I bought my son a Tokai Telecaster. It sounds great. My uncle(I'm part Japanese), will sometimes come to the states bearing gifts. Even the outlawed Fender and Gibsons. They even have Gibson and Fender on the headstock. Since that fiasco about 20 or so years ago, these companies, who were making guitars for these companies, started designing their own. Observe Fernandes, Ibanes etc. I some times send a guitar to luthiers in Japan and Korea. The same ones used my all the greats. Don't tell me you think they use off the rack guitars? At some point sending you guitar to someone who knows what they are doing can have an amzing effect on the guitars sound and your playing. I've discovered that playing the guitar through different amps causes me to play differntly and vis versa. You need to spend at least 30 minutes per amp/guitar but you will start to notice. Take whatever guitar you have and play it through 3 or 4 decent tube amps. They'll sound different but, your playing will be different.
Have Fun,
Steven
