Help indetifying and dating a lefty with modified decal neck

[Mike Burley]

Thats a little dissappointing if it is a springy, although nothing to get worked up about, still a lovely guitar.

Dont have a picture of the neck stamp, seam to remember taking it off at some point and finding something that didnt help much although i can do that tomorow if i remember and get a pic up.

Any idea on value all things considered?

 

[Anonymous]

Thats a little dissappointing if it is a springy

Why?

 

[jacco]

I think value depends much on if the neck is original

 

[Anonymous]

It's very hard to give a value for something that's been Fenderised - to Fender fans it's a fake, to Tokai fans it's hard to identify due to the missing identifying features.

And, right now, prices are low due to fears about the recession - NOT a good time to sell a guitar.

 

[Mike Burley]

stratman, thats my exact problem, people tend to either want a tokai or a fender, not a fenderised tokai. but as jacco said, i believe the value is primarily in the neck.

As far as the springy comment, i didnt mean to offend, i was just under the impression that the goldstar is more highly looked upon. it doesnt change how i feel about it, but rather potential buyers. if i am wrong though, do tell me.

you are right about the financial recesion stuff so may be better to hold on to it.

i have uploaded some pics of neck stamp pics, which appear to say "i2 5" on the neck, and like a with i above it and a red X in the body space.

Any insight into what this means would be appreciated.

 

[Anonymous]

Springys tend to sell for more as they are older, they have the cooler decal (irrelevant in your case), & some people assume (wrongly) that they are better. They're basically the same.

2 = 5 looks like a fairly typical Tokai neck code, so it's very probably a Tokai neck. Does the 2 = 5 code also appear on the body? It's hard to tell from the pics.

As for what those codes mean, there are various theories, but none of them really tell you anything much about your guitar.

 

[Mike Burley]

Ah thanks for putting me straight regards springy vs goldstar, i guess my dissapointment was misplaced. Also very pleased to here the neck is probably a tokai neck. Couldnt see a 2=5 anywhere on body. Is there a perticular place i could look for this? Or does this probably the body isnt original.

Do you ever find VI on springy pickups or could it mean different bits have been sourced from different guitars?

 

[AlanN]

I wouldn't worry about the body...

http://s775.photobucket.com/albums/yy38/MikeBurley/MB%20Guitar/?action=view&current=Picture016.jpg

Clear 9 = ? on this pic (under the Z 88 or BB Z). It's been hacked about a little but looks legit to me.

Edit: the body/neck codes don't match more often than not, by the way, so don't worry about that.

 

[Anonymous]

I can see an = 5 in this one

http://s775.photobucket.com/albums/yy38/MikeBurley/MB%20Guitar/?action=view&current=Picture016.jpg#!oZZ7QQcurrentZZhttp%3A%2F%2Fs775.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fyy38%2FMikeBurley%2FMB%2520Guitar%2F%3Faction%3Dview%26current%3DPicture015.jpg%26

It looks like the rest of the code is under the paint.

I'm pretty sure that the VIs didn't appear till '84 as quite a few Goldstars have Us. Assuming that they used up all the Us then moved to the VIs, that means that Goldstars with Us are the earlier ones. But maybe it wasn't as simple as that, it's hard to be sure with Tokai.

 

[Mike Burley]

Oh yes i see the =5, which is good. Does this mean the body and neck are original and its a springy, any idea how old it might be? dont mind how specific you are, i realise its hard to pin point the date.

 

[Anonymous]

Oh yes i see the =5, which is good. Does this mean the body and neck are original and its a springy, any idea how old it might be? dont mind how specific you are, i realise its hard to pin point the date.

I wouldn't want to say any more than it's a Tokai - either a late Springy or (more likely) a Goldstar. Anything more than that would be speculation, IMHO. It's virtually impossible to date Goldstars, even with the clues that the original details give us - without them, it's guesswork.

 

[AlanN]

Ah, now it's my turn to read it from the wrong angle

= 5 it is!

Edit: it'll be BB Z too - BB being the colour code for black if you wanted further confirmation that the finish is original (not that it's likely to be anything else with the codes masked off like that!).

 

[Mike Burley]

Thanks for all the help you guys have given me here, i wouldnt be anywhere without it, so much apreciated.

/thread i guess