how old is this and..model ?

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nossnevs

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 8, 2007
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Location
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Hi
Can you help me.
I have 2 tokai springy sound.
One has the serie nr L 00500 and is a st 80.
I belive it is from 1981

But thet other one I bought (cant remember maybee1978 or 79)
have a nice coulour (babyblue) havent seen any others like this.
serienr 10468 and not 0010468.
Can you tell me the date and I dont know if it is st 50 st 55 st 60 ect.
How can I find out.
Its very nice to play and a very nice springy sound.


Thanks in advance.
 

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Last edited:
First of all, welcome to the Registry !
All that I can say you is about color.
It seems a beautiful Sonic Blue. I have never seen a Tokai in that lacquer. Lucky you !!!
For specs and technic infos, better if you wait some forum guru !
 
thank you, yes i love that color, ( haven?t seen others) and the sound is awesome...good brilliant...I?m new here so thanks for your welcome.
I dont know if it is a st 50- 55- 60- 80- ect. and what the differents.
Only the neck ?
 
Hi nossnevs

The difference in the ST number of Strat copies indicates the quality of the instrument. The higher the number the better the quality of the copy.
Lower numbers indicate lower quality pickups, pots, tuners and that the body may be made out of a larger number of pieces of wood.

ST100 / ST120's had one pices bodies, Nitro Paint, Dimarzio Pickups.

Best way for the forum members to assist you is the take the guitar apart and then post photo's of:-

1. Back of the Pickups
2. End of the neck
3. Any markings in the pickup cavities on the body
4. Tuners
5. Bridge Saddles

Do this when you next change your strings
 
nossnevs said:
Hi
Can you help me.
I have 2 tokai springy sound.
One has the serie nr L 00500 and is a st 80.
I belive it is from 1981

But thet other one I bought (cant remember maybee1978 or 79)
have a nice coulour (babyblue) havent seen any others like this.
serienr 10468 and not 0010468.
Can you tell me the date and I dont know if it is st 50 st 55 st 60 ect.
How can I find out.
Its very nice to play and a very nice springy sound.

Pic1. www.multisound.dk/MS_/headstock.jpg
Pic2. www.multisound.dk/MS_/tokai1.jpg

Thanks in advance.
:roll:

The five digit and Lxxxxx Fender style serial numbers were used for the late Springy's (probably first in 1981, definitely in 1982). They were also used for the 80's Goldstars. The spaghetti logo was used until 1982 so the beautiful blue Springy is probably from late '81 or '82. In 1983 a different logo was used.

In 1982 both the ST-50 and 60 maplenecks seems to have had '58 U-shaped necks with the butterfly string tree. The ST-80/100/120 models had '54 style V-shaped necks and round string trees.

On the 1984 Goldstar Sound mapleneck strats only the TST-50 had the U-shape, TST-60 and higher had V-necks.

Mike
 
Hi guys,

I would love to see pics of the L-series ST-80, would certainly help to get a close date.
The blue one is a late82 ST-55 SO. Essentially a 1958 Strat in Sonic Blue. pickups will have a grey bottom and the letter 'U' stamped on them.

Have a look under the other Tokais pickguard and see what it says.

regards
Peter Mac
 
Peter Mac said:
Hi guys,

I would love to see pics of the L-series ST-80, would certainly help to get a close date.
The blue one is a late82 ST-55 SO. Essentially a 1958 Strat in Sonic Blue. pickups will have a grey bottom and the letter 'U' stamped on them.

Have a look under the other Tokais pickguard and see what it says.

regards
Peter Mac

Hi Peter

Ok so the Sonic blu is late 82, what does SO stand for.
I like it very much even the number 55 indicate it?s a low end copy, it sounds very nice maybee because of the mable neck. Springy plastic fresh sound. And yes your right about the pickups, grey and U stamp.

And now for the L series ST-80.
The pickups are grey and U stamp. I bought it used many years ago
and just found out that the guy before me have plan to put in a humbuck
pickup. I took it apart and and saw that he had cut in the body ...shame..
Take a look at the pictures....damed...

http://www.multisound.dk/MS/Foto%20guitar/Tokai%20green/IMG_0081.jpg

http://www.multisound.dk/MS/Foto%20guitar/Tokai%20green/IMG_0002_2.jpg
I still much more like to play on my Sonic Blu, better sound for me and much more nice to play, but maybee thats just me,,,
I?m looking for a Tokai ES 120 or ES 60, whats the different?s or maybee a FA 70, I think it must be a Japanese model, is there anything I should prefere or anything I should avoid ?
I might sale my L serie ST 80 or use it as trade in.
Thank you

Michael
 
Hi Michael,
I've got some good news and some bad news and some really bad news.

REALLY bad news - the guitar is not an ST-80, it is probably an ST-55. From the body code 2=8 MG it left the factory as a Metallic Gold finish, and ST-80's were not offered in Custom colours, also the 'U' stamp indictates a lower model than ST-80

BAD news - trying to determine if the parts are all original. The base of the neck should have a stamp also that should be 2=8 or 2=9. if this is so then it is the original neck for the body but why anyone would change from Gold finish to satin black does pose a question of theft

GOOD news -
L-series plate means a rosewood fingerboard - correct
It is a Springysound
It is pre-83, with alder body
Code would have been ST-55 MGR
Humbucker routing will have no interferance with overall sound.
It does look very vintage

2) SO is the Tokai colour code for Sonic Blue with Maple neck

regrads
Peter Mac
 
Peter Mac said:
Hi Michael,
I've got some good news and some bad news and some really bad news.

REALLY bad news - the guitar is not an ST-80, it is probably an ST-55. From the body code 2=8 MG it left the factory as a Metallic Gold finish, and ST-80's were not offered in Custom colours, also the 'U' stamp indictates a lower model than ST-80

regards
Peter Mac

Peter, in the 1985 catalog "MG" stands for Metallic Green and was available for TST-55. The Gold Metallic is called "GM". The guitar in the pictures look like green metallic to me.

Mike
 
javelin70 said:
Peter Mac said:
Hi Michael,
I've got some good news and some bad news and some really bad news.

REALLY bad news - the guitar is not an ST-80, it is probably an ST-55. From the body code 2=8 MG it left the factory as a Metallic Gold finish, and ST-80's were not offered in Custom colours, also the 'U' stamp indictates a lower model than ST-80

regards
Peter Mac

Peter, in the 1985 catalog "MG" stands for Metallic Green and was available for TST-55. The Gold Metallic is called "GM". The guitar in the pictures look like green metallic to me.

Hi guys

Sorry for a bad picture, yes it is metallic green and 100 % not homemade painting. So I?m sure it is original coulor.
On the backside on the neck there is a sticker and yes , sorry guys,
the sticker says st 55 - I need classes.

Thank you for your help.

Can you feel a big difference from st 55 to st 80

And do any of you know anything of old tokai es 120.

Thanks

Michael










Mike
 
Well, in my opinion the (T)ST-50/55 models are excellent guitars. The differences are number of pieces of wood used for the body (my TST-50 Goldstar has a three piece body), the pickups and the paint. As far as I know ST-80 has nitro cellulose laquer and ST-50/55 some kind of poly finish. I've always loved Tokai's thin poly finish, I think it's very nice. The "U" pickups used for the ST-50/55 Springy's and earliest Goldstar's are also very good in my opinion.

This is my TST-50 Goldstar with TST-60/80 v-neck, definitely one of my favorite guitars!

st50_5.jpg


Mike
 
:D Hey Peter Mac, are you still working on the Ultimate Tokai Book? I haven't been here much recently either...been on a Mad Rickenbacker and Hofner buying spree! It's nice to come home! MH :D
 
Hi guys,
yeah I know I got the colour code confused - I'm at work and don't have all my info handy. - SORRY.
Hi TG, yeah still doing the book, it just seems the more i put in the more there is to put in...
Alder bodies - Alder is a small tree so large pieces are hard to aquire. Most alder guitar bodies are 2 or 3 piece ( even with pre-CBS Fender) there just aren't large enough bits for a 1-piece body. However Alder is also not tonally affected by the number of pieces in the body the way Ash, Mahogany and Maple are so is a far better working wood. It is easy to finish, holds paint well and develops with age. Compared to Basswood (IMO compressed sawdust) i would rather have Alder any day.
Fender used Alder for the Strat bodys of their guitars since 1956 with ash only being offered for sunburst or blonde finishes.
regards
Peter Mac
 
Peter Mac said:
Alder bodies - Alder is a small tree so large pieces are hard to aquire. Most alder guitar bodies are 2 or 3 piece ( even with pre-CBS Fender) there just aren't large enough bits for a 1-piece body. However Alder is also not tonally affected by the number of pieces in the body the way Ash, Mahogany and Maple are so is a far better working wood. It is easy to finish, holds paint well and develops with age. Compared to Basswood (IMO compressed sawdust) i would rather have Alder any day.
Peter Mac

Peter, I'm actually a bit confused when it comes to basswood versus alder. I love the tone you get with an alder body, my Tokai strats all have alder bodies. I also have a japanese Squier strat with a basswood body and it sounds exactly like the alder strats (of course there are slight variations in tone between all of them). I've read that some manufacturers used wood that they called basswood but actually it wasn't, it was some kind of asian wood related to basswood but not as good. Real basswood (tilia americana) is used by a number of manufacturers for it's tone (for example Tom Anderson guitars). I looked at the wood used for the Squier body and it certainly looks like basswood should, almost white and with little grain. I've also had a Fender japan standard strat and the specs said it should have a basswood body but the wood was a lot darker and also a little heavier than the Squier and the Tokai's. The Fender also sounded very good and the tone was close to an alder strat. It was heavier than my other strats though so I decided to sell it. The Squier and Tokai's all weigh ~3kg's, the Fender ~3,5kg.

The Squier is very well built (a lot better than the Fender) and has an s/s/s routed vintage style body (the Fender was h/s/h).

Mike
 
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