Tokai Electric Guitars

The Tokai Gakki Company Ltd. was founded in 1947. Back then, it was just a small and obscure instrument manufacturer operating out of Japan, and with nothing particularly setting it apart.
It wasn’t until the 70s and 80s that the company began to grow and gain popularity. Initially, this was sparked by the creation of some replica Fender and Gibsons. These were able to accurately recreate the old-school sounds of those instruments, while costing far less than the originals.

In fact, by the early 80s, these guitars started to become more popular than Fender’s own American-made guitars in their popularity. They also began to develop a sound of their own – referred to as the ‘Springy Sound’ or ‘Silverstar Sound’, which was undoubtedly nostalgic.

Demonstrating just how successful the Tokay guitars had become, Stevie Ray Vaughn was seen posing with the Tokai Spring Sound on the cover of the album Texas Flood in 1983. Similarly, Billy Gibbons took a Tokai replica on the road with him during a tour.