Homer J. Simpson
Well-known member
I recently stumbled upon a thread where somebody asked if his rosewood Springy shouldn't have a 3-ply, 11-hole pickguard. To be "period correct" it should, but I found out there were obviously little inaccuracies vanishing in a transition phase possibly lasting from 1979-80. The 1980 catalog Sigmania meticulously scanned, stitched together and translated in this thread is actually documenting that.
The 2 rosewood fretboard models shown have not only an 8-hole 1-ply pickguard (Fender changed to the 3-ply, 11-hole nitrate PGs in 1959, together with the change to rosewood fretboards) but also the round string retainer (which was gone by the second half of 1956).
So far so good (or bad, well, no big deal really) - Springys with these kind of "historically incorrect" details obviously existed until 1980. There are plenty of examples in the wild. Here's a 1978 ST-80:
https://reverb.com/item/28281099-tokai-springy-sound-st80-1978-stratocaster
Here's a 1979 ST-60:
https://reverb.com/item/70677554-tokai-springy-sound-st60-1979-sunburst
A 1979 ST-50:
https://reverb.com/uk/item/34394617-tokai-st-50-wht-r-springy-sound-1979
I hope you were expecting that it's getting weird at some point, we're talking Tokai after all.
Here we go: Here's a 1979 that makes it look like Tokai may have corrected that in 1979:
https://www.vintage-guitar.de/detailsvintage_4583.html
Whether the PG and the string tree have been changed on this one is hard to tell, but here's another example indicating that this may have gotten straightened out by 1980:
https://reverb.com/item/5629211-tokai-st-60-springy-sound-stratocaster-1980-1980-3-tone-sunburst
Actually, there is quite a number of 1980 rosewood Springys to be found which have the correct 3-ply PG but still the "button" retainer. But to shuffle things up even more, here's an 1980 ST-60 with the "button" and again, a 1-ply 8-hole PG:
https://reverb.com/item/53533029-tokai-st60-springy-sound-strat-1980-3-2kg
In summary, (I believe) today I learned that the "60s" rosewood models were often not 100% accurate in the early years and the (mind you, perceived through the internet) scarcity of guitars with the correct features in 1979 and '80 may indicate that they may or may not have been modified, so this might be something to look out for.
It seems only 1981 all the rosewood 60s replicas got the correct pickguard and string retainer. According to Fuzzfaced there actually was a very brief phase in June 1959 where 1-ply, 3-ply, 8, 10(!) and 11-hole pickguards went on Strats, so the "wrong" PG would still be accurate for this tiny time frame and if it bothers you, the wrong string tree is cheap and easy to swap for a "correct" part..
Also, it should be considered that most of the important books about vintage Fenders were not published until the mid-80s and later, and it was certainly much, much harder to line up things correctly in the complicated history of Stratocasters, and to reflect those in a replica. If they got that all correct by 1981, this is something to admire even more.
The 2 rosewood fretboard models shown have not only an 8-hole 1-ply pickguard (Fender changed to the 3-ply, 11-hole nitrate PGs in 1959, together with the change to rosewood fretboards) but also the round string retainer (which was gone by the second half of 1956).
So far so good (or bad, well, no big deal really) - Springys with these kind of "historically incorrect" details obviously existed until 1980. There are plenty of examples in the wild. Here's a 1978 ST-80:
https://reverb.com/item/28281099-tokai-springy-sound-st80-1978-stratocaster
Here's a 1979 ST-60:
https://reverb.com/item/70677554-tokai-springy-sound-st60-1979-sunburst
A 1979 ST-50:
https://reverb.com/uk/item/34394617-tokai-st-50-wht-r-springy-sound-1979
I hope you were expecting that it's getting weird at some point, we're talking Tokai after all.
Here we go: Here's a 1979 that makes it look like Tokai may have corrected that in 1979:https://www.vintage-guitar.de/detailsvintage_4583.html
Whether the PG and the string tree have been changed on this one is hard to tell, but here's another example indicating that this may have gotten straightened out by 1980:
https://reverb.com/item/5629211-tokai-st-60-springy-sound-stratocaster-1980-1980-3-tone-sunburst
Actually, there is quite a number of 1980 rosewood Springys to be found which have the correct 3-ply PG but still the "button" retainer. But to shuffle things up even more, here's an 1980 ST-60 with the "button" and again, a 1-ply 8-hole PG:
https://reverb.com/item/53533029-tokai-st60-springy-sound-strat-1980-3-2kg
In summary, (I believe) today I learned that the "60s" rosewood models were often not 100% accurate in the early years and the (mind you, perceived through the internet) scarcity of guitars with the correct features in 1979 and '80 may indicate that they may or may not have been modified, so this might be something to look out for.
It seems only 1981 all the rosewood 60s replicas got the correct pickguard and string retainer. According to Fuzzfaced there actually was a very brief phase in June 1959 where 1-ply, 3-ply, 8, 10(!) and 11-hole pickguards went on Strats, so the "wrong" PG would still be accurate for this tiny time frame and if it bothers you, the wrong string tree is cheap and easy to swap for a "correct" part.
.Also, it should be considered that most of the important books about vintage Fenders were not published until the mid-80s and later, and it was certainly much, much harder to line up things correctly in the complicated history of Stratocasters, and to reflect those in a replica. If they got that all correct by 1981, this is something to admire even more.
