Springy Sound confusion

Hi all,

I am new to Tokai instruments.

I have a question with respect to a 1981 Springy Sound I have. I seem to find pics in this forum of maple neck ST 50's with 8 screw, single plate pic guards and round string guides (ie: pre 1958 Strat copy) and others with 11 screw, 3 laminate plate pic guards and tree string guides (ie: post 1957 Strat copy), as I say, all with Maple necks. When I look at the catalogues however, it appears the ST 60 is a 1956 copy (single layer pic guard plate, 8 screw) and the ST 50 is a 1958 copy (triple layer pic guard and 11 screw).

Is this the case? or am I mistaken? The catalogue reproductions on the registry are difficult to discern so I may be wrong. I am looking at the 1982 catalogue. My guitar, from the serial, is a 1981 model.

Can anyone clear up this confusion for me please.

Thanks in advance.

Don't know if this helps but myy two 80's Springy's are both single ply pickguards with string trees:

81 ST60





80 ST80




My 78 ST60 is also single ply 8 hole pickguard but with a round string retainer:

On this page you'll find brochure pictures of the 54 and 64 model springys from the 81 catalogue.

http://brochures.yokochou.com/guitar-and-amp/tokai/1981/en_index.html


Dave

Where's Stratman323 when you need him?

Oh.

My personal theory of the Springy ? and you really should treat it as a theory rather than solid fact ? goes roughly like this.

They copied four different guitars (the 54, 58, 60 and 64) with the key differences very roughly as they were on the originals:

54 ? maple fingerboard, vee neck, round string retainer, single-ply scratchplate, eight screws
58 ??maple fingerboard, standard neck, string tree, single-ply scratchplate, eight screws
60 ? rosewood slab fingerboard, standard neck, string tree, three-ply scratchplate, 11 screws
64 ??rosewood veneer fingerboard, standard neck, string tree, three-ply scratchplate, 11 screws

Within that, they made each of them at a variety of price points ? ST50, ST60, ST80, ST100 etc. Where it gets confusing is with the fact that the three variants and the different price points weren't all made at the same times.

I'm fairly sure that I read in a reliable post/article that the 54 copy was only made in the more expensive models (perhaps because of the neck shape), and elsewhere that the slab board is fairly rare. But I really don't think that your idea of all ST50s representing one particular year and ST60s another year is right. It's probably just coincidence with the pics you've seen.

If what you're really wondering about is ways to tell whether you've got an ST50 or 60, it's going to come down to things like the wood, the pickups and the finish.

Personally I've only got one Springy, an ST80, which fits the 54 template perfectly. Hopefully Marcus can chip in with whether his three fit the pattern I've suggested.

Yup... my white one is dead on a 54

The rosewood ST80 has a soft V neck while the maple ST60 has more of a C profile.

Interestingly, both are two tone 50's sunbursts.... so that could make them 58's...... but did Fender produce the 58 in both maple and rosewood? And both in C and soft V profiles?

While Tokai has come very close to age related accuracy, there are still some anomalies between the ST models (ie 50, 60, 80, etc)

ST-80, 100 and 120 will have Vee profile on the back of the neck

All the above will have nitro paint

marcusnieman said:

..... but did Fender produce the 58 in both maple and rosewood? And both in C and soft V profiles?

Click to expand...

Fender began to use Rosewood "slab boards" in mid 59. Seems there were all sorts of neck produced and what's written is pretty confusing over the V neck. In 55-57 had either hard or soft spines. There is also a medium V. In 58 and 59 many necks were again rounder in back..........

Marcus, as far as I know Fender didn't make any V profile necks with rosewood boards.

John, I think they did, at least soft V, for a few years.

I know books can be wrong but I'm reading The Stratocaster Chronicles. Had it for ages but never read it before :lol:

Dave

What years Dave?

I'll try and summarise the info I've got which as stated is a bit vague in places and very detailed in others.....

As an aside I was amused to read that V necks were an accident! Fender had a new Purchase Manager in 73 who was talking about the V necks with some of the crew who had worked there through the 50s. He was talking about the V necks as though they were some sort of strategic design feature. After he left the room they disclosed the real story (in 57) which was that the guy who normally sanded the necks was away for a few days and the job was passed to someone who was unfamiliar with it. Next thing was a big meeting to discuss scrapping all of these necks (100s of them) that got sanded wrong. They never got any complaints about them. Apparently some of Leo Fenders favourite musicians played Epiphones with V necks which may also have been a factor in Fender's temporary shift to that design

The neck profile on Stratocasters showed a great deal of variation in the early years but Rosewood boards weren't introduced (as an improvement) until 59. The variations progressed from large rounded necks in 54 to a more point V (or boat neck) in 55-57. V necks had either soft or hard spines; the latter considered by some to be the later version. There is also a medium V. In 58 and 59 many necks (but not all) were again rounder in back. some were slimmer in front-to-back thickness; others returned to a bit of the V profile.

So it seems that V necks were never offered exclusively on maple necks and there was an overlap in production of Slab Boards and V necks on some guitars from 59 to 63. However, the book doesn't categorically state that Rosewood Boards were produced with V neck so as always I'm very happy to be proved wrong. :wink:

This fits with an old post I found last night from Peter Mac but unfortunately can't find it again.


Dave

Fabulous info