Late 1960’s and early 1970’s Tokai guitars are very well crafted instruments. Eventually they drifted into the more profitable Les Paul copies and developed a great reputation – which probably sparked the lawsuits from that era. However, before that, they were making some crazy guitars, and perhaps the Hummingbird was one of the craziest.
In all my years of scowering ebay and the inetner I can only remember seeing 3 or 4 of these. This one in a pearl white is quite rare. It is in near mint condition, and all original parts, great neck, a fine player. Check out these photos:
Vintage 1967 TOKIA Hummingbird Electric Guitar (White)
Vintage 1967 TOKIA Hummingbird Electric Guitar (White)
Vintage 1967 TOKIA Hummingbird Electric Guitar (White)
Vintage 1967 TOKIA Hummingbird Electric Guitar (White)
Vintage 1967 TOKIA Hummingbird Electric Guitar (White)
Vintage 1967 TOKIA Hummingbird Electric Guitar (White)
The Tokai Hummingbird was abviously inspired by the 60’s Mosrite guitars – exagerated double cutaway and angled P-90’s with a tremolo – but it had a “normal” strat style neck profile, not the super skinny Mosrite neck. Back in 2005 we made an Eastwood re-issue of this guitar and like the original, it did not sell too well. Yes, it was a cool guitar, got a little traction in the surf guitar crowd, but in the end we decided to discontinue it in 2009. So I was pleased to get my hands on this original last month.
What a beauty! I have the Eastwood re-issue, in black, and it’s up there with my favorites. Big, explosively bright sound without being clicky or screechy like cheap single coil pickups. It kicks a whole lot of ***. Shocked that it didn’t sell well, but then…people are stupid.
that is the most beautiful guitar i’ve ever seen great find indeed it has perfection in every aspect of a class guitar thanks for showing for masterpiece
I am so glad I stopped stalling and grabbed the Hummingbird demo model that was on here not all that long ago!
Of course, since this guitar is so clearly entrenched in the surf genre, I’ll be using it for alt-country. Just like my Iceman.
I have this exact original guitar if anyone is interested. You can contact me at sammorali@hotmail.com I am in Australia.
cheers
S
I wish to know how much is that guitar.
I have that guitar its broken and many rust
got an indigo eastwood hummingbird in 2007, i’m still in love with her,