Tokai JM clones

Discussion of newer designs, copies and reissue offset-waist instruments.
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smjenkins
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Tokai JM clones

Post by smjenkins » Sun Jun 20, 2021 6:56 pm

So it looks like most of the Tokai TJM140's have the wierd neutered CBS headstock shape like this:

Image

But there are some matching headstock ones that appear to have the proper shaped headstock. Does anyone know about the quality of these guitars? Looks like it would be ~$1300 to get one of these to the US. Does it punch at that level? I've done some general Tokai research, but I'm not sure if anyone has experiece with their JM models.

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HarlowTheFish
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Re: Tokai JM clones

Post by HarlowTheFish » Sun Jun 20, 2021 9:28 pm

A buddy of mine got a Tokai Tele and said he doesn't want a CS one anymore -- he knows his Teles and has expensive taste in guitars, so if he says that I feel pretty confident about taking him at his word for how good it is.

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sal paradise
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Re: Tokai JM clones

Post by sal paradise » Sun Jun 20, 2021 10:40 pm

Tokai seem pretty well loved across all their range: vintage “lawsuit” models, budget ones built in Korea & Japan models. I’ve always wanted to try one of their LPs- supposed to be a lot of guitar for the money.
I have nothing to offer anybody, except my own confusion?

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Re: Tokai JM clones

Post by dune736 » Mon Jun 21, 2021 6:18 am

I never played the Jazzmaster model, but the les paul and strat Tokai's I've tried all felt great. I'm sure the jazzmasters are no different.

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Re: Tokai JM clones

Post by s_mcsleazy » Mon Jun 21, 2021 7:04 am

if i remember rightly, there was also a really cool floral pattern tokai jm.

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Re: Tokai JM clones

Post by muffonrat » Mon Jun 21, 2021 9:16 am

s_mcsleazy wrote:
Mon Jun 21, 2021 7:04 am
if i remember rightly, there was also a really cool floral pattern tokai jm.

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Wow, that looks sick!

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Ceylon
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Re: Tokai JM clones

Post by Ceylon » Mon Jun 21, 2021 9:40 am

I played what I imagine was their cheapest Line Tele thinline and I loved it. Felt solid, well set up out of the box and sounded terrific unplugged.

This higher end JM would be built in Japan, so in a different factory, and I imagine an all-around much better guitar than an already very good guitar that was less than half this price.
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Re: Tokai JM clones

Post by loveinathens » Mon Jun 21, 2021 11:32 am

I've played some of the humbucker and P90 models, and while they didn't sound like a Jazzmaster, the build quality was solid. Glad they have a line out with more JM appointments.

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