Alexplorer's Axe Hacks: Tokai Precision Bass copy

Tokai Precision Bass copy

Let's say you traveled through time to the day before I bought this bass. Let's say you gave me a line-up of a million basses and gave me a million guesses. This would have been the last one I would have said I would have ended up with.

When I picked this one up, I had literally been actively looking for a bass for about six months or more. On that particular day, I went to a local music store to get an amp, believe it or not. I already had the Curbow. I was trying out different amps with different basses, but I kept coming back to this one.

I have discussed elsewhere on this site how there are three aspects of any instrument: Its aesthetics, its playability, and its sound. I'll address these one at a time for this bass...

Aesthetics: It's just a copy of a standard Fender Precision bass, and a none-too-attractive one at that. It has a front-mounted jack (something I hate), a rosewood fretboard with dot inlays (worst possible combination of all possible options), and the original white plastic pickguard has been replaced with a gold-colored aluminum plate instead that has holes for a block that isn't even there. The logo is a joke; Tokai used to style their name to look like Fender's traditional logo until an inevitable threat from the former's lawyers dissuaded them. In short: At best, it's a bad knock-off of a boring bass, only they've taken to into the realm of ugly..

Playability: This is where it gets good. Like I said, I've played a lot of basses, but this one was just super fast. I was playing runs as fast as I normally do on guitar (an instrument I am much more familiar with). It all felt very, very natural and yet the bass felt substantial in my hands. It is realtively heavy, but hitting the notes felt like swinging a baseball bat and connecting with the ball. It was (and is) powerful.

Sound: Even though this is an incredibly stripped-down instrument (i.e., one pickup, one vol, one tone knob), it has a killer tone. Many basses out there just sound too thin no matter what you try with the EQ. This one blew all the others I played away, and this was with multiple side-by-side tests with a series of amps.

At the end of the day, I not only bought an amp (a Peavey BAM 210 Bass Amp) but this bass as well. It may look like a laughing stock (I mean, come on! Tokai?!), but it really is a great player.

(future) Modification: Pick up another pickup

I wouldn't mind adding a second pickup here. Many basses in the Precision mold have an additional pickup between the bridge and the edge of the pickguard.

(future) Modification: Switching?

With two pickups, it would be possible to add series/parallel switching and/or a phase switch. Though I didn't set out to do this, all three of my current basses are single pickup models, so this remains and under-explored (and therefore tempting) realm for me.

(future) Non-Electronic Modification: Jacked-over.

If I added a second pickup, that would almost certainly necessitate adding an additional pot for purposes discusses above. I would then move the jack over to the side of the bass where (in my opinion) it rightly belongs.

(future) Non-Electronic Modification: Pickguard

At the time I bought this bass, I had the seller throw in a white plastic pickguard that looked like it would fit this bass. As it turned out, it didn't quite fit. The pickup didn't line up perfectly, so I needed to do a bit of trimming on it. However, I play this bass so often, that I've never put it out of commission for long enough to do the minor adjusting I need to get it in place. Maybe I'm just a bit superstitious that I'd affect the sound? Possibly. Really, I'm just lazy.

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