Guitars Of Japan

In 1977 Yamaha introduced an entirely new version of their venerable SA line of acoustic electric guitars. These were called 'Super Axe' as seen on the headstock of some models, but what makes them really special is that these were the first Yamaha's to closely emulate the ES-335, which all SA's since have followed. Prior to this only two models were actually semi-hollow body, and while...

If you’re looking for a late 70’s Strat then you probably can’t do better than a Tokai SS-80. Why? Just look at the factory specs - Nitrocellulose Lacquer Finish, one-piece Sen body, Rock Maple neck, Dimarzio FS-1 pickups, Schaller style tuners, brass nut and brass keyhole saddles Tokai called the ‘Long Sustain Bridge’. This model was not only made to compete heads up with the real thing at...

Navigator is ESP’s premier brand for traditional style guitars and was the original brand name ESP began selling guitars under in 1976. As early as 1980 the Navigator brand was marketed as being all hand made which they still emphasize through to today and are still only made in Japan. Quality is consistently high at custom shop level or above. The NLP 280 was a model Navigator offered for...

Full Custom Order Navigator Strat heavy relic, made at ESP Technical House going for a heavily aged late 60's model with big headstock and four bolt neck, even has a laminated maple board. The aging done on it by ESP shows wear and checking all over the guitar, even the locking straps are aged. Bridge is Raw Vintage and pickups are Suhr ML-CL with CTS pots. I believe the guitar is all...

Very rare Tokai LC-100 BB, Black Beauty Custom. This was the top model LP Custom from Tokai during the golden age of vintage Made in Japan guitars. As a top model the guitar features an Ebony fretboard with Mother of Pearl block inlays, waffle back tuners, fret edge binding, an all Mahogany body, and gorgeous jet black Nitro lacquer Finish. The body has 7-ply binding on the top and 5-ply...

If you’re looking for a late 70’s Strat then you probably can’t do better than a Tokai SS-80. Why? Just look at the factory specs - Nitrocellulose Lacquer Finish, one-piece Sen body, Rock Maple neck, Dimarzio FS-1 pickups, Schaller style tuners, brass nut and brass keyhole saddles Tokai called the ‘Long Sustain Bridge’. This model was not only made to compete heads up with the real thing at...

In 1981 Tokai introduced a new ES line of semi hollow body models built to be as close to the original ES-335’s as they were able to. To accomplish this, Tokai closely studied original ES-335’s made from 1959 to 1964, characterizing their research as ‘exhaustive’. The result of this work was the introduction of two new models, the ES-100 and ES-150, each of which came in two versions. This...