New to the forum, so hello, and help me identify my Tokai!

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user 7238

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Hi there, long time lurker first time poster. Seems to be a lot of fellow Tokai fans here who really know their stuff, so I'm hoping to get some help on my much loved Springy Sound.

I know it's an '83 due to the block logo, but I don't much more than that, other than that it sounds lovely. I've had a good look around the forum, and have kept an eye on Tokai listings on eBay for a while, and have yet to see a Springy quite like this.

I bought it last year for very little money. It was in good solid shape, but had been neglected and was very mucky. It needed a lot of cleaning to get it looking like it does now, but I knew it was a genuine '83 Tokai by the block logo, and I knew it needed rescuing! I was concerned at the time it may have been refinished, but I'm satisfied it's original.

It's a very dark translucent green, one piece body to my eyes, with gold hardware. All seems to be original. 'Made in Japan' is stamped on the bridge block, 'Deluxe' on the tuners, and 'Tokai' is in the bridge saddles. Sadly, there are stickers on the neck heel.

It doesn't seem to have 'stamped' pickups as most Springy's do, but when I replaced the perished rubber tubes supporting the pickups recently I found 'Dimarzio USA' printed on the inside of the pickup covers. The pickups don't seem to buzz either like normal single coils.

Hope the photos display okay, and I look forward to any help you guys can offer. :D

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http://i800.photobucket.com/albums/yy284/into_the_stratosphere
[img]http://i800.photobucket.com/albums/yy284/into_the_stratosphere/IMG_7387.jpg
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assuming TG means translucent green any gold hardwear with 1 or 2 piece body could be ST100. Now the experts will comment. Would you like to feature it in the tokai book? See my thread under tokai guitars section[/u]
 
HELLO ARRON ,
Welcome to the world of tokai,WoW! Holy moses! You have put the cat in amongst the pigeons with that beautiful ST.

If i am correct the only tokai ST and dimarzios that came with gold hardware was a st-100,So if i am right you certainly picked up a bargain and a very rare tokai .But wait and see what the other more informed members reckon,There are a few who know everything about tokai strats and specs for model numbers.

I hope i am right !!!


MOJO HOBO
 
why do you believe it's a 1 pc. body?

I magged up the 1st pic, with the fuzzy looking pickup routes, took a look at the walls & it looks like it could be a 2 pc./center seam .......... looks like annual rings oriented in two different directions .......... but that is a fuzzy pic ........
 
Hi chaps, and thanks for the information so far.

The book sounds interesting, I'll have a full read of the thread tomorrow. Would love to be involved.

Like I say, to my eyes, it looks like a one piece body, but I'm far from an expert. I can't see any obvious sign of a join on the top of the guitar behind the bridge, and the grain is all going the same way across the body of the guitar.

I've only two piece guitars before, which have always had very obvious joins, but this one looks pretty solid, but like I say I'm no expert!
 
wow i never thought i would see a sister to my guitar. I have a goldstar identical to that. Im at work but the moment but search for tst100 and you will find my thread. Mines is slightly later than yours and is a 2 piece, its very hard to notice the join. Congrats, im really glad to find someone with basically the same guitar, yours looks a bit better nick than mine. I too picked up mine for buttons, whats the chances of that!
Colin.
 
Arron Tyler said:
Like I say, to my eyes, it looks like a one piece body, but I'm far from an expert. I can't see any obvious sign of a join on the top of the guitar behind the bridge, and the grain is all going the same way across the body of the guitar.

OK, so I see you are judging from the exterior/finished area of the body only, not from any normally unseen areas ................

I have some Fender style bodies that could likely also pass for 1 pc., just from casual observation but they are two & three piece .......

feel the excitement :lol: ..................
 
Some pics for comparison

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My thread http://www.tokaiforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=14474

Also good to see that you have the plastic covered wires like mine on the dimarzios, also Tokai stamped saddles suggesting that mine are original, not from an earlier springy as earlier in the thread on mine
Colin.

P.S you wouldnt like to donate your middle pup as someone has has changed mine to a U pup......................didn't think so
 
Both these guitars are obvious fakes and I wiil take them off their respective owners hands for about ?20 each. Gabe.
 
Wow, that could be my guitar's twin. Excellent to find another like it to confirm they were a production guitar, and that it's a not another model that's had another finish applied.

I don't think there's much in it condition wise, mine's got a few scars too.

Ironically when I bought the guitar I didn't think it would be worth the same as other Tokai's as it had the block logo, which I was always lead to believe was less popular that the script style logo.

I'm pleased the pickups are original, could anybody tell me a bit about these Dimarzio's?

Thanks for your continued interest in the guitar, it's good to know there's such an active and knowledgeable community for these fine guitars.
 
Arron Tyler said:
Excellent to find another like it to confirm they were a production guitar, and that it's a not another model that's had another finish applied.

Lovely guitar, wanna swap it for a pink one? :lol:

If you have the colour code stamped in the body like that, you can be pretty sure it's kosher & the finish is original. It would take a very dedicated faker to copy that.

It's been a good couple of weeks for nice Springys & Goldies showing up, hasn't it?

:D

Mike
 
Thanks again for the positive comments on the ST :D .

Anybody have any idea of ballpark value for insurance purposes? I'm the paranoid type. I've had a good poke around and as has been pointed out it the 100 seems like a rare one, and I can't find an actual figure.
 
Well the answer is it's worth what someone will pay for it, which isn't much help! For an insurance valuation, I would take advantage of the prices on villager's site & use what he charges as a ball park figure. He may not have anything quite like yours, but he usually has a few Sunburst ST80s - so add a percentage onto those prices to cover it's rarity.

Or subtract a percentage if you think the block decal makes it less valuable - it could go either way! :lol:
 

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