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edwoodski

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Hey guys,

I decided to do this post, because I've heard from other people on this forum, that it's better for everyone if we get a look, and as much insight into as many Tokais a possible.... So here's mine.

I had put a couple of pictures up a while back, but I've "tried" to take some better ones.

I don't know much about this guitar, date wise, pick up wise, all I know is it's the sweetest guitar I've ever played. Any extra info on this guitar would be great.

All the best

Ed

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colinhotrod said:
gorgeous guitar mate, no nothing about breezys though, think its possibly a higher spec one.

Quite possibly. It does sound super fat through an amp. Really aggressive on the bridge pick up when distorted, and when clean, the neck pick up sings.

Thanks mate
 
There's bound to a Breezysound expert along in a mo', but in the meantime you could always head over to the registry or ? better still ? the history page that Togps put together. If you scroll down you'll find three solid pages of Breezysound info.

Not so sure that it's a higher spec one, myself. Think some of those had abalone binding and that sort of thing.

Don't suppose there's a sticker on the heel of the neck, by any chance?
 
No, I'm gutted! The guy before me must have pulled off the sticker.

I had a read on that history page, it's very interesting. I don't know what finish mine would be.... metallic blue or maybe blue flower...

I might get the scratch plate off and have a look...
 
BlueThird said:
Pretty sure that one would be the metallic blue, which points toward it being an 80.

Does it? I don't think it does!

The colour code might be under the control plate, so it's worth unscrewing that. Some Breezys don't seem to have colour codes on them though. Tokai did two metallic blues, MB - Metallic Blue - which I think was the darker of the two, & LB - Tokai's version of Lake Placid Blue, a Cadillac colour used by Fender from the late 50s onwards. My guess is that this one is LB. You don't see many Breezys in blue.

In the absence of anything that confirms it's a higher model, I would assume it's a TE50. The decal means it's post 1984, though it's hard to be more precise than that. Nice colour.

Mike
 
Points. Not conclusively proves.

I've got a lot of time for Togps history ? it pulls lots of the salient details together in one place, goes into them in a fair amount of depth, and against the relatively small part of the story that I know from personal experience, seems pretty **** accurate.

So when it implies ( via the table on page 8 ) that the metallic blue was only available on a TE80?
 
BlueThird said:
Points. Not conclusively proves.

I've got a lot of time for Togps history ? it pulls lots of the salient details together in one place, goes into them in a fair amount of depth, and against the relatively small part of the story that I know from personal experience, seems pretty **** accurate.

So when it implies (via the table on page 8) that the metallic blue was only available on a TE80?

As far as I know, those pages are from Peter Mac's long awaited book, so that is a reliable source. But the "model breakdown" page seems to assume that models & their colours stayed the same over the life of the Breezy, & we know that isn't the case. The colours offered varied from year to year.

For example, in the 1985 catalogue (i.e. the right era for this guitar) the TE80 is offered only in blonde.

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And on the second page where it lists the colours available, there is no mention of Pearl Pink as an available finish, yet we have seen a Goldstar from 1984/85 in that colour. So I think the pages from the Peter Mac book are potentially misleading with regard to colours.

You can't reliably identify one of the Tokai Fender clones by it's colour alone, it's the different specs that determine the model number. If it's a TE80, it will have a nitro finish, anything lower than that will be poly. An acetone test should establish that? And if it's a TE80 it should be ash, & probably a 2 piece body - a lower model is more likely to be alder with a 3 piece body.
 
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MB Z it looks like to me. The part printed before it seems to have faded quite a bit.

Does this help narrow it down? Post '85 in metallic blue?

I'm not too familiar with T50s T80s etc.... and their differences.

Ed
 
edwoodski said:
Does this help narrow it down? Post '85 in metallic blue?

I'm not too familiar with T50s T80s etc.... and their differences.

Ed

Oh well I was wrong about the colour! It's not LB, it's MB. I'm not sure if we've ever identified what the Z means, sometimes it's an X or other letters.

So it's a post 1984 MB Breezy. Can you tell how many pieces make up the body? Can you tell if it's ash or alder from the neck cavity? Is it nitro or poly? My money's still on it being a TE50, not that it makes a huge difference really.
 
edwoodski said:
Is there any way I could find out what finish this has? Nitro or poly, as in something to look out for?

Ed

Acetone will disolve nitro, not poly. So do the test somewhere out of sight like the control cavity.
 
I just double checked on the history page BlueThird recommended, and it seems to say that MB was only available for a TE80 model. Although there a possibilities this could have been a custom order or something along those lines maybe, but the evidence seems to point to an 80.

Aside from acetone, is there any other tests or points about this guitar is should be looking out for in order to identify it?

I wouldn't really know how to tell how many pieces of wood make up this guitar, I'm not expert, and to me it just looks like the neck and body.

Thanks for all your input guys

Ed
 
edwoodski said:
I just double checked on the history page BlueThird recommended, and it seems to say that MB was only available for a TE80 model. Although there a possibilities this could have been a custom order or something along those lines maybe, but the evidence seems to point to an 80.

I answered that point above!
 
edwoodski said:
That you did.

Ps I didnt get my SilverStar from ebay in the end. Silver Stars have a bit of a bad rap apparently.

Bad rap from whom? Have you read this article?

http://www.tokairegistry.com/tokai-info/Andrew%20Munro%20Article-July2008.pdf
 
The silver star featured looks very much like the one you own.

I've skimmed on this forum, and it has been suggested that silver stars were bottom of the line models? Im not a snob in that respect at all. Im a sucker for the large headstock, and i played a friends 75' strat and it plays like a dream, so i can only imagine what a Tokai SS plays like...
 
There are other clues that might help get you towards something at least slightly more definite. Any indication what pickups you've got? Chrome versus nickel plating on the metalwork can offer some help, though it's obviously not the easiest one to work with. Bridges, too. 'Final Prospec' says something, but you'll need someone else to tell you exactly what it is. Mike?

The thing to remember in all of this ? or one of the things ??is that details that can't be changed as easily are more reliable. Like wood. With the number of pieces used for the body, the easiest place to spot a join is generally going to be in the pickup cavities (since at the very least there's less finish there). If it's a two-piece body there would be a seam straight down the middle. If you're sure there isn't one there, then it's going to be either a one or three piece back. You can try looking across the back (under as many different light sources as possible) to see if there are any dead straight lines where you might expect there to be a seam, but Tokai joins aren't always easy to spot. It's the sort of thing where if you see one, you'll know. But if you don't, well?
 
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