Fenderized Tokai Breezysound

Tokai Forum

Help Support Tokai Forum:

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

Pukka-J

Member
Joined
Sep 22, 2012
Messages
13
Reaction score
0
Hi everyone,

my first post on this forum. I'm a regular on TDPRI, but since I am probably going to buy a Tokai Breezy tonight I supposed it would be a good idea to register here as well.

I have some questions regarding the guitar however. First some pics (in a link, unfortunately, since the dutch Craigslist, Marktplaats.nl does not permit the downloading of pictures): http://link.marktplaats.nl/597788612

As you can see it is a fenderized Breezy, supposedly from 1981, according to the seller. Fender neckplate, Fender decal and Fender bridge.
The seller still has the original Tokai bridge, so I will get that too. The neckplate may be gone.
I am from 1970 myself, but 1981 is the year in which I started playing guitar, so that's rather nice :D

It should be either a TE70 or TE80 if I'm right. Or a Te-50? Question: how can I know? And how would I know if it really is from 1981. And how can I distinguish Ash and Alder on this guitar?

I know these guitars are highly regarded. Is that also true for the electronics? I read that TE70 and 80 have custom dimarzio's or so?

Tnx in advance!
 
I noticed this one on Marktplaats too.
There's no way to date this guitar with this info other than looking at the neck; the 12 fret markers are too wide and the string tree is in the wrong position, an indication of a later model or a non original neck. If I were you I would like to see the Tokai code stamp on the butt of the neck and while you're at it the body stamp too. Blonde and sunburst finishes usually have sen ash bodies. It's either a 50 or an 80, 50 = multiple piece body, 80 = 1 piece.
 
Hi Jacco, thanks for the update!

Since it will be a player I will buy it if it feels and sound right, no matter what brand or year, but it still intigues me.

If bough I will certainly look at the body cavities and the butt of the neck.
Also the original bridge might give a clue (if it really is the original bridge, that is).
I believe a 50 has a 6 barrel bridge vs the 3 barrels of an 80?
 
TE50 pickups will also be stamped TEB on the bobbins.
Higher model pickups TE80 and above have TEA stamps.

There are also TE80s and above with six saddle bridges, but usually they have gold finish then. standard TE80 would be 3 saddle.
Chrome 6saddle = TE50 in your case :) Do a search on the forum or google for TE50 pictures, you?ll see what the bridge should look like
 
Great, thanks for the info. I'll get back on this and post pics of everything.
 
My TE80 (from 80 or 81) has a center seamed two-piece body...

I believe its nitro...checking has begun :p so check for that

Amazing guitar!
 
Ok, tonight I came home with the guitar. It looks, sounds and plays wonderful. The original neckplate was gone, but the original bridge is still here. It is a six saddle chrome bridge. That would make it a TE50 I guess?

I took off the neck and it said '10-7' on the butt. Don't know what that means though. There was also some Japanese sign that looks like a little stick man :D
I tried to peek in the neck pickup cavity, but the pickup screws were completely gone. I'll try to take them out with a pair of pliers and replace them with new screws.

The guitar has no routing from the neck cavity to the control cavity like my Baja has. I could almost do without the pick guard, were it not for the discoloration and the screw holes.

There is a stamp in the control cavity that says '7=9 BL' followed by a 'Z' (or an N).

The neck is a one piece maple neck that has some birds eye in it, very nice. It is rather chunky, but not as much as my Baja. I like it that way!

It sounds very smooth, the attack seems less clear compared to the Baja, but very nice and mellow. The bridge is bright and twangy,more tele-ish than the Baja :D

I'll post some pictures later this week.
 
Yes, TE50 then!
The BL in the cavity stands for blonde - so original colour
TE50 necks are nice but I think they are not chunky at all in the cowboy chord area!

Original pickups ?

waiting for pics :)
 
frederikb said:
My TE80 (from 80 or 81) has a center seamed two-piece body...

I believe its nitro...checking has begun :p so check for that

Amazing guitar!

Would love to see pics of that one too then!
 
So yesterday I picked up a 1981 Tokai Breezysound. It appears to be a TE50 model.
The seller knew the original owner and remembered when the guitar was bought. He states that the guitar is all original, except for the Fender parts.
He also remembers the original owner putting the new decal on, which he at the time found rather silly.

Fender neckplate, Fender bridge and Fender decal. The neck is one piece maple, very smooth, nice and chunky with some nice birds eye in it.
The body is lighter than my Baja and very resonant.

The previous owner installed a treble bleed that's quite extreme to my ears: when turning down the volume I don't lose highs alright, but I do lose body.

The neck pickup screws are hard to get out, I can't get a grip on them with my screwdriver, so I have to replace them.
Once I did that I can peak underneath the pickup and see what's there.
As for sound: the bridge is all you can expect from a tele, even more so than my Baja. The neck sounds mellow and has lower output. Once I replaced the screws I can tinker with the height a little.
We'll see, I might put some nice pickup in there (suggestions for a nice, warm sound?)

All in all the guitar is in nice condition for its age.

Here some pics:

tokai1.jpg


tokai2.jpg


tokai3.jpg


tokai4.jpg


tokai5.jpg


tokai6.jpg
 
Thanks B, very nice amp indeed, 1967 model, 17W, 6973 tubes, 2 x 10' Jensen speakers, similar set up like the 1624T Jimmy Page allegedly used.
 
i don't wanna pissing off the trade, sorry for this...
Jacco, have clean headroom 6973's with reverb off? i'm very courious...
 
So I took the bad screw out with a pair of pliers and replaced it with a new one. Both pups say TEB, so they are original. No stamp in the neck pickup cavity, but there is in the control plate cavity.

The bridge pup sounds great. The jury's still out on the neck pup.
How would a set of nocasters perform in this guitar?
 
Well, no, but they rarely do, don't they? If I understand correctly they represent the month and day of the month, so it appears my neck was made at oktober 7th 198? and the body 3 months earlier, at the 9th of july. Seems plausible.

I finnicked with the neck pickup height and got things more balanced. Also I changed a treble bleed mod that the previous owner installed and applied a parallel resistor. Now I don't lose as much bass and mid when I roll back the volume.
Before, things got terribly trebly if I did that.
I decided to keep the pups for now. Changing pups without knowing the guitar yet would be hit or miss and an expensive passtime at that! :D
And the pups certainly don't sound bad at all!

Someone commented on the incorrect location of the string tree. It appears that underneath the current Fender decal is another small hole (covered by the decal) which corresponds to the correct location for a maple neck TE50. Someone certainly went to great length to remove everything that reminded of a Tokai and make it look like a genuine fender :D
The 12th position dot markers do seem far apart, but I've seen other examples of that on early eighties Breezies.

If the guitar really is a 1981 remains hard to verify, but everything does seem to point to a 1981 or 1982.

Oh yeah: I got a 3-ply w-b-w scratchplate with it that I installed. Looks great!

I'll try and make some pictures of it later this afternoon...
 
Pukka-J said:
Well, no, but they rarely do, don't they? If I understand correctly they represent the month and day of the month, so it appears my neck was made at oktober 7th 198? and the body 3 months earlier, at the 9th of july. Seems plausible.

I finnicked with the neck pickup height and got things more balanced. Also I changed a treble bleed mod that the previous owner installed and applied a parallel resistor. Now I don't lose as much bass and mid when I roll back the volume.
Before, things got terribly trebly if I did that.
I decided to keep the pups for now. Changing pups without knowing the guitar yet would be hit or miss and an expensive passtime at that! :D
And the pups certainly don't sound bad at all!

Someone commented on the incorrect location of the string tree. It appears that underneath the current Fender decal is another small hole (covered by the decal) which corresponds to the correct location for a maple neck TE50. Someone certainly went to great length to remove everything that reminded of a Tokai and make it look like a genuine fender :D
The 12th position dot markers do seem far apart, but I've seen other examples of that on early eighties Breezies.

If the guitar really is a 1981 remains hard to verify, but everything does seem to point to a 1981 or 1982.

Oh yeah: I got a 3-ply w-b-w scratchplate with it that I installed. Looks great!

I'll try and make some pictures of it later this afternoon...

My point about the fret markers is that the wider variaty was introduced around 1983/84 as far as I know.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top