Tokai Hardpuncher

[bigal66]

Hi,can anyone give me any feedback on a Tokai Hardpuncher APB-40 bass? Its the cheaper (£250) Chinese make.Im interested in getting one and have heard good things about the Japanese Hardpunchers,but havent heard much on the cheaper,chinese version.Any help appreciated.Thanks.

[Cygnus x-1]

I had until recently a Jap hardpuncher and IMHO it was as good as a good Fender precision, I sold it as I had too many basses and had to move on a bass.

My local store had some cheaper (£250) Tokai jazzes about 9 months ago and their opinion was that some were good, some not so good, so the bad ones were sent back. I was talking to the shop owner a couple of weeks ago and he said he'd got in a consignment of £250 Tokai Strats and Tele's and he told me they were very, very good and a steel at the money. So I would think with a good trial, a good £250 hardpuncher shouldn't be hard to find.

Nick.

[Cygnus x-1]

....just noticed, you've only joined tonite, so welcome to the forum, bigal.

[One Drop]

On the other hand, you can find the old Japanese ones easily on ebay, they are a bit more expensive but they hold resale value if you want to sell down the line.
You get the benefit of the nicer Fender style headstock, and they are truly great basses.

I own 3 (well, 2 now, I just gave one to our drummer as a birthday present. You've got to love a drummer who also wants to learn some bass) and I gig them constantly.

[Lee-7]

Hi Folks,

I too have an early Tokai Hardpuncher Bass, it is a 1979/80 in 3 tone sunburst, black scatchplate with a birdseye maple neck, I have also fitted a chrome bridge and pick-up covers.

An excellent guitar to look at and play, tune it once and forget about it. I was using Elixir 45/105 gauge strings but at the moment I have some Sandberg strings on as I got 4 packs for £40 off a pal of mine, seem ok.

I don't profess to be a bass player as I have always played rhythm & lead guitar up untill I joined a band about 2 yrs ago and who's bass player was a bit hopless to say the least, I ended up going on bass and drafting a pal of mine in to go on lead. Been an interesting couple of yrs.

Lee

P.s In my humble opinion I would go for an early Jap Hardpuncher as you wont lose any money on it, it will only ever increase in value as time goes by.

[waldemar]

[quote name='Lee-7' post='947806' date='Sep 6 2010, 11:39 PM']P.s In my humble opinion I would go for an early Jap Hardpuncher as you wont lose any money on it, it will only ever increase in value as time goes by. [/quote]

+1 on that. In fact, since buying my Fernandes '83(?) re-issue of a '57P for £100 - [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=70330&hl=the+revival"]The Revival[/url] - I'd look seriously at any early '80's Japanese copies. I liked it from the start and it's growing on me day by day. Granted, I've spent a bit on it since, but that one-piece neck does it for me - it's a pleasure to look at, as well as to use!

I've been looking out for a Hard Puncher (on and off) for a while - but I've found that they're not as cheap and plentiful as you might imagine. There's one here:

[url="http://www.guitarsjapan.com/Bass_Guitar_Archive.html"]http://www.guitarsjapan.com/Bass_Guitar_Archive.html[/url]

...but the price is already pretty steep, maybe verging on hopeful..!

If you find one at a good price - get it. If you find two, give me a shout!

Edited September 7, 2010 by waldemar

[Lee-7]

Just had a look at that website and all the guitars on there seem pretty steep on the prices.

If you keep your eyes open one will turn up at handy money, I recently sold a 1977 Fender Precision, apart from having a rosewood neck it was identical to my Hardpuncher, I couldn't tell any difference in sound when I used them side by side at rehearsals one evening.

I sold it on eBay for £885.00.

Lee