Tokai Jazz Sound.

trikelops

Just a query, someone up here is selling an 80s Tokai Jazz Sound that has been de-fretted and recently refinished, for 600 quid, extra if you want a case with it. My son has my one, which is one of the 'court case' models, and is practically unmarked and all original. What would his one be worth, I wonder? (he isn't selling it btw)

Musicwolf

trikelops said:

80s Tokai Jazz Sound that has been de-fretted

Snap

De-fretted a few years ago because I no longer needed it (I had a much better Ibanez) and nobody was interested in buying at that time.  Since then prices have gone a bit silly.

What is it worth?  Well less than the price of an Ibanez SR500 (which are £550 new), because the Ibanez is a much, much, better instrument.

What will people pay?  God knows, the world's gone mad when it comes to guitars of a certain period.

Funkfingers

The value of your son's Tokai bass will depend on whether it was defretted to begin with. 

In the mid Eighties, Tokai offered a Jaco Pastorius style bass. It came from the factory with filled fret slots and aged clay dot markers. The distinguishing features were domed metal control knobs and the absence of holes drilled for a pickguard. I cannot recall whether these had reverse gear tuners.

trikelops

Funkfingers said:

The value of your son's Tokai bass will depend on whether it was defretted to begin with. 

In the mid Eighties, Tokai offered a Jaco Pastorius style bass. It came from the factory with filled fret slots and aged clay dot markers. The distinguishing features were domed metal control knobs and the absence of holes drilled for a pickguard. I cannot recall whether these had reverse gear tuners.

His one hasn't been de-fretted, it is the one that is for sale. Not a pretty job either, may I say, looks like the fret slots have been filled with PVA glue or something else white.. Michael's one is entirely original, I think there is one small ding on the back. It is a sort of metallic blue with the tortoiseshell pickguard.

ICBM

I would say a badly defretted one isn't worth remotely £600, but these days who knows? 80s brands seem to be almost considered 'vintage' now, and some of the prices being asked for Squiers and Tokais would have bought a decent USA Fender not long ago. I don't know who is buying them, or why...

If it's a nice bass, keep it and don't worry about it.

ewal

My (fretted) 80's Tokai Jazz Sound is my oldest guitar by a distance. It's a nice bass but weirdly at some point I think it stopped sounding like a Jazz to me. Ive always wondered what replacement pickups might do to improve it - just don't use it enough to justifiy the cost.

Funkfingers

This December, I have been mostly enjoying a DiMarzio DP148 Ultra Jazz Bridge in a PJ Bass. Plenty of growl, loud enough to balance with an 11k Precision pickup … and no hum!

The matching Ultra Jazz Neck pickup number is DP147. For some reason, when sold as a pair, the product number becomes DP149BK or CR, depending on the plastic cover colour.

ICBM

Funkfingers said:

This December, I have been mostly enjoying a DiMarzio DP148 Ultra Jazz Bridge in a PJ Bass. Plenty of growl, loud enough to balance with an 11k Precision pickup … and no hum!

This is the only kind of Jazz pickup that makes any sense in a PJ. Otherwise, it's just a hum generator which makes the tone worse unless you turn it right off.

The Duncan Hot Stack Jazz is another candidate.

GuyR

Funkfingers said:

The value of your son's Tokai bass will depend on whether it was defretted to begin with. 

In the mid Eighties, Tokai offered a Jaco Pastorius style bass. It came from the factory with filled fret slots and aged clay dot markers. The distinguishing features were domed metal control knobs and the absence of holes drilled for a pickguard. I cannot recall whether these had reverse gear tuners.

I have one of those lurking on my bass rack. It’s a great bass, classic fretless sounds with plenty of mwahhh and lovely to play. Neck a bit chunkier than Fender JV contemporaries. IMO the pickups are the only weak point with these basses,
Bought mine yonks ago for £250. Would expect £600ish now, probably a similar price for a fretted one.
Refin/defretted would be not much more than half that I’d expect.
A couple of pictures;

https://i.imgur.com/o9AektQ.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/buV3u3t.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/OzYpuP4.jpg