1979 Breezysound authentication

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Yes, it was most commonly used on lower models and more commonplace after 1982, IIRC, possibly for reasons you suggested.

Alders rarely grow more than 2ft in diameter where I live, which might only yield several 2" x 15"wide boards per tree
and only if the trunk is very straight.
Alder wood grain has very little contrast compared to ash, so it's probably best suited to solid color finishes.
 
Hi Everyone,

thanks so much for getting involved. It seems that the issue of the serial number has been resolved and so just wanted to summarise the findings so far on the 2 piece body.

- The body might be Alder, not ash, if so 2 piece bodies would be normal for Alder, however Alder is also used on less expensive models.

- This Breezy seems to be one of the earliest seen on this forum and could even be some kind of pre production model according to Len which may explain the non standard 2 piece body.

If anyone has any other comments please let us know but it seems at this stage the only way to resolve this mystery is as Len says to take some internal photos.

I do apologise to adjieformaggi as i realise now i should have done this myself and put them in the listing, i just had no reason to suspect it wasn't totally original and as this is only my second guitar sold using ebay i didn't forsee the pitfalls, should have just listed it here in the first place, thanks guys!

Len said:
Hi there!

Could you please post some pics of the body and neck codes ?
What are the pickups stamped ? Soldering / electronics look original or not ?

The more pictures and information we have from your guitar the more likely we can get to a definite conclusion.
 
Right, I think the case may be closed! I took the neck off her and can summarise the markings / codes as follows:

Neck pocket: appears to be "TE-80" written very faintly in red ink (conclusive?).

Neck pickup cavity: "12=7GS A" written clearly in black ink (note: absence of markings on baseplate of neck pick up).

Bridge pickup: "TEA" written clearly in white ink on baseplate.

Neck heel: "12=7 A" written clearly in black ink (as confirmed by Oshbosh's listing photos the neck has the determinative "80" stamped after the last fret).

CONCLUSION: THIS IS A GENUINE AND 100% ORIGINAL TE-80 AND SOME VERY EARLY TE-80s HAD TWO-PIECE BODIES. ANY THOUGHTS???

Pictures to follow once I work out how.
 
adjieformaggi said:
Neck pickup cavity: "12=7GS A" written clearly in black ink (note: absence of markings on baseplate of neck pick up).

Bridge pickup: "TEA" written clearly in white ink on baseplate.
the one I posted before (9005178) has the same body and neck codes 12=7GS A and 12=7 A
Not a total surprise as their serial numbers are just ~200numbers apart.
Same thing with the unstamped neck pickup and white ink TEA stamped bridge pickup.
The "A" in the body and neck codes usually denotes a model of TE- or ST-80 and higher. I haven?t seen it on a poly finished/lower model neck or body yet.

Your tele really puts our theories to the test. :D

It might be serials in the 9005xxx range don?t necessarily mean the guitar was produced in early 1979 (?)
Or it might be that a guitar stamped 12=7 is not necessarily a december production guitar (?)

I?m curious for the pictures. Please upload a picture of the body seam as well.
All TE-80s from 1979/1980 I?ve seen before had 1-piece bodies. :roll:
 
There are a few 2P back Tokai LS from 1979 in the same serial
range. These also should have a 1P back.
 
jacco said:
There are a few 2P back Tokai LS from 1979 in the same serial
range. These also should have a 1P back.

On the same note.:wink:
At the moment I'm considering buying a 1980 ST100, according to the seller, a 2 piece.
 
Len said:
It might be serials in the 9005xxx range don?t necessarily mean the guitar was produced in early 1979 (?)
Or it might be that a guitar stamped 12=7 is not necessarily a December production guitar (?)
Just to complicate matters a little more ...
1979 LS-80 #90005792 has a pickup cavity code of 8=2 which is more in line calender wise, with the 1979 serial # range overall.

I suspect neck plates were manufactured and engraved by outside sources on an as needed basis, and so Fender serial #'s aren't necessarily always accurate indicators of time of year a Fender model was produced within a given serial range, unlike stamped Gibson model serial numbers and to a lesser degree, 1st 2 digits of Fender body stamps (if these do in fact represent months of the year) which are both stamped onsite.
I show mostly LS models being built from 9006140 ~ 9006440, and then just SS + ST model #'s assigned until about #9009300 and a mix of Fender models after that to the end of 1979.

Unfortunately I don't have body stamp pics for sporadic TE examples in the 9009500 - 9010130 range, but my point is that body stamps might suggest all 79 TE's were in fact completed closer to year end as Peter suggested, with the first bunch possibly getting left over earlier neck plates and the rest getting a new order of later # neck plates.
 
Hi Guys,

One of my theories for this is that the Volume 3 catalogue for 1980 was printed in Nov 1979, whilst the TE catalogue supplement was printed in March 1980.

Had these TE models been released earlier in 1979, surely they would have made the Vol 3 cat, rather than waiting 4 months. They are included in the Vol 4 1981 Flat catalog, printed in March 1981, however the bridge plate has changed.

It is challenging trying to match the 2 timeline dates, I can assure you.

Peter Mac
 
Reborn Old said:
It has a legit 1979 Tokai neck plate. The one piece Ash body and "80" stamp at the base of the neck mean both pieces are from a legit Tokai TE-80 model.

Looks like a 2 piece center seamed ash body to me.
Seems to be a TE-80GS.

$_57.JPG


Peter Mac said:
Earliest Breezy number I have listed is 9010058 and the next 0006981 and 0007394.

regards
Peter Mac

Mine is 8003857 but I think it is a pre-production model perhaps (Tokai brass 6 saddled bridge with no embossing and no headstock logo but has a heel stamp) with the original solder intact TE-A pups, slight tummy carve, colour, 1 piece body, 1M pots, etc.
Who knows but I love it all the same.

6856130414_421698d8e5_b.jpg
 
Peter Mac said:
Hi Guys,

One of my theories for this is that the Volume 3 catalogue for 1980 was printed in Nov 1979, whilst the TE catalogue supplement was printed in March 1980.

Had these TE models been released earlier in 1979, surely they would have made the Vol 3 cat, rather than waiting 4 months. They are included in the Vol 4 1981 Flat catalog, printed in March 1981, however the bridge plate has changed.

It is challenging trying to match the 2 timeline dates, I can assure you.

Peter Mac

I think it comes down on how the person in question interprets a serial number.

Body and necks stamps were applied right after completion of the resp. body or neck but before applying the finish.

Depending on the year and/or part of the year and even depending on what model it was they were producing, these bodies and necks could be stored for months before being assembled.

At assembly they were given a neck plate, so there is the discrepancy seen on many models between body/neck stamps and serial number.
It even explains why neck and body stamps often don't match.

Then the same thing could have happened to shipping:
Sometimes they were shipped to the distributor on short term, sometimes later because maybe they were preproduced for the forthcoming year/catalog.
 
Too funny. I ended up buying this guitar and sold it some years back.

SN 9005420

It was absolutely legit.

Here are others I have documented from the same period and earlier.

The Earliest Breezy Sounds Breezys

I will post pictures since it looks like any that were posted are long gone.

IMG_8959.JPG
IMG_8976.JPG
IMG_0869.jpeg
IMG_0873.jpeg
 

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