1979 ST-80 unstamped pickups

Tokai Forum

Help Support Tokai Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

madcat

Active member
Joined
Sep 7, 2009
Messages
34
Reaction score
0
Location
Switzerland
HI All,

Any idea of what kind of pickups are in my Springy ST-80 ?

st80.jpg


Thanks for your help.
Regards
Chris
 
Hi Chris
The back of your pickguard has a B stamp, which is usually found on pickguards with U stamped pickups.
Maybe the pickguard was changed, maybe not, maybe sometimes ST-80 also have those parts? whether U or E stamped, not sure, it would likely be the difference to your ears or a kOhms reading, E would likely be around 5.7kOhms? and U would likely be around 6.0kOhms?
But that is not conclusive anyway.
There is little difference between the two, but, the major difference is that Tokai ST-80 had the E stamped pickups which were more Vintage Sounding, that is how Tokai marketed them.

The hardware parts on your ST-80 are Nickel or Chrome? such as backplate, and jack plate?
regards,
Mick
 
I had a Fernandes ST once with these....it makes you guess that they & the Tokai pups were made at the same place perhaps ?
 
My black Goldstar has unstamped pickups that I'm pretty sure are Us. It's good to know that Tokai forgot to stamp a few of them! Maybe they ran out of ink?

Mike
 
Thank's for your reply, the pickups measure :

neck 6,2 k ohms
mid 6.2 k ohms
bridge 6.3 k ohms

That's very close to the 1964 fender strat pickups spec !
found here : http://www.provide.net/~cfh/pickups.html

Does anyone had a chance to compare a tokai to an old fender strat ?
 
Those measurements sound like Us. But an ST80 should have Es. How do you know it's an ST80?
 
stratman323 said:
Those measurements sound like Us. But an ST80 should have Es. How do you know it's an ST80?

Yes, very U readings...
I did see the ST-80 in the neck pocket?, but, I was thinking this guitar might be mixed in parts? That is why i asked if the hardware parts such as backplate and jack plate were nickel or chrome, if chrome then ST-50 ST-60 and if nickel, then yes, ST-80, if chrome I was going to ask more about if V neck or nitro finish. Becasue of B stamp on back of pickguard, but then, anything is always possible with Tokai as is proven here over and over, but A stamp is the norm for ST-80
Beautiful Sen wood by the way :p

edit- or does it read ST-60? (I can't quite read it clearly)

regards, Mick
 
I know it's an ST-80 because

- I can read ST-80 on the neck pocket
- "80" is engraved on the neck
- The finish is Nitro
- The neck profile is a V
- Body is Sen wood
- 2 pieces body
 
madcat said:
I know it's an ST-80 because

- I can read ST-80 on the neck pocket
- "80" is engraved on the neck
- The finish is Nitro
- The neck profile is a V
- Body is Sen wood
- 2 pieces body

Ok, 8) , thanks Chris, you have really nice Tokai Springy ST-80, including the ST-100 :p
regards, Mick
 
Thank you for all your input, I can now tell that my ST-80 is not original. The pickups, the pickguard and the bridge are from an ST-60.

Koiz guitar never told me the ST-80 is not original and I was confident.
if you consider the high price I paid for a non original tokai. I can tell you, i' not happy at all with this seller.

I contacted koiz about that and I'm waiting his answer.

Will keep you updated
 
Hmmm...On my pink Strat, one of the pickups is stamped E and the other two are not stamped. But the assembly is untouched.
 
I know how you feel madcat. I bought my ST60 from former forum member dongrosh, in Germany. I bought it in the belief that it was an ST80, in fact my e.mails were all headed ST80. However it turned out to be an ST60, & as I paid ?750 for it a couple of years ago, I paid well over the top.

:evil:

Mike
 
Beware!
I bought a LS320 from Koiz.
The weight was unbelievable heavy with 4.6kg!!! Unacceptable for Tokais high-end flagship
He doesn't mentioned that in his description and refused any compensation.
Shame!!
After our dispute he published my name in his blog section of his website: Beware of this customer?
 
over time, I have purchased a few from Sat; about a half dozen or so, I believe

they have all been fairly rare, and most were a bit pricey

one of the nicest was quite reasonable in price, and likely the rarest of the ones I purchased

one was a pound heavier than stated, which was a huge bummer; I sold it

one had bent pot shafts, which I received an estimate to repair, and Sat reimbursed me the cost estimate

I wouild buy from Sat again but ALWAYS ask every question you think you need to ask, before buying :wink:
 
MIJvintage said:
....
I wouild buy from Sat again but ALWAYS ask every question you think you need to ask, before buying :wink:

There's the key, ask first. It's difficult to seek compensation for a guitar that's heavier than you expected if you didn't ask the weight up-front.
 
JohnA said:
MIJvintage said:
....
I wouild buy from Sat again but ALWAYS ask every question you think you need to ask, before buying :wink:

There's the key, ask first. It's difficult to seek compensation for a guitar that's heavier than you expected if you didn't ask the weight up-front.

I hate to add in that I agree with the guys, but there is also the Japanese plus gaijin dimension to take into account! :D This makes it even more important to ask questions, as a Japanese person will often just not answer at all when they don't want to reveal the answer, which leaves you no choice but to walk away from the deal. Also, when you get answers to SOME of what you asked, you have to get further clarification and not assume. I tell ya, some of the stuff I was told and wasn't told when I was searching hard on Rinkya recently... :-?

Although it doesn't seem that any of this advice would have helped with the ST-80 deal - is it possible that Sat didn't know about the changes?
 

Latest posts

Back
Top