Fender American Vintage 57 Strat vs Tokai Goldstar Sound - Can the Japanese compete for £650 less?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 11 ต.ค. 2022
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When I knew that I was going to be reviewing the Fender AV57, I reached out to Mike at Rose Morris rosemorris.com/collections/to... and asked if he'd send me this Tokai Goldstar to do a comparison. The main spec differences are - Fender is Nitro, Tokai is Poly, Fender has a 57 V neck profile (7.5" radius) with vintage tall frets, Tokai has a U profile (9.5" radius) with medium frets. But can the Tokai keep up?
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Nice to see you doing those shadows requests as asked!
Very pleasant to listen to you play those guitars, even without a backing track. Superb noodling.
Thanks for the videos, helped me massively in deciding to take a look at some close out Tokai. picked up a brand new AST95 for USD 560 and its awesome. all around great built quality. pickup came low too but i figured that it is to prevent damage during shipping, a few turns of the screw fixed that.
Very nice playing bro ! Just got myself a 91 Tokai on it’s way
Excellent idea to compare the two, and I think I'd go for the Tokai.
Great playing !
I have Tokai breezysound from about 1986 whivh I bought used in a closing down sale early nineties for £100.00. Pulled the pickups out for Seymour Duncan alnico's and still play it to this day.. it does look somewhat roadworn now ie likei it was just pulled out of a skip and I wish I had taken more care of it given what they are fetching now.
Sounds amazing 😮...what do you use to build that tone?
Same, I’d go for Tokai.
Very nice comparison. Tokai makes great guitars!
I did like my '80s Tokais (strat-type and tele-type). But found the edges of the neck a bit sharp, and quite a small neck profile. Different to my later vintage-style Mexican Fenders anyway. I wonder if they're still the same.
Maybe compare Am Vintage II to the Vintera series? Far as I can tell they're very similar products
Love you dude 👊
Never underestimate a Japanese built Strat, Tokai or Fernandes. I have a 1994 MIJ '62 reissue Foto Flame and the quality and playability is off the charts.
Greco
I have to say, having played a 70s Greco Super Sound and a Tokai, they hold up even today against Fenders
and if you're lucky, they can be found cheaper than the new Fender counterparts, and that's a lot of quality guitar for the price
I love my Squier Stratocaster MIJ 1986 with Radioshop ID 63 GT PUs. Same build quality as my Fender CS strat!
I have a 1986 Tokai Goldstar Strat which I bought in approx 1990. Fitted Radioshop Chris Buck pickups in 2021 Sounds and plays amazing.
looks like the pickups on the Tokai could use a few turns to get them closer to the strings. You really can't go wrong with the Japanese Tokai, especially in the Les Paul realm, strats and teles are great too but pickups might not be to everyones liking on those. Second hand market is where it's at anyways if you know what to look for
I saw that too but that could be because the pickups might have been set that way because of their output.
@@brianlebrun2382 probably lowered due to shipping. avoid any form of contact as much as possible
The Fender sounds thicker and sweeter but the pick ups are also set higher on the fender so its hard to tell much. Pick up height should be the same in test like this as it makes a huge difference.
The pole piece heights are actually pretty similar - I think the appearance of the pickups might be throwing folks off. The pole pieces in the Tokai protude further from the pickup plastic than on the Fender.
The neck radius, taller frets and pickups on the Tokai wins it for me.
The Tokai sounds a little brighter and a little sharper. While the Fender is warmer and slightly rich in tone to my ear. I suppose it's all about what your wanting to get out of it.
Tokai is fantastic and also ur playin...would u please say the exact model of this tokai? Tanx
A wonderful imbalance in Fenders tone makes it perfect for me. Tokai sounds wider, more mids, less Stratocaster. Maybe 1961 AV II would be more comparable? These 57 pickups are a little hot.
I used to like the vintage tint neck until I realized that the real vintage guitars didn't have a tinted neck when new. I find the mij fender reissues more accurate than the American vintage for this. I prefer an untinted gloss maple neck, what will the vintage tint necks look like in a few decades?
Tokai sounds thinner and more scooped. Both good guitars
Tengo una Tokai ast-88 japan, las conozco desde 1980. Hermosas guitarras las Tokai.
I bought a Tokai,Selder,Chattingbird,Ariapro,Photogenic,all japanese guitar,and it all sounds good..i puta video on all of them..
I usually prefer japanese gadgets etc, but this fender showed a better tone for my ears. Nonetheless, I'd save some 650 pounds after some playing, indeed.
You could get some even better pups than the fender for that price id imagine 😂
Cool guitars.
both guitars are excellent. Fender takes the cake
When you dig into the Fender '57 it sounds like everything you are doing to the strings is being translated into sound and expression. The Tokai sounds like it can't quite take the extra physical input to the strings.
On the basis of this video I'd go for the Fender . . . it just has that little bit extra special something.
p.s. I've been blind listening with just the time showing, making a note of where I like the sounds and then checking which guitar it was.
Yeh I feel like the Fender pickups are winning for me?
I have a Les paul Tokai Japan , I added some seymour duncan pick ups and I can say that it is the best guitar I ever had, the tone is killer
Funny. I have just received a K-Line Springfield (largely purchased on the back of your demos and recommendations) from Coda Music and am literally a/b'ing it with my 3 month old Tokai through my Fargen microplex. The Tokai is hotter and sounds and plays like a great Strat, I love it. The K-Line has that boutique feel which is a nice thing, but sounds less Stratty to me, more it's own thing. Initially I preferred the Tokai (quite strongly in fact), but the K-Line is growing on me. Does the K-Line leap out at me as been 'better'? Or £1300 better (I got a deal on the Tokai from The Music Shop in Inverness)? Hell no! Like you say, you can't go wrong with the Tokai for the money. Thanks for all your great content!
What pickups in your K Line? I think JNC has Lollar blondes in his.
I guess I need to try the 61 :shrug:
I like the Clean better on the Red one and the Dirty on the Seafood one 🤷♀lol
Seafood?
Mmm 😋 seafood 🦞 🦐🍤
My 1st real guitar was a 3 tone sunburst tokai gold start sound (strat) with a 1 peice maple neck. It was very 50s inspired even had a 3 way switch. I think it was from the early 90's. I have bought and sold some nice guitars over the last 30 yrs but I don't miss any like I miss that tokai. Regret selling it so hard. Really lovely guitars, might check out some of their newer stuff and reminis.
Made in Japan Tokai or Silver Sky SE?
great plain
fender for sure
Fender for its tone, Tokai for its playability. I guess it would be great if swapping the Tokai pickups to Fender pickups.
The pickups seem very low on that tokai
That's a good point
They are set Up That way
I have this tokai Its based on a 58 and That tokai Cost me $700 new , Its fabulous , have the tele as well and a high end gold top . Should be noted i have a Number Of gibson and fenders 94 both and a 92 and these days tokai japan is My first look for new guitars
I prefer the fenders sound for sure.
Fender took that round to my ears.
Where can you buy a Tokai nowadays anyway?
Rose Morris in London (Denmark Street) have a massive range. I haven’t seen them anywhere else.
The Music Shop in Inverness.
La Strat es más caliente.
Fender all the way!
Greetings John.
Question. What is your opinion of the Tokai tst 95 vs the PRS silver sky se, just trying to get an idea on which to chose for the money?? thanks..
Hey chap, I think the Tokai is likely to be a better guitar in many cases if it's anything like the Tokais I've played compared to the Silver Sky SEs
To my ear the Tokai.
tokai sounds better than fender coz it's sounds crunchy i love sound like that
Tokai sounds genuine..
I might prefer thin Saturn Polly 😬
My EJ strat looked very road worn after gigging it and I did not get top dollar when I sold it.
satin poly, stupid auto-correct
Depends on what you want. My EJ Strat (the one John was playing a couple of weeks ago) is also starting to look quite road worn. John mentioned the wear on the neck but there's also bare patches starting to appear on the body and there's a fair bit of checking appearing in the nitro. Personally I think it's great that it's 'relicing' naturally and authentically. I understand the value wouldn't be as much as if it was in mint condition - but then also you pay extra for it to look like this if it was a custom shop!!
Mine is the same. I daren't sell it. People want artificial wear. A great guitar, but the 12" radius is not for me any more.
Yeah, I gigged my EJ for about 10yrs and it is the best strat I have ever owned. However, the neck and body got really sticky on hot days and it looked really beat up when I sold it. I loved the authentic road worn look but it effected the resale negativity.
So true Ian! People want artificial wear, not the real deal 😂 so weird.
Tokai. Woody and rich.
Judging guitars by country of origin is obviously very stupid, but in the name of sounding stupid, I’d take something Japanese made over American made every time 👌🏽
Have to say the Tokai japanese factory haven't missed in the ones that I've tried before!
it does not sound better, its just sound different.
American sounds way better
So nobody is gonna talk about the vietnamese-hunting-machete sized knife that you used to open the boxes? 😳
It's just tape 😳🤣
That didn’t happen
@@alanohagan6999 2:41
It’s typical John 😂
Why are we comparing a $2,000 strat to a $650 one and going "yeah you can go with either one it's just a matter of preference"
Like nooooooo way in hell is spending 3 times as much money for no reason my preference
7 Tokai’s and counting. I wouldn’t touch a Fender. It does seem that someone has fiddled with the pick-up heights, as this is not the way they leave the factory. It’s as if someone was trying to get the lowest action possible. Also love the extra punch on clean.
Wouldn’t touch a fender but you’ll play something exactly like it? 🙄
@@davedraws76 not quite.
If you play so delicately sweet things, it makes all comparisons between quite similar instruments very pointless. ;)
Tokai sound more clearly twag