Tokai FB-45 Firebird Set-Neck Reverse

The finish on mine is metallic blue. The paint appears to have the metallic flakes in it so the sparkle is less effective than applying a coloured glaze over a metallic base coat ( for instance a transparent blue over a silver base). Consequently, it can look like a rather dull grey blue except when it really catches the light. I'm thinking of stripping and repainting it.
The Tuners look nice and are okay...they have a smooth action and gearing but they aren't quite there.
The rosewood fretboard seems to be covered in a rather plasticy finish...I personally don't like this.
The Volume tone pots work fine but look a bit cheap compared to a Gibson and they aren't put on quite right...they aren't quite square to the body which you only notice when you're playing it and look down at them.
There were no major cosmetic faults with this guitar when I purchased it.

Like many other reviewers I'd agree and say it has a bit of Fender and Gibson in it. It is inherently bright. The mini humbuckers have an edge to them that I like. Clean, both pickups do a good imitation of early sixties pop..especially English invasion stuff (searchers etc). Through my marshall combo with the distortion up the bridge pickup gives the edgy sound....if you know David Bowie's "Rebel Rebel", well it captures that sound. The neck pickup with similar distortion is less satisfactory...it gives a sort of "woman tone" but to my ears it sounds like a big muff....smooth distortion that completely kills the inherent tone of the guitar.
If a gibson les paul goes "splung" and a fender goes "sproing"..then this guitar goes "splink"!

Action wasn't great...around the 12-14 frets there was a sort of sitar effect where strings were vibrating against other frets. I didn't do anything to change this other than play the hell out of it and it seems to have fixed it ...Voila!

I haven't used this live yet...but it seems fairly solid

no idea

I've been playing since the seventies. I've had some nice guitars (les paul custom etc). I've always hankered after a Gibson Firebird VII.....cherry red ...a fabulous looking beast....but can't afford one. This looks like a Firebird V but how it compares to the real thing in terms of feel and sound, I've no idea, but I suspect the sound at least is in the same ball park.
The biggest problems with this guitar are two things inherent in itsdesign.It's neck heavy....I mean really neck heavy....strap it on and take your hand off of the nect and the headstock will nose diveto the floor. I found that I play it with my picking hand elbow resting on top of the body to keep it in place. Even doing this, after a while you become concious of a strain in your back. It really isn't comfortable at all. I think it's a chiropractors dream.
The other problem is the percieved length of the neck. I read a review of a Gibson Firebird where they said the neck seems to go on for ages and because the whole thing seems shunted slightly over to the left you will miss the correct fret positions, at least intially. I found this to be true...for example, go to play a F bar chord in the first position and you'll find yourself an F sharp..everything seems to be about a fret out. It took me a few days to get over this.
Despite my critisms, I find myself playing this guitar quite a lot. I prefer fender guitars but these mini humbuckers aren't too bad. It's really a guitar for classic pop/rock, which is fine by me. I love the look and I might buy it again if stolen, but I'd still really love to get my hands on a real Gibson Firebird

Standard firebird copy with usual Gibson stopomatic bridge. This guitar is "Lake Placid Blue" in colour according to Tokai. Nice shade to it, slight sparkle in the finish but it hasn't been applied too well in one area on the centre section behind the bridge. It looks like too much paint has been applied on an area about .5cm x 3cm in size.
22 frets (of which the 19th is a bit dodgy - more about that soon, would have preferred block markers rather than dots to make it look more classy. Not sure of the type of wood it's made out of but it's a nice weight and strings resonate nicely when strummed unplugged.
Standard pick up configuration with no coi-tapping on offer.

The stock pick-ups are ok but certainly nothing special. They are quite microphonic even at medium gain settings through my Marshall AVT275 and don't have any real "balls". My band play bluesy style rock (a la Rolling Stones, ZZ Top, Lynrd Skynrd) so they should really be able to handle this sort of music ok.

Set up was poor, the 19th fret is either lower than the 20th or there's a problem with the fretboard because when fingering the top 3 strings (E, B and G) there they choke quite badly. This means I've had to raise the action to a height that makes the guitar just about playable. As I've already mentioned the paint job isn't great on one area of the guitar either.

I've only had the guitar for 6 months so don't know if it will last but it seems solid enough and apart from the problems already mentioned seems reliable too - haven't gigged with it yet as it's still not properly "played in" and the microphonic pick ups make me worry about playing it at concert volumes.

Never contacted them so no opinion.

I've been playing for 16 years and have 14 other electic guitars - from a 1970's Fender Strat to a 1990's Epiphone Flying V with everything from Fender Tele's and Ibanez AS-200's Artists in between. I would rate this guitar as fairly average in my collection. I would prefer it to have decent pick ups and the Tokai factory to have better quality control.
If I lost this guitar I would be a bit pi**ed off cos it cost three hundred quid (including delivery) but I wouldn't feel any emotional loss cos it ain't that great - wouldn't buy another one that's for sure.

This guitar is Made in Korea with a set neck, tilt back reverse headstock, chrome tulip tuners, 22 medium jumbo frets, two mini-humbuckers, chrome tune-o-matic bridge and stop bar tailpiece.

Other reviewers have stated that this guitar is a cross between a Strat and a Les Paul. After playing for a little while, I would have to agree with that statement. This guitar has good sustain and a decent tone when using effects. I don't think that this guitar would suit metal players needs. The mini-humbuckers give a slightly, and I do mean SLIGHTLY, fatter sound than traditional single coils. IMHO, This guitar is really suited for blues players. It sounds great using my set-up:

Fulltone Clyde Wah
Barber LTD
TS-808 Re-issue
MXR 10 Band EQ
'70s Fender Bassman 50 w/ Bandmaster Cabinet

I do have an issue with the bridge pickup. There doesn't seem to be enough output coming from it. The neck pickup is fine. It has great singing sustain and is really mellow. When I play, I'll set all tone and volume controls to max except for the bridge tone knob
(set to 5-7) and use the middle position for rhythm then switch to the neck for the solo.

The guy I bought this from didn't have the bridge set to the right position height. This caused the strings to bow in the wrong place and it really sound terrible right out of the box. After adjusting the bridge, the action was perfect and it played great. I also adjusted the bridge pickup height to try and get it as close to the strings as possible.

I will probably switch the bridge pickup with a seymour duncan but the rest of the guitar will stay pretty much stock. I might have overpaid for this guitar but I'm happy with the purchase.

Set-neck (I believe), Korean-made, 2 vol, 2 tone. 2 mini-humbucker pickups. Unsure of woods actually used, probably maple neck w/ mahogany body. Gloss, sort of sunburst finish. Tune-o-matic bridge a la Les Paul, instead of that silly vibrola the orignals had. 22 fret. Rosewood board. Tuners stick out sideways like normal tuners, instead of back like on the originals. Won't fit a normal guitar case, and doesn't come with one. Bass gig bags or cases usually fit it though (Or a big rectangle hardshell like Flying Vees or explorers). Strap button is on the side of the guitar like the originals, but that's a dumb place. It leads to serious neck dive, so I had a pin put on the back, and the guitar balanced a lot better. 9/10 for that and the minor case issue (both easily dealt with).

I orignally bought this thing for looks, but sold it because the radical looks weren't matched by radical sound. I really regret that decision. The mini-humbuckers sound wasn't my thing at the time, because it was too thin, like a single coil almost. These days, I love that sound. Slightly thicker than a single coil, and silent. great bluesy-classic rock tone. Just not for heavy metal. I've played them recently, and man do they sound great. Just remember, thinner than a normal humbucker.

Both examples I've seen were impeccable finish-wise. The only thing was that if the store doesn't set-up the guitar, it'll have cheap strings and poor setup. I had to raise the pickups a bit, and set it up a bit, but even if you're not up to that, you could probably get the store to set it up before you buy it.

Seemed tough. I've had a bunch of the Korean tokais, and none have failed me yet.

It was great. I miss it. Played great, sounded great. Just remember, not for heavy metal or hard rock! Compare it to an Epiphone, and it smokes it in every way. The Gibson Firebird III I tried cost a heck of a lot more, and really didn't play any nicer, tho I think the pickups might have been a bit better. This was by far best value.

From Japan, 22 frets, 2 humbucker mics, Tune-O-Matic bridge,
The tremolo winch wasn't included, which was a little disappointment.
Stuff included: Case, starp, cable.

I've played some classic rock with it and the guitar fits perfectly for that. It's great guitar for soloing. The sound is perfect even with my 25 watt washburn amp.

I love playing it! The strings are low and it's easy to play. The guitar is succesfully weighted. There only one bad thing. The guitar is not so well balanced. If you hold the guitar in its strap, its neck bends down towards the floor. It took long to get used to it.

This guitar is good for gigs. It stays in tune a long time and I haven't got any problems with it. With this guitar, you don't need any backups.

I've played a bit longer than six months and it has become a real loved instrument to me. I love its look and I enjoy playing with it.
I also own a Washburn Bad Dog apmlifier and a Behringer V-Amp an virtual amplification.

See the review above. The only thing that I will add is that it looks more like a copy of a Firebird III with a transition headstock (i.e. non-reverse type headstock flipped backwards). Gibson did make a few Firebird IIIs with this type of headstock in 1965. However, the Gibson Firebird III has a Maestro vibrola tailpiece - the Tokai FB-45 has a stop tailpiece.

I play heavy rock most of the time, and this guitar sounds like a cross between my Strat and my Les Paul. It bridges the gap quite nicely, clean enough for rhythm yet powerful enough for solos. It sustains quite well closer to the nut, but higher up the fretboard the notes decay more quickly.

The A string buzzed pretty badly when I got the guitar, but after a bit of setting up the buzz isn't so bad any more. The thing I dislike the most about the guitar is that the pickup switch was put in sideways. I find that rather awkward.

The guitar looks solidly built, but as the previous reviewer mentioned the headstock looks fragile. I've played live with it and I've had no problems, even without a backup.

No opinion.

I've been playing since 1975, the year that Kiss released their 'Alive' album. When I saw the Firebird on the album cover I wanted one ever since. It's definitely a rock 'n' roll guitar, but it's a little awkward to handle. As I mentioned before I have a Strat (which I prefer for rhythm playing) and a Les Paul (which I like for solos), and the FB-45 seems ideal for live situations where I don't want to switch back and forth between guitars. The only thing I wish it had is a middle pickup, then I could get the middle and lead pickup sound together like I can get with my Strat. I've seen a picture of a Tokai Firebird VII copy with three pickups and gold hardware somewhere on the web, and if one had been available I would have bought it instead.

I have recently bought a 2001 Set-neck (neck-thru) reverse body Tokai Firebird copy. The 2000 catalogue says the FB45 is a bolt-on but this one isn't. It appears to be a neck-thru body but may just be glued-on. The body is alder and finished in "VS-Vintage Sunburst" (very nice!!). . It is the Johnny Winter/Allen Collins machine.

It is a VERY good copy of a '76 Gibson Re-issue reverse body/headstock Firebird. Only visual difference is no "banjo" tuners (has mid-seventies Gibson-style "Tulip" heads).

Two volume, two tone and three-way pickup selector - No frills.
It has two mini-humbuckers that give a little more high-end than a standard humbucker but no hum. Stop tailpiece,tunomatic bridge.

The neck is wide and thin with Dot inlayed Rosewood fingerboard. Think Gibson RD or Firebird. The frets are very nice medium jumbo and beautifully finished and polished (no file marks here, no rough edges. The reverse body gives great access to top frets. The nut is synthetic bone and one of the few really well done nuts I have seen where the grooves are kept at 50% of the depth of the string (See Guitar Player Repair Guide by Dan Erlewine).

Nice finish with no runs or sags.

Now for the areas of improvement (All of which you can easily fix):

a) NO CASE (??!!@&**) - This bird needs a special nest and it doesn't come with the guitar!!!. An Epiphone or Gibson case will cost 30% of the price of the guitar cause they know they have you to buy a special one due to the deep backwards angle of the headstock and EXTREMELY long body. It will just make it into a Fender JAZZ Bass case but its tight and you must support the back of the neck so impact is not taken at the top of the headstock. A uniquely shaped guitar with a senstive headstock should not be sold without the case - Shame on you Tokai!!

b) Pickup Springs - The height adjusting springs on the bridge pickup are too long and won't allow you to get the pickup as close as a humbucker should be thus when you try it in a store, the bridge pickup sounds wimpy while the neck pickup sings. DON'T FORCE IT UP!. Remove the pickup ring (which are beautiful chrome!)and cut off 1/3 of the springs. Important: Make sure the sharp point is taped, bent or otherwise prevented from poking the soft side and damaging windings. I suggest you use the "flat" end at the top so the pickup sits horizontal under tension.

c) Truss Rod Cover - The 3-ply plastic truss rod cover was poorly cut in two places and did not have a uniform curve. I fixed this using a very fine and small fret file and OOOO steel wool to smooth the curvature.

d) The Pickguard - The pickguard does not have the Firebird logo engraved like a Gibson and doesn't look as nice as a Gibson due to the angle of the side cut. For the $10 this would add to the cost it would be nice (maybe I'm getting picky).

e) Strap buttons - The guitar is so long the headstock tends to pull down. When it does so, the front strap button is easy to pull off the strap. I was going to put straplocks on but the screw hole is bigger than a straplocks. I compromised with one those plastic locking rings that goes over a standard button.

I Love Skynyrd, Johnny Winter, Allman Bros and have always lusted after a reverse Firebird - However, the prices on originals have gotten ridiculous. I have a large collection of stringed instruments and play many styles (jack of all trades - master of none). I have a number of vintage Fender, boogie, peavey, Roland, and Carvin amps. This guitar loves them all.

No significant noise due to humbuckers but I will shield it for recording.

The guitar has a great "honk" in the middle position when using a raunchy setting. The neck pickup does a great singing sustain and the bridge is nice (I use Duncan's normally).

I really like the "in-between a strat and Paul" sound of the mini-humbuckers. I expected to replce them with ridiculously expensive Duncans but changed my mind after spending more time with the guitar.

It does what I want it to and is pretty versatile

The guitar was well set up and needed only a new set of strings and some minor intonantion adjustments. The bridge pickup height and inability to adjust due to the wrong spring was as wrong as two boys f____ing and I don't see how anyone with any competence at Tokai could miss this flaw.

Apart from that, very nice. They lose 3 points for making it impossible to sound good at the store. The store should fix this for you.

Built solid but the achilles heel of all firebirds is that long back angled headstock. Combined with a body style that will not lean back on its own without some side support, they are accidents waiting to happen - but they sure are pretty.

Finish is polyeurothane making it very durable (and very tough to repair_)

Strap buttons are inadequate and need help to hold the bird.

Gig without a backup?? I must be missing something but anyone who gigs without backup is over-confident and inexperienced with all the wonderful things that eventually go wrong with any guitar.

8 because of the strap buttons and the Firebird's inate desire to fly to the floor.

Never dealt with Tokai. Thank god someone else had a better website on Tokai than Tokai. I bought it from Dan at Steve's in Ottawa. Both Dan and Kevin are top-notch when it comes to customer service

I have been playing 25 years in bands and recording.

I love that its a Firebird and it has a certain southern vibe that warms my soul in these cold winter months.

It is a winner and I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a well-built, solid playing guitar.

Given the lack of decent copies of Firebirds out there (the Epiphone ones are not nearly as nice)and Tokai being the new copy-King, I'd say it will probably turen out to be a good investment in the long-term.

Unsure if you should get one - YOU OWE IT TO YOURSELF!!!!

All the Best

Dave S