Big world.
 
Ouch. Glad it’s fixed.

Are you in Dallas?

Seems Ned, the forum administrator, is from Texas and at least one other member lives there.
 
Sigmania said:
Ouch. Glad it’s fixed.

Are you in Dallas?

Seems Ned, the forum administrator, is from Texas and at least one other member lives there.

I'm just north of Dallas. I didn't make the wood comment though. :wink:
 
I have very fond memories of Dallas going back ~55 years. :)
I was born and raised in northwest Louisiana just a three hour drive east from Dallas.
An old elementary school friend of mine that I have known since first grade went to DeVry in Dallas in 1979 to learn about electronics.
I made the three hour drive to Dallas many times over the course of many years and the Greater Southwest Guitar Show which started in 1978 was one of my main destinations in the DFW area. :D
The initial show was based in a few hotel rooms, hosted by four individuals and then on to the Wintergarden Ballroom shortly there after. My fondest memories of the GSWG were in the later 1980s at the Dallas Convention Center. I met George Gruhn the first time at the 1988 GSWG. That was the general time frame when the Japanese buyers were coming over to the GSWG en masse with US dollars in hand buying up all of the primo vintage Fender, Gibson, Gretsch, and Martin examples. Those are the four US vintage brands that the Japanese buyers wanted at that time and they were scooping them up with abandon.
I saw many 58, 59, and to a lesser degree 60 Gibson burst going for anywhere from $3K up to $6K depending on condition and originality, and most were being purchased by Japanese buyers. It was an extremely interesting time and it was quite telling that Japanese buyers were doing the lions' share of buying.
I always wondered where those Japanese buyers found that magic crystal ball they seemed to have possessed. They seemed to generally be way ahead of the vintage curve compared to US buyers.
 
guitar hiro said:
I made the three hour drive to Dallas many times over the course of many years and the Greater Southwest Guitar Show which started in 1978 was one of my main destinations in the DFW area. :D
The initial show was based in a few hotel rooms, hosted by four individuals and then on to the Wintergarden Ballroom shortly there after. My fondest memories of the GSWG were in the later 1980s at the Dallas Convention Center. I met George Gruhn the first time at the 1988 GSWG. That was the general time frame when the Japanese buyers were coming over to the GSWG en masse with US dollars in hand buying up all of the primo vintage Fender, Gibson, Gretsch, and Martin examples. Those are the four US vintage brands that the Japanese buyers wanted at that time and they were scooping them up with abandon.
I saw many 58, 59, and to a lesser degree 60 Gibson burst going for anywhere from $3K up to $6K depending on condition and originality, and most were being purchased by Japanese buyers. It was an extremely interesting time and it was quite telling that Japanese buyers were doing the lions' share of buying.
I always wondered where those Japanese buyers found that magic crystal ball they seemed to have possessed. They seemed to generally be way ahead of the vintage curve compared to US buyers.

Yeah, I miss going to Texas guitar shows in the late 1980s/early 1990s when you could walk in with $350, pick up something reasonable/interesting like a USA-made Epiphone Spirit or a Baldwin-era Gretsch, play with it, then flip it at the next show. $200 Mustangs. Seymour Duncan sitting at his booth. I remember the Japanese buyers as well. They didn't want my 1977 ES-335 because it was walnut brown ... red or sunburst only!

When I went to Tokyo 8 years ago, I would go to the guitar shops and see their American haul behind glass cases with lots and lots of zeros on the price tags.

Of course now we here want THEIR guitars ... and getting around USA customs to get them in! :D
 
This is good stuff. I met George Gruhn at his shop in Nashville in 1991 and traded a prewar Gibson L0 to him for a 1919 L3 while I was moving out to Oregon from Georgia in my car.

That shop was mind boggling... Rows and rows of hanging vintage American acoustics. Gibsons, Martins, National steel body guitars with so many different etched designs.

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I haven't been to a guitar show in 20 years, not since I traded some stuff at the Greenville Spartanburg, SC show to the Buffalo Bros. from New York and then bought an early Gibson A3 mandolin that I later sold to David Grisman through eBay... Small world!

I suspect there is a lot of regional difference in supply?

In the south there were a lot of acoustic guitars, Martins & Gibsons. Bluegrass festivals always seemed to have a lot of vintage acoustics to offer.

Growing up in Atlanta I would scour pawn shops for a time. You would find some interesting stuff sometimes. There was a wild one on Auburn Ave. in Atlanta down the street from Martin Luther King's home and the church he preached at. I remember checking out a Gibson Marauder there while I was in college behind the security bars that covered the windows. Down the street from there was the Royal Peacock where I saw Albert King play a couple times, and Buddy Guy too I believe. Those days are foggy. 8)

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Thanks for the memories.
 
ned said:
I'm in Austin - 200 miles south of Dallas.

Austin is my happy hunting ground for a Guitar Safari(R). 8)
Lots of independent music shops and interesting used selection.
Bought my first (and second) amp at Guitar Resurrection in the early 1980s.
South Austin Music, Erlewine Guitars (he refretted my ES-335 long ago).
Heart of Texas Music (when it was open).
In DFW, Jimmy Wallace's shop in downtown Garland is probably the best (and only) shop to go to that hasn't been put under by GC.
Austin Vintage Guitars had some nice stuff at their booth. Tempted to go down for a safari in their shop.

Here are more MIJ finds at that show.
- The Burny SG was very nice.
- A guy walked in with TWO Greco Ace Frehley's (78 & 79). One dealer bought both.
- Note the "Grecobacher"!
- The John Scofield was tempting. Priced at $2200.

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The Greco with the Roland unit is classic late 70s design with on board circuitry. Wolf to see. Rare bird.
 
When I met George Gruhn at the 1988 Dallas show it was a chance meeting and I had no idea who the guy was at that time.
I was walking around the Dallas Convention Center with an old beat up guitar case that looked like it was about to fall apart.
This guy walks up to me and asked, "What do you have in the case?" I replied to his question and asked if he knew anything about this model of guitar. Gruhn replied, "it would make a good boat anchor." We parted ways and I noticed the guy walked over to a vendor set-up labeled with the Gruhn Guitars logo.
A couple of years later I was reading a guitar magazine and I noticed an article with Gruhn pictured in the article. That is when I realized it was George Gruhn that I met in Dallas in 1988 that told me my guitar would make a good boat anchor.
To be honest, the guitar would have floated if I were to have ever thrown it in a lake or other body of water.
I never forgot Gruhn's reply to me and first impressions do go a long way. My impression of George is he is pretty much full of himself.
Towards the later years of the 1990s I noticed that Gruhn had the very same model of guitar in his inventory that I was carrying around at the Dallas show in 1988. I guess the moral of the story is if you can make a buck by selling a boat anchor then why not?
 

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