1983 Tokai Talbo A80D

As many readers know, the Talbo’s body is made of cast aluminum,
with the hollow sections filled with expanding polyurethane foam.
The name Talbo itself comes from Tokai Aluminum Body.

Metal-bodied guitars had existed before, but from an acoustic engineering standpoint,
Tokai may have been the first to adopt metal as a body material and successfully release it as a mass-produced instrument.

Back when this guitar was on the market, I was actively playing in a band —
yet I never noticed its existence.
Despite the publicity surrounding its unusual aluminum construction,
the Talbo never really became mainstream.
Fortunately, its reputation has been rescued in recent years
thanks to several popular guitarists who have adopted it,
keeping it from fading into obscurity.

Like everyone else, I initially expected a harsh, metallic tone.
But when I actually played it, I was surprised:
there was no trace of metallic resonance at all.
Instead, it produced an exceptionally pure, clean sound,
with just a subtle clarity that reminds you the body is metal.
Although equipped with humbuckers,
it sustains a single-coil-like openness,
perhaps a unique sonic fingerprint of the aluminum body.

If I could ask for one thing,
I’d wish for a bit more rigidity in the two-bolt neck joint.

Weight: 3.87 kg (including strings)
(Updated August 27, 2016)