Tokai 38 Special

Made in Japan and has replaced every fender I own as my #1
For features it's pretty amazing for a strat...the other reviews go more into this, but it's great to have the ability to dial in diff. pickup combinations unlike a strat...
Excellent quality tuners, i think mine is ash as well from the weight but could be a light alder. Supposedly according to a japanese site, these were the top echelon of the guitars in the early '80s (better than the breezysound/goldsound etc...) but with
the unique japanese "look" to them. Frets are superb and are mediums.

Well heck, already tol'ya its the best. Really get strat to tele sounds (though much more stratty of course) and i think this is due to the pickup combinations you can dial in.
Lets see, it has replaced all of these as my #1...fernandes revival, '67 tele standard, usa '98 strat and a tom anderson t type.
I dont KNOW WHAT the others are talking about replacing the orig. pickups...they must not like regular strat sounding pickups...but i guess thats personal ....???? crazy mo-fos to me, i have used just about every well known fender style pickup known to man and these just blaze....sound like the robert cray orig. fender pickups crossed with the knopfler sound....very very very nice...just ducky in fact.

havent ever had a tighter neck pocket or a more perfect neck. i like the fender v necks...this is close but not a v...but definitely not a frickin modern flat plank...its a players neck and feels like buttah. frets are rolled off like a custom build.
not a single flaw...ahhh but im gushing

c'mon...its 30 years old and looks like new...i don't know what they made the frets out of but they seem to have held up better than anything i have ever used....titanium?

GOOOOOOD LUCK!

I used to have another tokai a long time ago and really liked it...i think it was a goldie but oldie strat. This one is better, sounds better and plays better. i definitely think it is on par with american fenders as i have 2...but its all about what you think feels best. the neck on this baby is just the icing and will always be with me FOREVER....good luck finding one yourself but i hope (and you do too) you find one as you will also be amazed.

Late 70s made in Japan. I noticed the other review says 21 frets but that was an over sight by him as there are in fact 22 frets. I also noticed that he mentions that by pulling the tone knob it activates all three pickups at the same time which is not exactly accurate. The Tone pot activates the bridge pickup in what ever position the selector switch is in.. so you can run the neck and bridge together or run all three pickups together.. neither of those are pickup combinations are offered on any standard strats out there so it is a little more versatile than the average Stratocaster. The pickups are stock Tokai which are pretty decent for stock pickups. There is only on tone knob and one volume. Beautiful maple neck with a rosewood fretboard. The necks on Tokais surpass just about anything out there. I would guess it to be an ash body as it is very light weight with an opaque creme finish, black pickguard and pickup covers kind of giving them the EMG look. It has the vintage Kluson tuners with a string thru body and hardtail bridge. Came with the original tokai hard shell case. I give it a 9 simply because it has the pull tap tone knob that standard strats do not have.

The pickups that came in it are decent for stock pickups but they weren't juicy enough for my tastes so I replaced them with some Lace Sensor Holy Grails that really brought this guitar to life. The original single coil pickups were typically noisy and that is why I went with the Lace pickups as they are silent and have that 54 vintage warmth and brightness to them. Before I upgraded the pickups I would only give the guitar a 7 and with the lace at least a 9.. so I will give it an 8 because it has potential as well as the pull tap tone giving it some extra fulness and versatility.

The action was super low with no buzzing when I purchased it. Frets are great it looks hardly used. The finish is excellent with an almost birds eye maple neck. Very nice all around.

This guitar has been around for over 30 years and it is better quality than any Mexican Strat you will ever find. Will it last? Tokai make great instruments and this one will last a life time! Strap buttons are solid and very dependable. I am sure it will continue to stand the test of time considering it is already over 30 years old... it should last a lifetime! I don't know any serious players that gig without a backup but if I was ever in a place to have to.. Tokai guitars would be my first choice.

The fact that they make such great guitars says to me that they probably don't need much for customer support. But since this guitar is made in Japan and over thirty years old I don't think customer support is something available for the particular guitar.. but as far as I know Tokai are still building guitars out of both Japan and Korea so they here to stay.

Been playing for 34 years to much gear to mention. I have 20 guitars if it was stolen I would replace it with another Tokai as I prefer them over the original brand names. The other reviewer made a valid point in that Tokai make better quality copies then than the original brand names make for less money. I own a handfull of Tokai guitars and I am always keeping my eyes open for them in my travels. They make great guitars and if you haven't owned one than you might be surprised because it just may replace your USA original guitar..:)

Early 1980's Japanese model, kinda Strat copy. 21 Fret maple neck with a rosewood fretboard. Ash or alder body, lightweight with an opaque creme finish. Fixed bridge is a nice find on a guitar of this age, deluxe kluson tuners. The guitar came with 3 single coil pickups and one volume and one tone with a 3 way switch. All of the pickups were out of phase, and I wanted a strat sound so I changed the pickups around and added a five way switch and rewired it. Add a Bill Lawrence pickup in the bridge and now I really love the way it sounds. The one neat thing is that you can pull the tone pot and get all 3 pickups at the same time for a really funky sound.

Great strat sound, good for the bluesy numbers that we play, not bad on the rock stuff either. Fairly clean sounding, typical single coil noises, not as bad as some I have had.

Good shape when I got it, I bought it used and it has held up very well over the years

Great axe for playing live, lightweight and solid, the only problem that I have is the pickguard broke where the tone pot is, if it was a standard strat pickguard I would just replace it.

None

I would highly recomend this or any Tokai guitar, they are the best copy guitars, and sometimes I feel that they are better than the ones that they are copying.