Quote Originally Posted by Douglas Cowie View Post
Pepsi nice to see you are using a Tokai Talbo, it has become a very collectable guitar and has risen in value over the last few years mainly due to it's aluminium body. If it's an 80's model it can be worth up to £800 to £1000 depending on condition.
I have an early 80's Tokai Goldstar (Strat) in pretty much mint condition, it's Fiesta red with a rose wood neck with the Fender style Tokai logo on the headstock, this was made prior to the court case which Fender won forcing Tokai to change their logo. I'm keeping it for my retirement fund but to be honest I will never sell it. I have a few stats but the Tokai sound cannot be matched.
Quote Originally Posted by The Pepsi Challenge View Post
You're right, Douglas: nothing quite like the sound of a Tokai.
My first-ever guitar was a Tokai "Breezysound" telecaster, but, being a nipper I didn't fully appreciate its finer qualities, reckoning that its high-end sound was too "tinny" (as I thought aged 14) and annoyed to learn that one of my pals also had a Tokai telecaster - but with a tremolo on it. Neglect and the passage of time saw it lose much of its original appearance, and in the end I got shot of it for £300. Not bad, but not great, either, for a guitar I paid £120 for in 1990.

I doubt you'll appreciate the finer points of New York's multi-layered noise band, Band Of Susans, Douglas, but they're Tokai freaks, as well as fans of G&L guitars.

Check out Mood Swing and Pardon My French here: www.myspace.com/bandofsusans to get a taste of it.
I've quoted both of your posts as I feel they are relevant.

The Japanese guitar market is in fact, AMAZING. You guys are aware of this, but not many people are for some reason. I put their craftmanship up there, and sometimes above, the USA.

In fact, I am somewhat of a slave to the Japanese guitar market as both of my main guitars were built there. The one pictured above, although it looks like a Gibson, it's not... well... almost. It's an Orville Les Paul. It was built in Japan for the Japanese market under license from Gibson. Orville was used as it was the first name of founder, Orville Gibson. It was made in Japan with the same parts as the USA models but for about a third of the price. They also have a Dove Tail neck joint, which you only get on the Gibson Custom Historic series of guitars, which cost somewhere in the £2000 range. It adds sustain as the neck and body are more into each other. I paid £400 for mine. It's as good/better than any Gibson USA model I've played. I love it. Some of these guitars also came with "Orville by Gibson" on the headstock. They were just basically trying to keep up with Fender at the time.

My other guitar is an Edwards Les Paul Custom. It's made in Japan by ESP for the Japanese as well, but they are again... sneaking out of Asia for much cheapness.

As for the Tokai though, I don't think that Strat is anything to retire on just yet... unless you live mega cheap I've just seen a couple on eBay go for around the £200 mark. Maybe when I retire though... it'd be worth more.

There are plenty of good Japanese guitar manufacturers though... Burny, Orville, Greco, Tokai etc. Some people like to be snobs and MUST have that Gibson or Fender logo on the headstock. Admittedly I can't afford a £1500 guitar, but who cares... I paid a third of the price and I have a guitar which is as good as any Gibson I've played. Besides... Gibson are hit or miss these days.

Keep up with the guitar pictures