Tokai TJ-55 Acoustic

Cannot remember price. Probably $400 CDN or less with a hardshell case.

Made in Korea. Solid spruce top, multi-piece mahogany back and sides. Belly up rosewood bridge. Natural wood binding on mahogany neck, plastic 4-ply black/white binding on body. Rosewood fretboard with silverish plastic dot inlays. Polyurethane finish. Kluson style tuners, probably made by Gotoh. Teardrop shaped tortoise-shell pickguard. Plastic bridge pins, nut and saddle. Neck is a subtle V shape.

The body shape is like that of a Gibson J45 round shoulder dreadnaught, except the lower bout on the Tokai is rounder.

It sounds very open with a broad spectrum. Very balanced bass. The top three strings don't sound so good, it is a little bit artificial and not "wood" enough. I experimented with a Seagull S6 cedar top in the same price range, and the Tokai has better sound quality and projection for chords or flatpicking. One problem is the guitar doesn't respond very well to fingerpicking. This rating is for after I changed the nut and saddle to bone.

Finish was perfect, no bad spots or orange peel. It is, however, a bit thick and plasticy for an acoustic. The grain width on the spruce top was very different from one side of the guitar to the other. It also has some curly bits in the figure, a bit of bearclaw. I would have preferred a top with more equal grain width.
Fretwire and fretboard was excellent.
Very cheap nut and saddle! It is some yellowish plastic that they just took out of the mould and placed on. There was no work done on each saddle to compensate for each individual guitar. It sounded pretty dull and dead. Actually I cannot remember how it sounded because I replaced the parts right away.
From the exterior the back, sides and neck look wonderful. Inside though, there is a 1.5 inch long cut on the mahogany back that doesn't go all the way through the wood. While it probably doesn't affect sound, it could possibly crack in the future. Not that I care, the guitar is cheap enough to replace.

The finish will last until the next century I imagine, it is so thick and glossy. A hardcover text book fell and glanced off the surface of the top, but it left only a dent in the finish. Another acoustic might have gotten a big hole through it.
I have had the guitar for nearly two years, and have had no problems. The tuners are great still.

Tokai doesn't really deal with customers. No warranty card came with the guitar.

This is my only acoustic. I have played a Seagull S6 and the folk-sized model for extended periods. The cedar top on the seagull was too mellow and extremely easy to dent. I liked the neck on the Tokai, it is narrower like an electric and action was lower. The Seagull sounded great on its own, but when you have others playing with you, the Tokai is able to cut through better.
I bought this because of the low price and woods. In this price range, an epiphone or other brand would likely have a plywood or laminated top, with the same plastic poly finish. If it were stolen, I probably would buy a different guitar. This one is great, but it is nothing special.