1981 Springy Identification

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M

Mickdal

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Hi

I have a 1981 ST-50 Springy (recently from ebay), that I am unsure of date stamps or wood used for the body

Neck plate serial is 102xxxx
Neck butt is stamped 9=15
Body Cavity is stamped 9=13 GS
Pups are U's with a reading of 6.05k Ohms (beautiful vintage tone)
Tuners are Kluson type with stamped TOKAI
Saddles have TOKAI stamped each side
Body is 3 piece (not sure if Ash or Alder, as the colour is 2 Tone Sunburst I tend to think Ash)
Neck is maple with 7okai & circular string guide
Scatchplate is 8 holes single ply (body is 8 hole as well)

I do believe she is 1981 second batch production, of a 1954, (1954 = Tokai maple neck with circular string guide?)

I am at a real loss with the 9=15 neck stamp, what does that really mean, and the numbers in the body cavity, are these a date or batch. Or is it quite simply the neck was made on 15th September.

And the body wood is of interest to me as well if it is Ash or Alder (3 piece). It looks Ash due to some swirls in the wood grain and that the colour is 2 Tone Sunburst.

Thanks
 
Hi Guys

I have done some more searching on the forum (nice search button), regarding the stamped numbers on the neck butt (9=15), and now understand that the neck and body (9=13) was built 'around' September 1981. Good result there.

My only question now is if anyone knows if a 1954 year Springy 2 Tone Sunburst no matter the model (ST50 or ST80 etc) or if 1, 2 or 3 piece body, was made of Ash?

I can't find a 1981 catalog with Springy's anywhere. Does anyone know where one is?

Cheers
Mick
 
Sounds good to me its all there 1981 ST-50 Springy :wink:
ENJOY
 
Congrats and welcome to the Forum.I think lower end springys are made of alder,but not sure.Sign in to photobucket.com and post some pics,that
makes it easier.
Enjoy it.

Volker
 
Hey thanks guys,

These pictures tell the story, as I am no wood grain expert. I just thought alder was a very light straight grain and ash was a very pronounced (heavy) straight and swirly grain, hmm



Tokai006-1.jpg


Tokai005.jpg


Tokai001-1.jpg


Tokai002.jpg


Tokai003.jpg


Tokai004.jpg


Tokai007-2.jpg


Tokai007.jpg


Tokai009.jpg



She is a peach, but what is her body wood possibly made from

Thanks
Mick
 
here is a discription of the woods at a link

http://www.mijguitar.com/Templates/Guitar%20Body%20Woods.htm
 
Thanks for the input and warm welcome.

After comparing with the information given, thanks guys, she still looks to be either Alder or Sen Ash, no surprise there.
The reason for posting this thread in first place was really to know the extent that Tokai was to the label "this is an exact replica of the good old strat"

No disappointment.

It really just came down to the body wood for me, to find out if she was the same wood used in the good ol '54 which was ASH, Fender of course used Ash in the Strat until 1956 (second half), then changed to Alder, but continued to use Ash in the blonds only. It was the Telecaster that continued with Ash. Have I missed anyone?

Alder and Ash, two of the damned finest hard woods ever used to produce the worlds most remarkably tone for us strat folk, before the nineties when new woods were used and produced their own remarkable tone.

I always new that the ST80 and up would have Ash or Alder, just was not sure about the ST50 ST45 ST42, in the Springy family prior to becoming Goldies.

Mick
 
Yours looks more like Alder to me Mickdal, or something similar. Forum member BillyWizz posted something recently about the various woods the Japanese use, (which can be quite different to what was available to Fender in the US in the 50s) but I can't remember where the post is. And although lots of people on here seem to get very worked up about whether a body is 2 piece, 3 piece etc, I remain to be convinced that it matters much, if at all. Most early Fenders had 2 or 3 piece bodies, specially the solid colour ones.

It's worth remembering that Ash varies widely in weight/density etc. Most 70s Strats seem to be really heavy, and most of them were Ash. However my 2004 Custom Shop '63 Tele has one of the lightest Ash bodies I've ever tried, but it sounds great too. (solid colours use "select" Alder, blondes use "premium" Ash)


113_1375.jpg


113_1386.jpg


So how about showing us what the rest of the guitar looks like? :p
 
Hey thanks Stratman,

Nice pics of your Blonde mate, yours and Settebello, they give me a good guide, most definately different to mine in grain pattern.

That thread from Billywiz, I would like to know more. :p

So far as weight goes, she is a lot lighter than the '84 Silver Star I have, gee that is heavier and the Silver Star neck is thicker too.

I am also unconvinced regarding the 1, 2 or 3 piece body, if it matters, for the simple reason, the only effect on tone is the wood itself, not the joints which incidently were joined by Tokai luthiers. The 'cork sniffers' :eek: of course, would disagree, and argue a dollar value instead. Dead right about Fenders with 1, 2 or 3 piece bodies, I am pretty certain that they didn't even price structure if 1, 2 or 3 piece body either, that I am sure.
Tokai do use the 1, 2 or 3 piece body as part of the measuring scale as to which model is what, and, there have always been exceptions to the rule, with true cases of miss match. So, really IMO it does not matter at all if a 1, 2 or 3 piece.

I will upload to photobucket some more pics, and post here.

Cheers
Mick
 
Hi Guys,

Here are some more pics, before I get her new strings (10's) on and the action/intonation set up done. Oh and she only weighs 7 1/2 lb's (3.4kg), and the Silver Star weighs 7 3/4 lb (3.5kg), the necks are pretty much the same too, nice, no baseball bats/clubs here.
My photographic skills are pretty ordinary, with the changes in light etc.


Tokai012.jpg


Tokai014.jpg


Tokai020.jpg


Tokai023.jpg


Tokai016.jpg


Tokai021.jpg




Cheers

Mick

:wink:
 
hi everyone

nice springy mike, congrats! :D

speaking of mismatch in body pieces....

here s a pic of my 81 ST55 in natural finish...and it is clearly a 3 piece alder body but check out the middle piece...

DSC00074.jpg


never seen any other companies that glue pieces that way...it dosen t really bother me...cause this guitar is very light weight and resonant and it has a sound to die for....

enjoy ur springy
 
oh yeah
this image shows it a little bit better
sorry for the dark pics...

DSC00059.jpg
 
Hi Guys

Thank you Peter, I'm very happy knowing now she is Alder :D , cheers mate.

Nice pics Marc, yours really is a treat, beautiful looking guitar in natural finish, with the maple fingerboard 8)

Mick
 

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