Please identify my new Breezy

Well it's arrived from Japan, thanks to the ever-helpful JohnA - thanks John. In fact it's still with John, who collected it today, & I won't get it till early next week.

But which model Breezy is it?




It's been Fenderised - Fender decal & bridge, & the neckplate has been changed too. The previous owner clearly wanted it to look like a Fender, personally I'm equally happy with either a Tokai or a Fender, but I'm pretty sure Fender never made a 60s Custom Tele that looked like this one. Most 60s Teles were alder, this is clearly sen or ash.

I wasn't sure from the advert whether it was a one piece body or two, but it seems to be one piece. Which means it must be higher than TE80? Opinions please. Also, any idea what year it was made?






Here's the link to the pics John took today

http://s177.photobucket.com/albums/w221/jc_anderton/Mikes%20new%20tele/

It looks like someone did his best to hide the evidence of it's Tokai origins - he even blacked out the Tokai codes in the control cavity! But the neck code is still there, in case there was any doubt. Electrics are US replacemnets.

Frets are apparently bigger than expected, so either it's been re-fretted, or Tokai made it with bigger frets?

I know it's not "collectable" due to the changes and the neck humbucker rout, but that doesn't bother me. I'm sure it would have sold for more if it had been all original, & I bought it to play it! And look at it too - ain't she beautiful?

And since I'm curious to try a Tele with either a neck HB or P90, I can try both in this without any more work than getting a new scratchplate made, so it was an obvious one for me to grab.

But anyway, please tell me which model TE you think it is.



Mike

Oh that's the fancy one.....TE120 maybe? I don't recall either but it is top of the line. Nice catch.

Doesn't really matter what model it is you're not getting it :wink:

It's a puzzler, the frets are definetely bigger than Tokai's normal frets, but if it's a re-fret it's an amazing job! The dots on the neck look an odd colour too, but it's definetely a Tokai neck.

Maybe not one for the collector, because of the non-originality, but it's the nicest tele, in fact, one of the nicest guitars I've ever seen, and it plays just as good as it looks!!

And my thanks to terry who pointed it out on the forum a couple of weeks ago.

Absolute stunner. She now needs to rest in the North East for at least 6 months :wink:

Dave

Wow! That is a proper cowboy guitar. Just some random thoughts:

1) Did they route out the neck pickup area and that's why it's painted black?

2) The pearl edging on the body looks just like a Martin D-45.

3) How hard would it be to restore it? New decal on the headstock, get some Tokai parts off ebay 8)

The black paint could also be shielding paint.

Mick

Cali Girl said:

Wow! That is a proper cowboy guitar. Just some random thoughts:

1) Did they route out the neck pickup area and that's why it's painted black?

2) The pearl edging on the body looks just like a Martin D-45.

3) How hard would it be to restore it? New decal on the headstock, get some Tokai parts off ebay 8)

Click to expand...

1) I assume so, which is cool with me.

2) Yes it does doesn't it? So it's similar to my 70s/early 80s Yasuma, which is a Martin copy.



3) I think I'll keep most of it as it is, it doesn't seem worth changing the decal, it's part of guitar's history. I do have a Tokai 6 saddle bridge which I'll probably fit, I think they're the perfect Tele bridge, those edges on the vintage type seem such a pain sometimes for no good reason. Or should these models have a 3 saddle bridge?

As for the pickups, if they are Fralins as I think the ad said, they should be better than most Tokai pickups. We'll see when I get my hands on it!

Nice score there Mike.

Mick

leadguitar_323 said:

The black paint could also be shielding paint.

Mick

Click to expand...

What, this bit?

HAHA....a really small shield..!! I wonder if that would be able to be removed with some metholated spirits or other light solvent?

Mick

Well I guess I'm going to have to try the acetone test when I get it (for the first time ever) so maybe that's a good place to try it?

Hope I got the right stuff, the nail polish section is not really home territory for me!

Anyway, what shielding powers does black paint have compared to an inch of sen?

Another thing I just noticed is there is NO wear on the fingerboard at all, so either the former owner bought it, immediately had it re-fretted and then stuck it under the bed, then they are the original, jumbo, frets.

As I said earlier, the fret job looks too good not to have come out the factory, there are no signs at all thet it's been re-fretted???

I think I need to hang on to the guitar for a few years to do more research, I could kick myself for not seeing it first :wink:

I still want to know what it is!

stratman323 said:

I still want to know what it is!

Click to expand...

I would bet on a TE-120, surely a lower model would have a 2-piece body?

its either a pre (i think) 1984 120 or a post 84 80, we had this discussion on a similar vein before somewhere...

lovely.. why didnt i see that!!

stratman323 said:

I still want to know what it is!

Click to expand...

TE-120:

http://www.tokaiforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=9140&highlight=liberace


And catalog page, top left:

http://s13.photobucket.com/albums/a278/generalunrest/?action=view&current=oldies_p4.jpg

And one more:

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=http://www9.plala.or.jp/hiraken01/guitar/te120/te120.htm&ei=0OMWStSVKYfDtwfew_3pDA&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=4&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3DTokai%2BTE-120%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1T4SUNA_enUS315US209%26sa%3DN%26start%3D20

yes but the later TE-80 is identical spec...i think the bridge was different tho.. yes thats got the 3 brass saddles so probably a pre 84 120..nice

The bridge isn't original, it's a Fender one, did the 6 saddle bridges have the same screw pattern as the 3 saddle ones? Maybe additional holes under the bridge might sine some light on what it was

ah fek... in that case still could be a post 84 TE-80..not that it makes any difference ..both were essentially the same guitars...

stetson time..!!!