Newbie :) Confirmation of my Goldie - 84 TST-50?

Great site! - just spent several hours last night poring over the forum and then noticed it was 3am.....

Anyhoo - I bought my Goldie about 12 years ago in Edinburgh (Axis music run by Davy May if anyone remembers it?) after playing every strat he had in the shop for weeks and being unimpressed - I walked in one Saturday morning and Dave suggested this Tokai that had just come in - had to admit that I scoffed at the time - until I played it - sweet - bought it there and then (payed about ?400 if I remember) and has been my mainstay ever since. Unmodded except for changing the appalling (IMO) bridge pickup for an SD SSL-3 which i'm going to replace with an SSL-5 ive just bought, and a Brass nut added.


From what i can gather from my browsing on this site I have an 1984 TST-50 Goldstar Sound? Can anyone confirm/correct? I'm also unsure of the actual colour - it's quite yellowed - under the scratchplate the blue is quite vibrant - looks like a Fender Sonic Blue but not sure what Tokai say the colour is?

I played 13-54 gauge for years (after going through an SRV trip) and they've taken their toll on the frets - anyone recommend a Luthier in Middlesex/London and do you reckon it needs a refret or could they be dressed? Doesnt really affect playability as I still play with a fairly high action although these days my fingers cant handle 13's and I play usually 10/11's.

Not interested in pricing it as I cant really foresee the day I would let it go - this one's a keeper

Slainte!
Graeme

Welcome to you and your rather nice Goldie.

The colour code looks like SO? Tokai called that Sonic Blue, but they were wrong! In many ways it's closer to Daphne Blue, & it tends to fade to something between Sea Foam Green & Surf Green. Here's mine.




I agree with you that the pickups are the weakest bit of the guitar, specially the bridge pickup. And the Us are better than the later VIs! It's not possible to precisely date these Goldies as the serial number doesn't give a date of manufacture, but we do know that Us were used on Springys & early Goldies, then replaced by VIs and other pickups. So a Goldie with Us is likely to be an earlier one, probably from 1984, maybe 1985.

Glad to hear that you'll be keeping it and enjoying it. I can recommend a good guitar tech in Edmonton, North London, just off the North Circular - Malcolm @ MPH Guitars.

http://mphguitars.co.uk/

Tell him Mike sent you. He's worked on any of my guitars that have needed professional attention in the last few years. I have no reason to go anywhere else. He has stoned the frets of a few Tokais for me, & the ones that Malcolm has worked on are the ones that play best. Personally I would try to get those frets stoned, there should be a few more years of life left in them. But Malcolm will either stone them or re-fret it, as you wish. Let me know how you get on.

8)

Mike

I just noticed that the small line of writing on the headstock of yours says MADE IN JAPAN BY ROCK AND ROLL FANATICS. I think that was only on the very earliest Goldies - all of mine (7 ) say this:



I have a vague feeling that my first Strat - a Goldie I bought new in December 1983 - had the same writing as yours. But I don't think we have ever conclusively established when they changed the script, or why. But my money is on yours being an early one. So I'll stick my neck out & say that yours is one of the few Goldies that I can fairly sure is from 1984, because of the headstock writing.

Thanks for the info Mike, appreciate the response. I really like the look of yours with white controls rather than the faux aged ones that came on mine so I think I'll head down that route. That pic with your goldie against the Vibroverb is sweet - great combo - makes me wanna reach in and grab it to play

I'll look up MPH guitars and see what he reckons is best for the frets - my bank balance could do with it being stoned rather than a full refret!

So you've got 7 of these beauties? Lucky beggar! Any links to your full collection?

Next up I need to get another decent amp and get out gigging again - I had a nice Peavey 50 Classic that sounded killer with the Goldie so need to start scouring ebay

Rain Dog said:

Thanks for the info Mike, appreciate the response. I really like the look of yours with white controls rather than the faux aged ones that came on mine so I think I'll head down that route. That pic with your goldie against the Vibroverb is sweet - great combo - makes me wanna reach in and grab it to play

I'll look up MPH guitars and see what he reckons is best for the frets - my bank balance could do with it being stoned rather than a full refret!

So you've got 7 of these beauties? Lucky beggar! Any links to your full collection?

Next up I need to get another decent amp and get out gigging again - I had a nice Peavey 50 Classic that sounded killer with the Goldie so need to start scouring ebay

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Pics of mine? OK, here goes.

Olympic White & Sonic Blue



Metallic Red & Metallic Pink



Metallic Green (so dark it often looks black) & Sparkle Red



Natural



And I used to own this one in Gold Metallic (now sold to a mate)



Finally, here's a pic taken at our little gathering in Leeds last year - only the white one on the left is mine!



You can see that the Sonic Blue one is a similar colour to mine. Yours seems to have faded to a colour quite close to the real Sonic Blue - I think the colour of yours is nicer.

They won't be "faux aged" knobs on yours, the knobs Tokai used do tend to go a fair bit darker than the other plastic does. Here's a Metallic Green Goldie I sold a year or two ago that shows what I mean. This was bought from a guy who had owned it from new, so I'm confident that it was all original.

Some nice geetars there mate

Cool if the controls are original - shame that they fade differently to the other plastics though - will definitely change them and keep the originals in storage methinks.

I also think I'll replace the bridge as the saddles are pretty corroded - i'm more interested in playability than authenticity - will a gotoh/wilkinson strat trem fit? - are the string spacings the same as a strat?

Graeme

Rain Dog said:

I also think I'll replace the bridge as the saddles are pretty corroded - i'm more interested in playability than authenticity - will a gotoh/wilkinson strat trem fit? - are the string spacings the same as a strat?

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How do corroded saddles compromise playability? Leave it alone! If you must replace the saddles, leave the rest of the bridge - that's fine isn't it? But shiny new saddles are going to look pretty daft on a nicely aged 25 year old guitar.

stratman323 said:

Rain Dog said:

I also think I'll replace the bridge as the saddles are pretty corroded - i'm more interested in playability than authenticity - will a gotoh/wilkinson strat trem fit? - are the string spacings the same as a strat?

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How do corroded saddles compromise playability? Leave it alone! If you must replace the saddles, leave the rest of the bridge - that's fine isn't it? But shiny new saddles are going to look pretty daft on a nicely aged 25 year old guitar.

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Maybe the saddle height adjustment is stuffed - definitely replace them if they're not working.

Mike, not everybody cares what it looks like! I do care about looks as well, but never to the point where I can't get the guitar to perform at its best.

And new shiny saddles can be transformed into dull aged saddles with steel wool..

Sorry, I'm getting off topic here, but **** what a nice collection of Goldies there, stratman323. I've seen some of your ladies before, but gathered like this its pure porn.

And that sparkle one must be a real rarity, right? Cool as hell (if the expression is forgiven..). The natural one is also a fascinating beauty, but confuses me since RW-neck Goldies are supposed to be '64-models, if I've done my homework correctly. I might be completely out of the blue here, but I've always thought that natural finish was a typical 70:s thing?

Anyway, as a Goldie owner myself collections like theese are a real gem, especially since Springys usually draws attentions like this.

3rdstone said:

Sorry, I'm getting off topic here, but **** what a nice collection of Goldies there, stratman323. I've seen some of your ladies before, but gathered like this its pure porn.

And that sparkle one must be a real rarity, right? Cool as hell (if the expression is forgiven..). The natural one is also a fascinating beauty, but confuses me since RW-neck Goldies are supposed to be '64-models, if I've done my homework correctly. I might be completely out of the blue here, but I've always thought that natural finish was a typical 70:s thing?

Anyway, as a Goldie owner myself collections like theese are a real gem, especially since Springys usually draws attentions like this.

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Well if I had the money, I'd probably have a small collection of early 60s Strats & Teles. Since I don't, I'm happy with my Tokais.

I think the Red Sparkle & natural ones are probably the rarest, though Goldstars are really not "rare" in the UK - a lot were shipped over in the 80s, fortunately. Metallic Green & all the blues are relatively rare too, as is anything with a matching headstock. The Red Sparkle one looks quite dull in low light - a pic without flash can make it look nearly as black as the Metallic Green.

I should never have sold my mate the gold one - last time I borrowed it for a few days, I loved it.

"RW-neck Goldies are supposed to be '64-models, if I've done my homework correctly". Yes you have, & you're right, natural finish Strats were a 70s phenomenon, so it's not a great 60s copy. But maybe Leo missed a trick? Not that Fender were making many Strats with two piece ash bodies in the 60s.....

And you're also right - Springys traditionally get the attention that's usually denied to their younger sisters (which are every bit as good). But Goldies are appreciated on here, specially in the UK.

Over a month late - but anyway - thanks for the reply, stratman323. I guess you chaps in UK are quite lucky considering that it seems you were blessed with lots of Goldies like you mentioned. In Sweden Tokai axes were more rare in the 80:s, although the reputation of their quality started relatively early on.

..natural finish Strats were a 70s phenomenon, so it's not a great 60s copy. But maybe Leo missed a trick? Not that Fender were making many Strats with two piece ash bodies in the 60s.....

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Haha, that's right. Anyway, usually I tend to mostly like old Music Man basses when it comes to natural finish, but that specimen of yours was very nice.

Hi Raindog I`d stick my neck out even further than Mike and say you Goldie is amongst the first of the new logo in 83.The reason that your guitar says "built in japan" etc. is that they still hadn`t received the new 1 piece decal from the printers.Your logo if you examine it is made up of three separate pieces and is cobbled together from 3 different sources."Rock and Roll fanatics "etc, is a springy slogan,Goldstar sound was originally coupled with Tokai in block logo form. Even the "new"script logo I have seen on other Tokais (although I can`t remember which ones)prior to 82.Gabe.

Hi guys,
i would go so far as to say it is a late '83 based on the 'fanatics' logo also. Spaghetti Springys had 'exact replica', BLOCK Springy and Goldstar had the 'fanatics' logo and script Goldstars were 'quality' logo.
Yours is that in-between mixture that Tokai seemed to employ so much.
Serial number is correct for TST-55 SO ( 5 digit 1958) and the standard 'U' pickups instead of 'V' also put the age closer to Nov/Dec 1983.
A very nice guitar - congrats

Peter Mac

Thanks for all the extra info guys - appreciated

Following on from Stratman323's recommendation I did visit Malcolm at MPH and initially he stoned the frets (and did a great job) but they were just too low and making string bending a real chore - so it went back to him some months later and a full refret was had with Jumbo wire - he managed to do it all without disturbing the lacquer and at almost half the price I'd been quoted elsewhere.
Highly recommend Malcolm for setup and refret work and he also repaired an amp of mine so handy with a soldering iron too!

I've also been through a few set of pickup changes finally settling on a set of SD SSL-2's which have transformed the sound and really opened up the "vintage" aspect of this guitar - it's also the first time I've been happy with a single coil bridge pickup (although it's modded to use the mid tone control to be able to back off some highs if needed)

Shiny new frets;



New PUP's - well more like pic of the FatBoy aged pickup covers - nicely match the original controsl ageing;

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