Personally I think Fender is in its second glory day - I have a couple of American standards, and a Mex Baja and they are superb playing and sounding guitars (although I admit they have had Jon at Feline's attention and BKPs, but then so do all my guitars) - in my view they excel the couple of mid 60s Fenders I have played (never played anything earlier).
As to Tokai - in 1983 I had a choice between a Springy Sound, a Fender Standard and a Squier JV and took the Squier - I wish I taken the Fender for value (although it had a maple board and was a dog to play) but the Squier played better than the Tokai and the Fender and was fiesta red with a rosewood board. Still the Tokai was very nice and I have occasional regrets about not taking it.
