'79 Silver star with mixed signals ..pending!

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mattbarlow

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I m waiting for a 79 silver star that was in a pretty decent price...
Many clues point to SS80 (brass nut - saddles ... SS80 in the cavity ...) but the pickups are not Dimarzio....I guess the body should be nitro
Any help??

https://box.yahoo.co.jp/guest/viewer?sid=box-l-azph4mb752ksfynjrworlht2je-1001&uniqid=f794b034-9243-4f0f-93e3-1b4b5a689c25

Either way if I like the guitar and the finish I plan to make it all white with new pups!
 
That?s an odd one. All parts appear to be Tokai-made.
Tuners on the neck are SS-36 / SS-40 style. SS-48 and up had Schaller-style tuners at that time.
I can?t make out a model stamp on the fretboard on any of the photos. It should be there for that year, can be very faint though, but I don?t think it will be an 80. Why did the seller upload so many photos but not one where you can see the model stamp clearly ? :-?

I?m also missing the `A` suffix in the codes of body and neck. High-end Tokais from that year usually have that.
But on the other hand it?s the first year for Silverstar production (I think? :roll: ) , so who knows what they mixed up in the factory.
It?s also possible that you have a parts guitar with a SS-36 or SS-40 neck and pickups and a SS-80 body.

I guess you?ll have to do a test with acetone on body and neck when it arrives to find out if it?s nitro.
 
Yo Len thanks for the reply...

I think there is no stamp at all.... that was stated in the add as well...
So... it is definitely weird since all '79 silver stars had stamps...

I totally agree about the tuners .... but my hopes is that since its a weird one any way it could be SS 80 with wrong tuners :p

The SS- 36 neck and SS-80 body crossed my mind... but the brass nuts gives me hope that the neck is SS80 also :)

Could the SS80 stamp on cavity not be original??? but again the brass saddles also state SS80...

we totally are on the same page about it !
 
Hi guys,

Sorry but this is not an SS-80, in fact I'm quite sure it's not even a 1979 model.
In 1979, ALL Tokai Models ( LS, LC, ST, SS and PB) had the model number impressed into the fingerboard after the last fret. This does not have one hence it can't be from 1979.
The neck is not SS-80 as the 12 screw tuners would not fit inside the holes if they were replaced for enclosed tuners, plus extra screw holes would be showing.
I believe the body is not SS-80 either. Primarily for the fact that in 1979 Tokai only made 1 model of SilverStar - the SS-36.
The SS-80 model was not introduced until 1980. If this was sold as an SS-80 then it is a fake.

Peter Mac
 
A reputable Tokai dealer has sold 1979 SS 40's, 48's and 80's in the past,
all with fretboard stamps and 1979 serial #'s. So 1979 examples weren't limited to 1980 catalog models.
I'm only suggesting catalogs are not an incontrovertible truth, rather than suggesting this is an SS-80.

I don't think the neck serial # is necessarily a fake, but the lack of a fretboard stamp is reasonable cause for concern.
Some model stamps barely made an impression in the fretboard.
 
Hi guys,

Good point there, John, but from what I've been able to gather, fingerboard stamping was used into early 1980 - probably to S# 0009450.
The lack of any f'board stamp though would support my observations but there are too many inconsistancies for this guitar to be regarded as an SS-80.
Saddles and nuts are easily changed although I tend to go with the SS-80 body and SS-36 neck.
An SS-80 neck would be stamped 3=13 A, the lack of the 'A' means it is from a lower model. I did notice that the body stamp is unreadable but if you can get a clearer pic it should read 3=13 OW A. Anything else would mean they are not a matched set. Placement is correct for 1979-1981 bodies.

Peter Mac
 
Thanks for the replies ! guys .... that were pretty much my estimations at the time of the buy.

The neck reads 3-13 clearly the body read either 3-13 OW or 3-18 OW or 8-18 OW in one of the photos ....which if its a coincidence its a pretty lucky or well premeditated one.... (I tend to believe the last number is 13 due to the left part of the last digits curves but maybe I m biased)

https://box.yahoo.co.jp/guest/viewer?sid=box-l-azph4mb752ksfynjrworlht2je-1001&uniqid=f794b034-9243-4f0f-93e3-1b4b5a689c25#du%3Df794b034-9243-4f0f-93e3-1b4b5a689c25%26ds%3Dbox-l-azph4mb752ksfynjrworlht2je-1001%26tu%3Db1199dbc-886d-4123-8bad-45637eb0dadf%26ts%3Dbox-l-azph4mb752ksfynjrworlht2je-1001%26vt%3Dpublic%26lf%3Dthumbnail%26ls%3D1%26lm%3D100%26il%3D1

That surely is hopeful for me !

The inconsistencies are a given..
Only when I get it we ll be more sure
 

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