quick, help, tokai

[TheHeavy]

I going to test run a tokai love rock 2mrw, the seller says its a korean made that was bought originally in the early 2000's? This is in canada and Im worried about getting a fake. what should i be looking for and how are the korean ones in general, i'm aware the mij ones are the best, but are the ones made in korea even worth owning? i certainly cant afford a new true gibby lp.

help yall!!

 

[JLee]

The fake MIK Tokai Love Rocks usually have some blurb on the back of the headstock that say "manufactured under license Tokai" or "Made in Korea For Tokai" or something to that effect.

 

[TheHeavy]

but are the legit korean ones any good?

 

[TheHeavy]

it has a single screw truss rod cover if that helps? Im just worried im gonna get a beater?

 

[whitehall]

You will know when you play it, the peel off decal on the back of the headstock is another giveaway. Don't pay more than $250 for it. You can't give those things away on ebay, and the MIJ ones although better guitars also have crap resale in the USA. I took a brand new LS110 LP on a trade, had to put it up a couple of times, finally got $600 for it with a hard case.

 

[JLee]

Save a little more and get a used MIJ Tokai.

 

[tnvol]

I used to have one of the MIJ ones back in the day and it was pretty awesome. I haven't played any of the new ones so I wouldn't know about them.

 

[TheHeavy]

So it turns out the tokai in question was infact a fake. On the back of the headstock is clearly stated "make in korea." I respectfully broke the news to the seller but he didnt believe me and I even showed him my brief research on this site and others. Its clear as day. With that said, it still played beautifully and was hnds down better then every epi and cheap gibby i've played in the last 5 yrs, which is crazy! His price was firm at 400, I offered him 3 and he declined, I wasnt gonna pay more for a fake of a fake! All this has inspired me to somehow track down a mij tokai love rock and love-rock it!

Dang, these tokai seem to be really consistently nice, even the fakes.....of the fakes!!
what a world we live in

 

[Bobb2]

So it turns out the tokai in question was infact a fake. On the back of the headstock is clearly stated "make in korea." I respectfully broke the news to the seller but he didnt believe me and I even showed him my brief research on this site and others. Its clear as day. With that said, it still played beautifully and was hnds down better then every epi and cheap gibby i've played in the last 5 yrs, which is crazy! His price was firm at 400, I offered him 3 and he declined, I wasnt gonna pay more for a fake of a fake! All this has inspired me to somehow track down a mij tokai love rock and love-rock it!

Dang, these tokai seem to be really consistently nice, even the fakes.....of the fakes!!
what a world we live in

Sounds like you missed out on a good guitar. $400 would have been a fair price.

Unfortunately, the Canadian Tokai situation is not a variation of blatant counterfeiting like the "replicas" that are coming out of China even though some people are attempting to paint it that way. The story on the "fakais" goes that the Cdn distributor wanted to change the specs on Korean made Tokais. For unknown reasons, Tokai Japan didn't give permission fast enough so he went ahead and got the guitars built anyway at a different factory. From 2004-2005, we got stuck with better quality, better playing Korean "fakes" than the rest of the world got with their real Korean Tokais. If I remember correctly, the whole controversy started because players elsewhere were wondering why our Korean Tokais were better than theirs so a few went investigating. Attitudes over at tokairegistry made a quick change from awe and jealousy to pity and disgust.

For the record, MIJ Tokais are head and shoulders above any of the Korean models. Comparing Korean vs. Korean, the "Fakais" are the better guitar.