1984 Tokai MAT-451(?) Restoration Help...(pics :P)

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XEMBLER

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I posted a few years ago hoping to identify a guitar I had picked up along the way. The guitar itself I believe is a White 1984 Tokai MAT-451 with 3 single coil pickups. The body seems to be plastic/fiberglass while the neck is most definitely some type of wood. This could also mean it is a 1986 451? Unsure, Mike tried to help me out in 2004.

There are scratches everywhere on the back and the top of the neck (not on the actual frets at all) and pickguard, so I was hoping for some advice. The top of the neck or head of the guitar is scratched with what looks like sandpaper - the logo is completely gone - would it be difficult to find someone to manufacture such a logo - or a neck for this particular guitar?

Should I look into a different neck possibly carbon fiber? If not, can I paint it myself? Also how hard would it be to find a less scratched pickguard... The guitar sounds great and I always plan to keep it, I like it a lot, so I'm ok with the visual defects but I would like to eventually restore it, or at least make it less of an eye sore.

Anyway enjoy the pictures. Hopefully I have correctly identified the guitar...

tokai_2.jpg
tokai.jpg

tokai_3.jpg

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tokai_6.jpg

tokai_7.jpg


Any advice for restoring such a guitar is very welcome. Thanks for reading my post.
 
I'm seriously looking at this auction as a restoration option:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Tokai-U-stamped-single-pickups-w-black-pickguard-1982_W0QQitemZ120268139148QQihZ002QQcategoryZ2384QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
 
Heres a few pics looking inside (guitar is dirty), not sure what this tag is...

tokai_8.jpg

tokai_9.jpg

tokai_0.jpg
 
It definitely looks like a 1984 MAT M-451. I have one from 1985:

body.jpg


back.jpg


headstock_front.jpg


The original neck (FRP - fiberglass reinforced plastic (red as the body)) was not possible to adjust using the truss rod. I replaced it with a NOS CM-800 carbon fiber neck from 1986.

I also have a MAT 750 series prototype from 1984. It also seems to have a neck made of wood (probably maple).

I also have a couple of more NOS MAT necks, both FRP necks from 1985. I tried one on the 451 before I put the carbon neck on it. The other one is completely unused. I found them in a music store here in Sweden, the owner had no idea where they came from. He had forgotten all about it. They must have been in the store since the 80's.

Mike
 

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