Tokai

Tokai Gakki
Tokai Gakki Co. Ltd. were founded by Tadayouki Adachi in 1947 in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan, as a piano maker.

Tokai Gakki entered the Japanese boom in chordophone making in 1965 with acoustic Guitars and in 1968 electric Guitars branded Humming Bird. As well as their own brands they did do OEM work for a number of US Distributors and were one of the first Japanese makers to form partnerships with US makers to supply clearly labeled less prestigious instruments for them. In one of these deals in the mid '70's Tokai made Sigma Guitars, Mandolins and Ukuleles for Martin. When the partnership with Martin ended they continued to make the Guitars but now under their own Cats Eyes brand and in 2014 they introduced Cats Eyes Ukuleles to the range.

They have also begun manufacturing Ukuleles under their own name, but these are being made in China not Japan