Identifying Tokai

[anagrama]

Hello, I'm considering to buy a Tokai Les Paul, serial number is FC0617828, but it seems a bit difficult to find any info about factory and country. Can anyone help me on this one?

Thank you

 

[reborn old]

It would be a 2006 base model, made in China.

The most common Tokai made in China Les Paul Standard model is the ALS-48.
There are lower models with bolt on necks.

 

[anagrama]

Ok, I was told it was Korean. How can you tell the country of origin?

 

[reborn old]

Up to 2005 Korean models had no serial numbers.
A few Korean 2001 Limited Editions had model #'s on the headstock,
that could be mistaken for a serial #, but these had no letter prefixes.

Sometime in 2005 Tokai moved export model operations from Korea to China.

Please post pics of the guitar front + back, using a 3rd party image server,
if you require more info.

 

[anagrama]

So did production in Korea stop in 2005?

 

[luis]

As far as there it had several chinese models with different specs we could tell not all MIC are equal (baswwod vs alder wood).
Australian distributor told us some guitars left the chinese factory from the "back door" and were sold in several places altough these were not true Tokai ALS as far as did not had the approval nor permission. Yours seems to be an UK export ALS model because that dimple on the middle uuper part of the headstock.

I had a real live experience with an ALS chinese Love Rock. There it came Lezt Zep UK band and made a rehersal at a local club. Main guitarist had a Love Rock with a dimpled(UK) and made most of the songs with it.

 

[anagrama]

Yours seems to be an UK export ALS model because that dimple on the middle uuper part of the headstock.

So this means Chinese?

 

[reborn old]

Headstock center dimple = legitimate Tokai export ALS model from either Korea or China.
Serial number = 2006, Made in China

Any Chinese factory that would adhere to Tokai export headstock spec requirements is probably legit
and alpha-numeric serial number formats are legit in 2006.

Unauthorized early Chinese production numbers usually had 000, 100 + 200 prefixes.

 

[anagrama]

Ok, thank you. I didn't realise that Tokai isn't build in Korea anymore.

 

[AK Epi Player]

The info on this top of this thread:http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/other-les-pauls/167868-_mij__faq_-_links.html is a WONDERFUL source of info on all of these "other Les Paul's". I keep it open in another page whenever I'm looking around on all of the auction sites (which is a bad idea if you are easily subjected to G.A.S. ).

 

[anagrama]

Yes it looks interesting, but this guitar is not MIJ

 

[AK Epi Player]

Yes it looks interesting, but this guitar is not MIJ

Maybe not, but some of the info you were looking for is there (although it can be somewhat confusing):

"F prefix Tokais are made in Korea, C prefix Tokais are made in China".


"Current production line":

As of 2011, models below LS-92 are no longer made in Japan.
ALS prefix models are made in China (ALS-47, ALS-48, ALS-53 etc)

 

[reborn old]

"F prefix Tokais are made in Korea, C prefix Tokais are made in China".

All letter prefix serial number Tokais were made in China including FC prefix examples.
Made in Korea models do not have serial numbers.
Very few 2001 LTD edition Korean models have model numbers on headstock, but not serial numbers.

Despite there having been a preliminary FAQ that I hoped would correct most errors,
unfortunately there are a number of FAQ errors that couldn't be corrected because the MLP "thread lock" feature didn't allow me to edit them in a timely fashion.
Mods had neither the will or interest to edit FAQ errors after the fact.
Stickies should be editable by the author, but it's a limitation of the forum engine MLP uses.

 

[AK Epi Player]

Thanks for some clarification on this very confusing topic!

I didn't realize that you could get locked out of your own thread.

 

[reborn old]

You have 24 hrs to edit individual posts.