1982 Tokai Silver Star Strat just arrived!

Hi all,

I joined the Tokai Registry forum last week but thought i'd await my new - vintage 1982 Tokai Silver Star before posting anything.

Thanks to everyone for posting such thorough info on Tokai's - this really helped with my purchase of a 1982 Tokai Silver Star from Japan - via Ebay for $267 + $140 postage [i'm in South Australia and you dont see many here in the shops etc].

I didn't buy the Tokai SS hoping to get a cheap stratocaster - but because I love Japan - their culture etc and the quality things they produce. Also after researching the brand on this site and the www I found "my" guitar and won the bid [it was the 3rd guitar I bidded on coming out of Japan in ebay.com instead of ebay.com.au thats used in Australia - but it turned out better than I thought price wise I think]

So, about the guitar:
After it arrived and I unpacked it I found the gig bag it came in was real leather - had the smell of age and actually has "Tokai" something something print on it in a couple of places... it's a bit unuseable right now as the head stock has ripped the foam lining to shred and it now dusts the guitar in tiny foam bits I originally thought were wood shavings!... I will get it repaired just to keep it original one day..
It came with a new set of #9 D'addario strings and whammy bar in the gig bag pocket..
On pulling the guitar out of the gig bag I was pleasantly surprised to find the strings on the guitar had been loosened for the trip [which only took 8 days from Japan to South Australia]
The pictures probably tell a lot about the guitar, but to be sure I did not get ripped off I immediately took the old strings off the guitar, and carefully removed the neck and pickgaurd.
I found the neck stamp matched the body stamp, and also found the neck and body routes matched photo's I have seen of legitimate Tokai strats on this site and the www.
I cleaned up the guitar with a bit of soapy water, cleaned the rosewood fretboard too and eyed off the pots, pickups, wiring and other parts to see if the looked original to the guitar and they all matched up - I noticed a few tells of age having pulled off pickgaurd from a few strats and would be amazed if anyone had bothered to pull it off before...

The guitar sounds just like a good strat should, think Jimmy Vaughan/Hendrix = lovin it!!!
Details:
Tokai Silver Star stratocaster replica
Headstock serial # dates to 1982 on guitar registry online
Neck/body stamps: 7=16 / 7=16 BB
Black body with black/white/black pickgaurd
Maple neck with rosewood fretboard
Greyback pickups and stock pots/5 way switch




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Welcome to the forum, and congrats on your new acquisition.

PS codes really don't have to match to be an original Tokai.

thanks for the welcome

I understand the thing with the neck codes, just think it makes the mojo rise a little more the closer the numbers get.... lol

Thanks again.

ajory72 said:

After it arrived and I unpacked it I found the gig bag it came in was real leather - had the smell of age and actually has "Tokai" something something print on it in a couple of places... it's a bit unuseable right now as the head stock has ripped the foam lining to shred and it now dusts the guitar in tiny foam bits I originally thought were wood shavings!... I will get it repaired just to keep it original one day..
]

Click to expand...

Gig bag like this one?

thats the one - except darker in colour and the embossed text is black also.

Nice...

I appreciate a hard case as much as anyone but these original gig bags are cool..

this case would suit mine nicely I think

This thread is more like a historical record now

posted in the classifieds if anyone has any tuners or saddles for the bridge - am after some saddles that say "tokai" on them - like the fender ones.. May even opt for MIM saddles as the stock ones are pitted where the string sits and maybe contributing to some issues - non fret-board related..

Last might I thought I would make a new nut - and as I have some bone and fake bone [cant remember what its called] I decided to do a drop test on them and use the one that has the most ring - chose the fake bone as wasn't so tinny.

After pulling the original nut off the neck I found it was very poorly carved on the bottom - and would not have been transferring all the string resonance into the neck properly I believe from that point as only the bottom E + A and high E sides of the bottom were touching wood!

It looked as though someone took a Stanley knife and sliced off chunks off the bottom.... the result was this:

E - 3.5 mm
A - 3.5 mm
D - 3.0 mm
G - 2.8 mm
B - 2.5 mm
E - 1.90 mm

Adjusting the neck and saddles could not get rid of some B string buzz, and I found someone had shaved the frets from G - lower E to compensate for the low nut..

So.

Used my files to make a new nut out of the fake bone to achieve this:

E - 3.3 mm
A - 3.3 mm
D - 3.3 mm
G - 3.2 mm
B - 3.2 mm
E - 3.2 mm

Seems a little high but doesn't affect notes on the first fret and eliminated the string buzz.

Now I will research the actual recommended fret, nut and saddle heights for Stratocasters.