desertbluesman — Jun 13, 2013Beautiful, and I bet they play as well as they look.
When I started with the Tokai distribution 3 and half years ago I had never even seen a Tokai Les Paul, or 335 or SG, I had just read online reviews for 10 years.
The reviews were always stellar, never a bad one.
I thought it's bullshit, not possible, just hype.
One day I heard that Gibson had pulled out of SAfrica and that they didn't have a distributor or dealer here.
I don't know why, or what I was thinking that day, but for some reason I did a quick Google search to see if I could find an e mail address for Tokai Japan...I was in the garden business, why the hell was I trying to contact Tokai?
So I found an e mail address, composed a quick e mail explaining that I'd like to distribute Tokai guitars in SAfrica and pressed 'send'.
I rated my chances one in a million that I had a valid e mail address and that I'd ever get any kind of response.
30 minutes later I got a reply from the President of Tokai.
I thought WTF have I done, I don't have 2 cents to scratch together because I had just basically lost everything in my divorce...I didn't even have my own apartment, my house was sold, I was living in the guest room at my sisters place.
Where would I get money from to even begin this adventure let alone sustain it.
The Tokai reply basically asked me some questions about distribution in SAfrica, blah blah...I replied yes I'm your man I can do it...bullshit, I had never distributed anything in my life, I didn't even like going into music stores, I found it intimidating, I bought online wherever possible.
Tokai asked for my postal address and sent me a catalogue.
I got a bit busy with the garden business and forgot to check for the catalogue in my mail box, I only collected it a month after it had arrived.
I don't know why but I just had a feeling I was meant to do this, and it had to be Tokai...the mystique of this Japanese guitar company that had survived for decades whilst not being allowed to sell guitars in the USA intrigued me...and still operating from the same factory they opened in 1947 making pianos.
And, a family owned business now being run by the grandson...this is the kind of stuff you see in movies, what family owns a guitar manufacturing business that gets passed down from grandfather to son to grandson and continues operating in a factory that's 63 years old? :-?
I had to see what all the fuss was about, so I took the biggest scariest risk of my life.
First thing I did was get my sister to draw up a legal distribution contract that I sent to Tokai to sign...they signed, I signed and I was ready to go.
I borrowed $20,000 and placed my first order of 35 guitars.
Keep in mind, in my 35 years of driving I've never bought a car that cost me more than $7,000....here I was borrowing 20K to buy guitars with no way of paying it back.
I told Peter and a few other guys what I'd done, they were like stop bullshitting us, get real, are you crazy or what...they said when they see it they'll believe it.
It took 4 months for the order to be made, whilst waiting I went ahead with my website, organised import permits, etc....I was jumping off a cliff first and then figuring out how to fly. ;D
During the wait I started going into music stores and telling them I was now the Tokai distributor in SAfrica.
They were like who the fuck is this guy, where did he come from, what do you mean you're importing Tokais, Tokai are closed down long ago, is this some kind of new Chinese Tokai, is this the same Japanese company Tokai from the early 80s?
All the while Peters telling me he wants to check out a Goldtop the day they arrive, if they ever arrive. ::)
He sold his Gibson Goldtop a few years earlier and always regretted it, even though he knows the Tokai won't come close to his Gibson he still might like one just as a replacement, but he'll still use his two Gibson Les Pauls he owns....the Tokai will just be a fuck around guitar.
I had just moved into my apartment, a one bedroom bachelor unit...where am I going to store 35 guitars?
How do I clear 35 guitars through customs, what's the process?
Turns out my ex next door neighbour of 15 years is a clearing agent...coincidence?
How am I single handedly going to unpack and check 35 guitars...do you know how long that can take and how much work it's going to involve?
What about setups, who's going to setup 35 guitars for me, how much is that going to cost?
How do you sell guitars to music stores, do you pack 10 into your car and drive off to music stores, then carry two at a time 5 times into the store...then carry them back to your car and head off to the next music store?
Fuck, that's like running a marathon. :)...but I guess if that's what you got to do then so be it.
Eventually 3 months turns into 4 months and the guitars arrive.
I go off to the freight company warehouse to load up 8 huge cartons onto my little pickup truck.
Drive slowly, be very very careful, make sure you make it back to your apartment in one piece.
I got back to my place, carried each and every one of the 35 boxes up the stairs into my apartment.
I was exhausted before opening the first box.
I rested for a few minutes, had a drink, then walked to the first box and started opening it.
My heart was pumping, is this thing worth the money, am I going to be disappointed, have I just made a huge mistake.
OMG!!! When I opened the first case I could not believe my fucking eyes.
Never mind the guitar, I spent a few minutes just looking at the mother of pearl Tokai logo on the headstock...it never looked like MOP in photos, in photos it was white...this logo I'd seen in photos for 12 years on the internet was now in front of my eyes.
I examined every inch of the first guitar, it was perfection, I had never seen a spray job like this on a guitar.
I opened 3 guitars, the same thing each time, perfection...in fact beyond perfection, perfection is boring, like furniture, but this wasn't furniture, these were instruments.
The phone rings, it's Peter.
He asks, so, what happened, did you get the guitars?
Ya, I got them.
Peter - and, how are they?
Me - Pete, you have to see this to believe it.
Peter - I'm on my way to soundcheck for my gig tonight, I'm coming past to collect a Goldtop.
Me - Pete, I haven't even come close to unpacking the Goldtops, and there's 3 of them, you need to play and choose one.
Peter - Bullshit, I'll take any one of the 3, I don't have time to play them, I'm taking it straight to the gig.
30 minutes later Peter arrives with his new GF.
I grab one of the Goldtop boxes, open it to make sure it's a Goldtop, Peter takes it, says I'm late for soundcheck, I'll phone you later.
I'm shitting myself, he's been gigging with his Gibsons for years, you can't fool him, it the Tokai isn't good enough he'll know.
Later that evening Peter phones me.
He says he's just finished the first set using the Goldtop.
I say, and?...he says, OMG!, it is incredible...it's as good a Les Paul as he's ever played or owned.
Peter bought another one a few months later, he gigged both guitars for 18 months before ever having a setup done to either guitar...he played the factory setup for 18 months.
What was your question, Harv...how do they play? ;D
The night after Peter took the Goldtop he came over to my place with Dave Sharp his keyboard player, who plays the Hammond B3, he's an insane guitar player as well, and great bass player.
So they sit down and I hand them each a guitar, out the box.
After 20 seconds they both look at each other and laugh, they like WTF, mines perfect and your's?, mines perfect as well....this isn't possible, give us two more.
Give them two more, same thing, two more again, same thing...we stopped, it was a waste of time, no point in going through all 35.
I never opened another box, never took out another guitar.
I packed them in my bedroom, lounge, cupboards, when I needed one for a music store I took out the box, took it to the music store and watched them open it for the first time.
About 540 guitars later (Japanese models), one bad volume pot, one bad tone pot, and two faulty toggle switches.
