Should I buy real 1975 Fender strat or Tokai Silver Star?

Hi /guys
first post here. longtime TGP member.
to start : I LOVE strats w thinner and narrower necks. I'm 5' 8" w normal hands, so, not like Jimi or Stanley Clarke!
SO - since I do a lot of Jimi-esque thumbing and stretch moves, I like the narrower and thinner necks.

I have a 1964 fender strat I've had since 1973 that has a B neck. I like B necks, which are hard to find.
A I am close to buying TODAY an actual 1975 Fender Strat , natural finish, VERY good condition, for $1700.
Questions:

1- are ALL Tokai Silver Stars B necks? I saw the specs and it says U neck on a lot of them.

2 - the actual 1975 Fender I played plays great for me, but the NECK JOIN..uh..LOL..you could fit at least 3 credit cards width in the space between the neck and the body in that join! I played several 1975, 1976 fenders at the Philly guitar show Saturday and ALL of them are like that.
Question :
This has got to affect the tone right?
so will the Tokai Silver Star have a better, tighter neck join?
so therefore guaranteed better sound?

3 - what should I pay for a Silver Star today?
4 - how often do they show up? a brief look on net showed none right now.
btw - HAVE to have a trem.
5 - is $1700 a good deal for a near perfect condition 1975 Fender strat, as natural is the perhaps least desirable color. will it def appreciate?

6 - does THIs look legit? Last 2 digits appear worn off? a tokai I'm considering :


THANKS AHEAD OF TIME!
all the best
Bob

Hey Bob,

I used to have an old 3-bolt 70's Fender Strat back in the 80s. It was awful, I mean terrible. Wobbly neck and crummy workmanship, and what could only pass as cheese grater action.

I didn't know about Tokai Silver Stars then, but bought a brand new Japanese Squire 3-bolt all-black 70's reissue. I swear, this was a million times better (except for the pickups that were rather poor).

I have recently started acquiring a few Silver Stars, and I must say they are in an entirely different league. Superior in every way.

Depends what you want I guess: if you want something collectable, anything old and Fender is going to appreciate in value no matter how poorly made. The prices being asked for 70's strats are crazy.

On the other hand, if you want something for the joy of playing then go for the Tokai every time. I'm currently paying as little as ?220-?280 for good condition Silver Stars over here in the UK. These are a bargain.

The Silver Star headstock looks fairly legit on the face of it, but this is very little to go on. The numbers don't easily come off on the spaghetti logo strats, since they were still applying lacquer over the decals in 1979 (I think this is correct for that serial number). It would have needed to break through the lacquer for this to happen. I would be cautious.

For this year, I would expect to see a model number stamp after the last fret on the fingerboard "36", "38", "40" or something.

Also, look at the innards if you can - the pickups should be grey bottomed, and will be letter stamped usually. The neck plate should be blank.

I don't see a lot of Silver Stars advertised in the US, but there are plenty about in Japan and occasionally in the UK where they seem a lot cheaper than the Goldstars.

I think you are likely to receive a lot of pro-Silver Star responses here, given this is a Tokai forum!


Suki

delete

Suki said:

Hey Bob,
Depends what you want I guess: if you want something collectable, anything old and Fender is going to appreciate in value no matter how poorly made. The prices being asked for 70's strats are crazy.

On the other hand, if you want something for the joy of playing then go for the Tokai every time.The Silver Star headstock looks fairly legit on the face of it, but this is very little to go on. The numbers don't easily come off on the spaghetti logo strats, since they were still applying lacquer over the decals in 1979 (I think this is correct for that serial number). It would have needed to break through the lacquer for this to happen. I would be cautious.

For this year, I would expect to see a model number stamp after the last fret on the fingerboard "36", "38", "40" or something.

Also, look at the innards if you can - the pickups should be grey bottomed, and will be letter stamped usually. The neck plate should be blank.

Suki

Click to expand...

THANKS Suki.
I saw your other posts on silver stars when I was researching on here yesterday.
Def more into a player than collector right now, so leaning toward the Tokai as I think all the parts may be better.

the fender looks like this:


and the tokai I showed that photo of looks like this:


The fender plays real well and sounds good, but that was just through a little amp at Guitar Show. There were other 75 + 76 Fenders going for $1950 to $2300!
Got more photos form the Tokai guy - those last 2 digits missing were a flash issues. the code is there on new photos . = 906633.

I'd try to get a close up of the last fret to see if there's a stamp, otherwise ask the fella if there's a number there...

Hey guys


The stamp on the neck, just past the 21st fret will only be a '36' or '26'.
These were the only Silver Star models offered in 1979.

Whatever it is, buy it anyway. For what you'll pay you could probably still buy the Fender......... and sell it later for it's crappy build quality

In Australia, they sell for less than AUS$500.00 / US$460.00 / EUR 360.00 / GBP 300.00.

Peter Mac

are the silverstars that bad then?
the cbs strat i bought from a mate ( ?280, exactly what he paid for it new in '77) apart from the lacquer coming off the fret board, has no problems, sounds great, and stays in tune.

You could also buy a brand new 2012 AST70 Goldstar in the USA...for sale in TGP Emporium.

http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=1291365

Hi guys,

Silver stars were not bad at all - in fact they perform better than the '70s Fenders at pretty much everything.
It was the stigma from those shoddy 70's Strats that led to Silverstars being less popular that the Springy.
Tokai used the same body and neck blanks for both ST and SS. In my mind, the ST is just an SS with a smaller head .... and 4 bolts ... and different pickups .... and more expensive.
The tremolo works the same and the neck adjuster actually works also - something those Fenders never seemed to get right.

Peter Mac

Honestly. Almost any Strat-a-like available today is as good if not better than a mid 70s Fender Strat.
I'd recommend anything from a Vintage V6 through to a Levinson Blade R4. That ranges from about ?200 to ?2000. ALL new Strats and their clones will be better than a 75.

go and try new fenders at a big store like pmt, you will find there is a vast
difference in quality and build on new fenders, some of the cheaper ones
are terrible, loose fittings and feel plasticky, but the higher end ones deffinately still have that feel of quality about them.
the '77 cbs strat i have, i could not put a cigarette paper between neck heel and body, if you can find an un-abused one (like the natural the op showed us), they are great guitars and i can understand the prices they are fetching.
tokai goldstars are great replicas of pre cbs fender strats which have now become completely out of the price range of most ordinary people (?20,000+), but a goldstar will never beat a good pre cbs fender stratocaster,
and ?1500 for a good cbs strat is still good value for money.
just my point of view, don't get me wrong goldstars are good guitars, i've never tried a silverstar, but not all '70s strats are firewood, far from it.