New Info. About 7okai Springy/Goldstar ST Model Pickups...

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apmechling

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Apr 25, 2002
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Hey Guys -

I was just going thru my emails when I saw a few correspondence messages sent between me and Peter and I thought I would share them with you.

I'm always trying to find out more about the different pickups they used to put into their ST models in the early Springysound years. There seem to be 3 different models which have the stamps on the bottoms of the pickups... "E" stamps, "U" stamps and "V" stamps.

Anyway, here's the conversation:

Excerpt from Peter's Reply:

"With the pickups, the "E" are made by DiMarzio - not
Tokai which is why they don't have the cloth cover.
The sound differences is mainly due to impedance.
Using a multimeter set to 0 ohms, place the red wire
onto the white pup wire and the black to the black pup
wire. The readout should be around 6.5 ohms for the V
and U and around 7 ~ 8 ohm for the E. The higher thr
number, the stronger the signal and the less clarity
(pre-CBS Fender were 6~7 ohm)

The ST-80 should have E pups and would not be original
with the U. The DiMarzio were considered to be the
"best" pickups in the world at that time so the
reference to "cheaper" is kinda good. I don't think
they mixed and matched either - the extra cost of the
DiMarzio is what made the ST-60 an ST-80 (if you get
my drift)... Other sound factors for the pickups include wax
sealing and enamel used on the wire..."
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Excerpt from Peter's Second Reply:

"The "U" pickups are very well made as you said and
were named ST-Vintage MkII. The "V" were named
ST-Vintage and I think they were a MkII that was wax
dipped to eliminate feedback. I have never had the
opportunity to disassemble both pickups to check this
or the colour of the wire wrap but the differences
were not that great.
The ST-Vintage were used on 60-70 series Goldstar and
70-80 series Springys.
the VS-1 DiMarzio were used on 100-120 series Springy
and 80-100 series Goldstar
Pretty much everything else used the MkII..."
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Just thought this would be great shared info. for you. :)

Also, I just got some pics of part of my collection here if you want to see some of the Tokais I'm showing off to the world :lol:

http://www.collectguitars.com/Gear/AMechling.htm
 
I used to own a Bob Weir Professional (yes, with the vines) which I bought in New Jersey in 1990 for $400 w/o a case. It was a 1978 model, but I found that it was almost too nice to play - always worried about scratching or bashing it. It had a very fast neck and was probably the loveliest guitar I ever owned, but it just wasn't me. I just plain love Strats as it turned out. Several years after I traded it in on a 1958 Guild T-100D, I read in Michael Wright's book "Guitar Stories, Vol. 1" that there were less than 10 ever exported to the USA, which made them exceeding rare in the states, although they were still made in the custom shop by Ibanez in Japan. It was a little too bright sounding to me, as it was a neckthrough made from ash. But yowzah, what sustain!! It was ridiculous!! The humbuckers were hot but even the neck tone was too bright for me, so I never really played it much. There is even a doubleneck Bob Weir, which a guitarist in "Resurrection Band" used to use live. Now that must have been a hernia and a half!!

As PG sang: "Oh well." :roll:

Still, no regrets, :D as the Guild jazzer w/the P-90s still speaks to me (plus it sports a cool, Patent Applied For old Bigsby), while the Ibanez never did. From what I've heard the cases for these Bob Weir guitars are really hard to find, as the only ones that fit (I believe it is wider and fatter than an SG) are the Ibanez rigs from Japan.

The reason I found it in NJ, I suspect, is that they were imported to Hoshino, which had an import office in a nearby suburb of Philadelphia. The guy I bought it from also sold a doubleneck up at his other shop in Philadelphia (for $800! Yoiks!)
 

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