Furthermore, MIK Gibson replica guitars usually have a neck made from maple, and the body wood is usually made from either alder, agathis or nato.

The MIK guitars usually have a different Nashville style bridge instead of the usual ABR-1 bridge. Japanese guitars have a two-screw truss rod cover whereas the Korean guitars have a three-screw truss rod cover (although some early Korean guitars also have two-screw truss rod covers). The MIK (Made in Korea) guitars can be differentiated by the truss rod cover. Tokai guitars made in Korea (MIK) are lower priced guitars, similar to the Korean Epiphone guitars. Korean production started around the mid-1990s. Tokai guitars have been made in Japan, Korea and China. The higher priced Tokai Gibson replicas have nitrocellulose finishes and long tenon neck joints. The original selling price in Japanese yen is often included in the model number-for example TLS-100 = 100,000 Japanese yen. Tokai and Dyna Gakki produced the Fender Japan solid-body models from 1997 until the end of the Fender Japan joint-venture in 2015. Tokai has its own instrument making factory and have built guitars for well-known brands under contract (OEM). In 1983, Tokai introduced an aluminum-body guitar called the Talbo (Tokai Aluminum Body) which the band Devo played at one time.

By the late 1970s, replicas of Fender guitars, such as the '.38 Special' guitar and the 'Hard Puncher' bass (replica of the Fender Precision Bass), began to be sold in Japan and Europe. This guitar was fitted with lipstick pickups and can be seen on the cover of his second studio album Couldn't Stand the Weather. Tokai also made Fender replicas, the 'Springy Sound' (ST series, Fender Stratocaster replica) and the 'Breezy Sound' (TE series, Fender Telecaster replica).Both Stevie Ray Vaughan and Chuck Hammer played a 'Tokai Springy Sound' at one time. The name change was in response to threats from American guitar companies to go to court to protect their copyrights. By 1980, the name was changed to 'Reborn Old' and later to its current name, 'Love Rock'.

Tokai's replica of the Gibson Les Paul electric guitar, named the 'Les Paul Reborn' model, started in 1978. These models are generically known as 'lawsuit guitars'. Martin guitars.īetween 19, Tokai began making various Fender and Gibson replica electric guitars and basses. In 1975, it launched its own Cat's Eyes line of acoustic guitars, which were replicas of C.F.

Martin & Company to supply acoustic guitar parts and also to build Martin's Sigma electric guitars. Conn In 1972, Tokai entered into a joint-venture with C. Some Tokai guitars, with models resembling American manufacturers' guitars: fltr: Goldstand Sound, Talbo, LS-85 Love Rock, Hard Puncher bassįrom 1970 to 1973, Tokai produced the Conn line of acoustic guitars under contract with C.G.

Where to buy tokai guitars