Tokai Cat's Eyes CE-600 Dreadnought Acoustic 1981
Tokai Cat's Eyes CE-600, made in Japan 1981. Cat's Eyes was the acoustic end of Tokai's operation, running alongside all those now collectable Fender and Gibson style electrics from the same era. Tokai was distributing Martin guitars within Japan at the time, and apparently had a licensing deal to use their designs for the Cats Eyes series... the later catalogs reference specific Martin guitars each CE model borrows from. This is a lovely dreadnought in the style of a Martin D-28, so it's got the traditional square shoulder shape and the classic spruce/rosewood tonewood combo. The top is a gorgeous piece of solid spruce, with extremely tight grain lines all the way to the bookmatched edges. The back and sides are laminated rosewood, and there's some really beautiful dark rich streaks on show there too. The tone is dry, warm and woody, with an expansive tuneful bass and a sweet top end. There's plenty of natural volume too, it really rings with gusto. This is a great example of vintage MIJ quality, it's a lovely piece.
Model: Tokai Cat's Eyes CE-600
Made: Japan, 1981
Serial: 1106179
Finish: Natural
Body: dreadnought style shape; solid spruce top, laminate rosewood back and sides
Neck: mahogany, rosewood fingerboard, dovetail joint, 25.5" scale, 15" radius
Weight: 2.080kg
Mods: none
Pickup: none
Accessories: basic vintage hard case
Cosmetic condition notes: minor finish wear. The headstock has some minor dimples on the end and back and some light scuffs on the edges and front. The neck is clean and smooth in the hands, minor dimples and some rub wear on the back only. The back has some dimples on the bottom corner and back edge and some scuffs near the neck join, in the middle of the body and on the elbow area. The sides have minor scuffs on both horns and the bottom corner as well as some dimples and rub wear in the elbow area. The front has some surface scratches around the bridge, scuffs in the elbow area and bottom corner and some play wear around the soundhole and on the guard.
Overall: very good condition (8/10)
Playing Condition Notes: Action is low, neck is straight, intonation is good. Setup with RotoSound Jumbo King 12/54 strings.
Fret Life: 7/10, minor wear but playing pretty evenly