Nice one Mike!
I really like the necks on these. They're a little skinnier than Goldstar/Springys--41 mm at the nut, at least on mine. Your SS is probably a 1982 from the serial on the neck--same rules apply as other Tokais I presume. These will only have the model stamped into the neck if they're from mid-1980 or earlier (same as other Tokai guitars).
A few drawbacks to the lower end models that I've noticed: no brass ground wiring harness under tone controls, so-so tuners, 2 piece neck, and flat-pole pickups. None of these are really big deals, and these pickups can actually sound really good depending on your setup. These are nice guitars with good old wood, and great feeling necks.
The higher end Silver Stars improve greatly as you go up in model. I have an SS-80, an SS-50 (or maybe 60, or 48--not exactly sure), and an SS-36 or 38 like this one. The SS-80 is a great guitar--V neck, nitro finish, Dimarzio pickups (I recently read FS-1 model--can't confirm this--they have black backs) and a 1-piece sen body. It's got unusual brass saddles and a brass nut that just make it sing. At first I found the Dimarzio pickups a bit too hot for my liking. I had replaced them with a spare set of Tokai U-stamps, but I recently reinstalled the originals and found that by just changing my amp settings a bit it sounds great, and different in a nice way from my Springys and Goldstars. The Dimarzio pickups nicely define each note--you can hear everything you play, if that makes any sense.... and loads of gain if you want it. The tuners on it are a lot like Schallers--not traditional looking at all, but really smooth, nice high ratio and totally stay in tune.
http://s215.photobucket.com/albums/cc152/gothamcitydrugstore/
I just got my SS-50 and 38 last week (again, not exactly certain about these). The 50 has the same tuners as my SS-80, but a C-profile neck and poly finish. It's got staggered pole pickups (grey-back, but unmarked), brass ground wiring harness, and chrome saddles. The nut is regular plastic. I like the C-profile neck more than the V with a neck this thin--the nut is 41mm. The pickups on this are quite nice.
The flat-pole pickups on the SS-38 are fairly interesting, but they sound about the same to me as the ones in my Goldstar TST-40, so I've swapped them out for a set of grey-backed Tokai VIIs that I bought on ebay. This guitar now has the nicest strat-chime--wow! I'm not impressed with the tuners, but they work and stay in tune which is what they're supposed to do. Again, the C-shape of the neck feels very good with a neck this skinny.
These clearly were Tokai's run at Fender's current models when they first came out. I've owned 2 1970's Fender strats (both long sold, although I wish I had waited a bit longer to sell...), and I like all of these better. The higher end models are worth waiting for--they come up the odd time. The tuners feel really nice on these, and the 80 models are finished in nitro. There was an SS-80 model on ebay recently--I don't think it sold, and it was listed at $600 US.
I think SS-60s are about the same as my SS-50, but have the brass saddles with a plastic nut. I can't verify this, but this is what I remember from compulsive ebay auction watching. Not sure what pickups they have either. All in all, Silver Stars are underrated IMO.
Enjoy!
Chris
________
Full Melt Hash