Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: dave_mc on August 02, 2007, 10:56:31 PM
-
Major GAS attack, basically. Local(ish) shop has an ex-demo (it looks and feels newer than most new guitars sold around here, go figure!) Japanese Tokai Springy Sound strat for £275 including hard case. To me, this sounds like a bargain, I can't find much info on them on the net though... mostly concerned that the body is indeed alder or ash...
Anyone? It's supposed to be around £500-£600 I believe, I doubt it wouldn't be alder or ash at that price, and I may just take a chance anyway as it sounded good (and played nicely too), much better than a mexi strat they also had, and I figure I can't really go too far wrong for the price. But yeah, i'd prefer to know.
Can't give any more info that that, I don't have any serial numbers or anything... it's a vintage maple necked one, I'm assuming a 50's-style copy, in cream/off-white.
Anyone know anything about Tokais 'round here?
Thanks in advance for any help!
:drink:
-
Check if it's a Japanese one, it should say somewhere on the guitar (base of the neck/rear of the headstock.
If so, it's made in the same place as Fender Japan and therefore it'll be a great guitar. I'd buy it for that price if I was a Strat man...
-
oh yeah, it's definitely japanese, that's the first thing i checked!
:twisted:
was hoping you'd answer...
:drink:
as you say, at that kind of money it's probably worth it when you consider what else is available at the price... that's cheaper than a mexican strat. As long as it's not made out of papier mache or something...
-
Sounds like a good deal. If it's a Japanese one then you can definitely sell it at the same price even if for some reason you decide you dont want it anymore anyway. If it sounds good to you, then why does it matter if its ash or alder? :twisted:
-
^ yeah, good point. you know what i mean. It's psychological. Plus i'm an idiot and don't always trust my impressions of things. :lol:
but yeah, at that kind of money i could probably sell it on for the same at any rate.
-
^ yeah, good point. you know what i mean. It's psychological. Plus i'm an idiot and don't always trust my impressions of things. :lol:
Haha I know I was being harsh on you :P I suffer from the same symptoms! Like I go into a shop, try a guitar, like it, then go home research on it then decide :lol:
-
I'd say get it. I played in a band with a guy who has one and borrowed it many many times and it was a great guitar-every bit as good as my Jap Strat (which can be explained above). Seems a good price too. I seem to recall liking the pickups too.
-
It'll be hard to tell if it's alder or ash. Ash usually has more pronounced grain but it's not an absolute.
If it plays well, and sounds good, the decisoin is made :D
-
yeah, go for it, then decide what bks you put in it one day :P
-
It'll be hard to tell if it's alder or ash. Ash usually has more pronounced grain but it's not an absolute.
If it plays well, and sounds good, the decisoin is made :D
Yeah I was gonna say that but he says it's in white so he can't check the grains without taking the pickguard off.
-
Well i really liked the tokai breezysound (tele) neck i just used on a build, it was excellent quality
-
Nice find Dave - Did you read the reviews on Harmony Central? They're all positive, (10's for overall rating), and if you think it sounds good then you can't go wrong for the price :)
-
Have you bought it yet?
-
haha, calm down, dave, i'm not just as bad with the ol' GAS as you are! it's a 100 mile round trip! :lol:
From the japanaxe forum, they think it's an alder body- i think the one I tried was a 3-piece body (it was a slightly transparent finish- should that be translucent? :lol: )... so that suggests one of the lower japanese tokais. Still, for the price i figure I can't go wrong. Apparently it has dimarzios too, though I'd need to check that.
So, er, yeah. I'll let you know how it pans out, I'll not be buying it today at any rate... i just have to decide if a trip to another Tokai dealer is worth risking, just in case that one sells out in the meantime... Thanks for all your help, everyone! I appreciate it.
:drink:
-
Nice find Dave - Did you read the reviews on Harmony Central? They're all positive, (10's for overall rating), and if you think it sounds good then you can't go wrong for the price :)
yeah, i looked into them, most were for pretty old ones, though. Doesn't hurt that they're all positive, of course! :lol:
I'd say get it. I played in a band with a guy who has one and borrowed it many many times and it was a great guitar-every bit as good as my Jap Strat (which can be explained above). Seems a good price too. I seem to recall liking the pickups too.
yeah, the pickups seemed not bad. Not BKP-good, but smoked the mexican fender ones. From that japanaxe forum, i hear they're dimarzios (which'd be a definite plus at that price), but i'd kinda believe it when i see it, as it might be the older models he's talking about.
It'll be hard to tell if it's alder or ash. Ash usually has more pronounced grain but it's not an absolute.
If it plays well, and sounds good, the decisoin is made :D
Yeah, i mean i don't really care if it's ash or alder... as long as it's not basswood or something like that. I don't have anything against basswood, just it's a bit warm for the twang, if you know what i mean.
Well i really liked the tokai breezysound (tele) neck i just used on a build, it was excellent quality
thanks, wez, you know i value your opinion a lot on build quality!
-
Update:
another local shop has a tokai goldstar strat copy for a similar price (but no case)...
they felt pretty similar to me (neck profile), pickups on the goldstar may have been slightly better (though it was a better amp so i'm far from sure)...
any ideas if it's better, worse, or similar to the springysound? I couldn't see any serial numbers or anything like that on it.
if I can't get any info, I'll probably go with the springy sound, as it comes with a case and is a nicer colour (assuming the shop still has it)... it also felt slightly "newer", in slightly better nick (though again that's very slight).
Cheers for any help! :drink:
EDIT: just to point out, it's really difficult to find out any useful info, which is why i'm asking so much... they don't seem to make them any more... :(
-
I went today to try it again (the white one)... my mistake, it said goldstar on it... i guess my memory's not so great! :lol: Seemed to be a 3-piece body, looked to be alder or ash (similar type of grain)...
Anyway, i was about to pay, when i thought i'd see if i could get any money off.
They said that was the best they could do, they were selling it for someone... hang on a minute, i thought it was new, but ex-demo, "only played by one or two people in the shop"?
Nope, second hand.
I was ripping, the guy in the shop the previous day (different guys were there today) had lied to me that it was new. Apparently he was selling it for his friend. I had made a 100 mile round trip to buy that guitar. Needless to say, I wasn't too pleased.
I'll probably just wait for one of those edwardses now, to be honest... i really don't think i could stick that other gold-coloured one, I really don't like gold in guitars!
Thanks for all your help guys, sorry there wasn't a happier conclusion... I realise being second hand doesn't make it a worse guitar, but I don't appreciate being lied to, especially when I've had to drive 100 miles. And £275 second hand doesn't strike me as an amazing deal anyway...
I don't want to post the name of the shop out in the open in case it gets tim or anyone else here in trouble, but you can PM me for the name if you're in Northern Ireland and want to be warned of an unscrupulous shop.
:drink:
-
Hmm sorry to hear about the dissapointment.
As regards the shop name, I would guess at either as one with a 8 letter word in it's name.
Rob...
-
^ cheers for the condolences, rob, not 8 letters...
:lol:
I can see this turning into hangman...
:lol:
-
^ cheers for the condolences, rob, not 8 letters...
:lol:
I can see this turning into hangman...
:lol:
More like hang shop assistant
-
:lol:
:drink:
(and bump just in case anyone else wants to know which shop to avoid)
-
Was one of them BGE???
I mailed them the other day about something and got no reply. No reply = no business.
-
^ nope, not BGE... (i assume you mean belfast guitar emporium when you say that)
Oh, i just realised what you meant. yeah, the belfast guitar emporium had one of the tokai strats (gold), it wasn't the place which lied to me though. it has some other nice tokais too.
best if you ring them... in my experience, most shops here don't seem to understand how to use the internet to their best advantage. Many shops here don't even list their opening hours!
-
best if you ring them... in my experience, most shops here don't seem to understand how to use the internet to their best advantage. Many shops here don't even list their opening hours!
I believe that there was (and possibly still is) and issue about who owned the website a few months ago. There website was offline for quite some time.
If you give them a call they are usually pretty helpful (unless you get the work experiance people that they sometimes have)
-
^ possible, yeah, rob. I'm still in the dark as to what happened about their "closing down sale"...
:lol:
-
^ possible, yeah, rob. I'm still in the dark as to what happened about their "closing down sale"...
:lol:
Oh I know, thats ever so confusing, especially as that Eggle is still calling me :roll: (I think it's still there at a low price)
Then again I have Tele / doublecut / firebird GAS and I also want pickups for the Berlin.
Damn I was in denial about my GAS
-
^ yep, eggle's still there, i tried it the other day (monday?). no idea about the price though, it was £500 last time i asked, but the price can change... I've been quoted different prices for the tokais on different occasions.
-
Any idea on the price of the Tokai Relic? Or the SG Special with P90s?
-
^ tokai relic? ah, i think i did see that one, didn't play it or ask a price though. (that's a les paul standard, right?)
If the sg with p90's is the one i'm thinking of, it wasn't there when i was there (for the past few times, i was looking for it to try! it was white, right? I was kinda kicking myself i didn't try it when i got the chance)...
-
The Relic is a Love Rock (Les Paul) model, yep.
On their site at the moment, the SG with P90s is a cherry one...
-
The Relic is a Love Rock (Les Paul) model, yep.
On their site at the moment, the SG with P90s is a cherry one...
The relic is badged @ 1000 quid
The SG has been sold :(
There is a little doublecut (Japanese built) that they have had for ages going for 450 quid
-
£1000 for the Relic? Whoa! I only paid £500 for mine!
I've got a line on a P-90 Tokai SG elsewhere - I was just curious about the price on theirs ;)