Tokai ES-100
guitar
About the Tokai ES-100
From owners and sellersThe ES-100 is Tokai's 1981 copy of a 1959 Gibson ES-335, from the golden years when the models numbered 80 and above carried the right specifications, correct neck angle, nitrocellulose, and it came as the ES-100J and ES-100R. Three headstocks were used in 1981: the plain logo early in the year, the logo with a crown, and from mid-to-late 1981 the Gibson Artisan-style inlay (the banjo motif) that the 1982 catalogue shows on the 100 and 150 in both J and R forms. Owners date theirs 1981 almost without exception; several bought new in 1981 or 1983 and still have them. The serial sits on a sticker inside the body, readable through the f-hole, with an oval 100 sticker on the back of the headstock; serials beginning 101 are 1981. Replacement tuners need metric 6 mm posts, Gotoh SD90 fits the original inserts, imperial Klusons do not. The name continues on the modern ES line: ES120 in 2007, ES224 in 2022, ES201F in the 2024 catalogue.
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What owners have said elsewhere
Paraphrased, with no names and nothing quoted.
The 1981 ES-100 is on collectors' short lists of the most sought-after Tokais alongside the Les Paul Reborn and the ES-150: called the proper copy of a 1959 335 and the best 335-type going, an incredible gigging guitar, the best-sounding guitar its owner has, and one that has seen off numerous Gibsons, Grecos and modern Tokais; owners who bought new in 1981-83 still have theirs, and several collectors are looking for one. The dissent is slight: one collector finds the Artisan-style headstock and fingerboard inlays of late 1981 hideous, and another would change the pickups on every vintage Tokai, good as they are, because modern aftermarket sets are better.