Which model Silver Star have I bought?

bart said:

Apart from the tuners and the several pieces headstock. How many peices neck is it and how's the resonace of the guitar? Hard to see how many pieces body?

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3 piece body, 3 piece neck, I would say. The neck looks like one piece, apart from the two extra bits glued onto the headstock. It's reasonably resonant. It's a fairly good guitar - my white Goldie is a great guitar.

Oki, thanks. I just spotted this Silverstar on ebay that seems to have a 1 piece head (and neck?). It's a 38 according to the sticker.

http://imageevent.com/chingo123/april/tokaistarblack3098?p=20&b=-1&m=-1&c=4&w=4&s=1&n=1&l=0&z=9

mine has one piece neck....maybe depends on year?

Guitars vary, even Tokais, which are generally more consistent than most, in my experience. It's the luck of the draw, as far as I can see. Every now and again, you get an unusually good one, that makes the ordinary ones seem less impressive.

That's how I see it anyway.

Stratman.Take a look at this SS on e-bay at the moment,i was thinking about it,but only thinking at the mo

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=320241506399&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=011

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Well it looks nicer than mine, but you can't beat a white Strat! It has the newer decal, so arguably less desirable. Replaced tuners, I assume?

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The tuners on this are original--and actually the same type as the ones on my SS-80. They're very good--similar kind of feel to Schallers--high ratio and stay in tune. They're not as nice looking as the Kluson-type on Springys and Goldies, but I like them better for function. I would guess this is likely an SS-48 or 50--Peter Mac says it's according to colour and he's the man!--You could check the catalogues to see if you can find it. Looks like the neck is one piece, and it has staggered pole pickups. It's got an odd replacement cap, and some ugly redone solder-work, but this is probably a nice guitar. Mine is very similar, but is a spaghetti model, and has the brass ground wiring harness, which this doesn't.

I bought my two lower end models from the same seller (both cheaper than this!) and had no problems. I like my SS-48 (or 50?!) much more than my SS-38 (or 36, or 40?--) though--the lower end model does feel it, especially in the tuners and pickups.
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Midget

Interesting topic for me as only tokai I own is a SS










I don't know much about it. It cost me ?275 on ebay. Is well built, with thin sounding pick-ups to my ears. Body looks more grainy than alder so I think may be (swamp?) ash. 3 pc body, 1 pc neck.

Any ideas what model mine might be?
I didn't butcher the decal btw.
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herbalaire vaporizer

Nice, similar to mine, except for the maple board, and the ash body. It looks similar to the ash on my Springys, though they are both two piece bodies. I imagine the ash would make it sound brighter than alder, as would the maple board.

I would guess it's a higher model than mine because of the ash. Not that I'm sure which model mine is!

Which tuners does it have? Can't see them in the pics.

Here's another SS, anyone bought from this guy?
http://cgi.ebay.com/Tokai-Silver-Star-Guitar-Black-MIJ_W0QQitemZ320241897764QQihZ011
Seems to be in good shape but no stamp or sticker. Great looking.

Mine was bought from that seller by the guy I bought it from - he used chingo's pics in the ad. Remember about the shipping costs and Customs duty if you buy from abroad.

You see plenty of Silver Stars advertised on eBay UK, if you're sure you want a SS, and not a Goldstar. Black with maple isn't a very unusual combination, so you'll get one if you're patient.

Ive bought a few guitars off him.and so have a other forum members here in the UK.He is genuine seller i cant fault him,if you do buy one he packs them bombproof, just look at his feedback.

Like stratman said add on about 22% of the total price (including the shipping)

Hope this helps :wink:

Yes with shipping, customs etc from Japan it would be a total of around 350-400EUR with the current exchange rates, at least the last SS black ones I've seen this last week.
There aren't many goldstars out from what I can see, there is one in US for 1300USD though. And did they come with large headstock?
What would a Goldstar go for approx in a player condition?

In the UK ?300 to 350 on E-Bay or ask to see if anyone is selling one on the forum. :wink:

Goldstars don't have the large headstock (fortunately!). They are copies of 54 or 57 models (maple) or 64 models (rosewood).

My three cost me ?200 (collected, no postage), ?225, and the most recent white one cost me ?315 delivered to the door, in a hard case. I used the white one for the gig last night, & it was really good - I had my Springy ST80 there, but didn't play it once. For around ?300 you can get a really nice Goldstar, Silver Stars tend to sell for a bit less usually. Mine cost me ?210 + postage.

stratman323 said:

Which tuners does it have? Can't see them in the pics.

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Don't have camera to hand but look like this

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justin bieber fans

Hi all

This is Alvaro from Spain and I've just become a Tokai owner.

This is my Silver Star I received a week ago:

http://imageevent.com/chingo123/april/tokaistarblack3047

1983 according to serial number.
Very satisfied for the price with it. I agree a bit thin sounding pickups. And also have to find a key to adjust microtilt since I feel action is still a bit high.
But very satisfied at first impression.

Cheers

Alvaro

Another one from chingo - he's getting a lot of mentions in this thread! I see that your SS has the extra bits glued onto the headstock, like mine.

Hi, I have had a few SS's and found the quality realy inconsistent, some really poor fretting jobs where frets are at all angles.

The best I have had is one of the last ones, the 1985 customs with the very scrolly logo. I recently bought one off ebay from a girl with around 20 tokai's and it is an absolute dream and weighs less than 3k.

I was told that these customs were put together with the best bits remaining within the factory from the SS series. I would not part with this one and I love playing it as much as my others.

Unlike stratman I hate my goldstar, everything about it feels wrong, maybe it's a dud but I'm reluctant to get another one. The custom SS knocks sockks off it in every way, it truely feels like a top top neck, and the PU's sound very lush.

Anyway, as it was so good I bought another one, same black with maple neck, although I hate tampering with guitars I'm about to strip this one down to refinish and I'm sure these bodies are extremly good lightwieght pieces and not some franken block.

I'll post picks of the body once it's down to bare wood.

If anyone else is thinking of buying an SS I'd recommend these customs.
I hope the strip down proves they were quality parts for a lowly 36/38 model. If not it won't detract from the fact that mine two are very good guitars, for ?300 and ?220.

My goldstar has a very wide neck, measuring 46mm at the nut is this normal???

1980s Goldstars that I have seen are usually 42mm at the nut (Springys too). You might want to check that that's a Tokai neck! Look for codes at the heel of the neck that say #=#. I don't know about more recent Goldstar models, but 46mm seems wide for a Tokai strat neck.
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RELIGION DISCUSSION

Welcome Alvaro!

Goldstars seem to be going up on e-bay UK,people want ?375 now :wink: