Golden Era ??????

funkilius · Posted: Fri Apr 07, 2017 3:44 am Post subject: Golden Era ??????

Never seen one of these 😎

http://www.ebay.de/itm/1980-Tokai-Springy-Sound-ST60-Two-tone-sunburst-Ultra-Rare-Golden-Era-Headstock/232293605629?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D42828%26meid%3D6ca1c7b556c94eb9b0accaa36d172f37%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D5%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D201878856623
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I wish I could play like that !!!!!

felixcatus · Posted: Sat Apr 08, 2017 10:54 am Post subject:

Me neither, so I clicked 'search', and found this , Tokai keeps surprising me.

RyanC · Guitar God Joined: 29 Dec 2008 Posts: 675 Location: USA

Guitar Gai has an '81 LS100 for sale right now:

felixcatus · Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2017 11:17 am Post subject:

cheshirecatsmile · Posted: Tue Apr 25, 2017 4:10 pm Post subject:

It's been ages (at least 5 years) since I've been on this forum. Hi to any old-timers who remember me!

I ended up with top bid on this Tokai Golden Era. When I first saw the listing, I was concerned it might be a fake, albeit a really good one. However, it seems as if there are a few Golden Era Tokais floating around. Somewhere on the interwebs, someone was speculating about the headstock shape being similar/same as Hondo ones that Tokai might have been making at the same time. I would be really curious if anyone has any more info on these. Could they have been sold to a particular market?

As for the guitar, it looks totally legit, down to the "60" stamp at the end of the neck. It plays like an ST-60, and sounds like one. I haven't opened it up yet, but the previous owner said it had E-stamped grey-backed pickups, and it does sound like it. I have a couple of other ST-60s, and this is identical, except for the headstock. This is a really well made guitar, and plays like butter.

Another nice surprise the seller included, is an original, Japanese Tokai catalogue (marked Tokai Electric Guitar Manual, Vol. 2), from March 1979. It's not in Ned's catalogue list on the Registry site, and fills a real hole at a critical time in Tokai history. I haven't been around, so I don't know if someone has a copy that they've posted elsewhere, but if there's interest, I will scan it, and make it available on this forum.

I just had a heckuva time logging in here. I think my email changed, and by chance I remembered my password, but then got myself logged out and couldn't get back in. So if I disappear again, that'll be why.

Kanpai!!

Chris

bluejeannot · Posted: Mon May 01, 2017 5:05 pm Post subject:

http://www.tokaiforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=4434 I think that they had some Hondo necks left over.The Hondo Professional series strats were made by Tokai Q13: Is it true that Tokai and Kasuga cooperated in the late '60s and early '70s to produce guitars for the U.S. market? Were these named "Hondo", or is this another story? Which other brands did Tokai produce in the past, either alone or in cooperation with another Japanese company?

A13: We do not know about the relationship with Kasuga. We will try to find it. Hondo name comes from IMC/Rhythm band, Texas, USA. Long time ago we made Hondo guitars for them. At that time we had a tight relationship with them. Hondo means "Main Land" in Japanese. So sometimes we called our American headstock Hondo Headstock.
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bluejeannot

bluejeannot · Posted: Mon May 01, 2017 5:07 pm Post subject:

Tokai made Hondo11 professional series bolt ons,basses P and J Tele and Strat types from 81 to 83 same quality of woodwork as Springys,indeed they had the same Sen bodies and identical headstocks to the USA only Golden Era series.http://s1353.photobucket.com/user/Filmpest/media/Tokai Golden Era/HeadstockNew.jpg.html?sort=3&o=2
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bluejeannot