80s Breezy?

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bashbrook

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Just wanted to check if my Tokai Breezysound is from the 80s as I've always assumed. I've no idea if it's pre or post 85 so I hope I'm OK to ask this here (it was sold to me as being from the mid 80s)

I've owned it for around 10 years and when I bought it, it was in it's present state, i.e. pretty beat up. I have no objections to the dings and scrapes but what I struggle to live with is the hideously ugly mismatched body timber. Over the years, I've started to worry that it might not be what I thought it was. My own experiences of owning other Tokais has been of very high quality workmanship and I struggle with the idea of them producing something that looks like it's made of offcuts.

It sounds great and is reasonably light at around 7.5lbs. Neck is slim-ish. There's a number on the neck plate (222459) but someone once told me this is not a serial number (no idea what it is then, a model code?). No numbers anywhere else.

I assume the nut (it's black) and the frets (they're massive, possibly stainless) have been replaced but the rest seems original although the pots are odd as the tone actually gets brighter as you roll back the volume.

There is no evidence that it's ever been any other colour and I have seen other Breezys in this finish combo (amber tint, white guard, rosewood board). I would consider getting it refinished but I imagine it will cost more than the guitar is worth.

Any thoughts ideas as to whether it's a genuine 80s Tokai and whether it will be worth getting it refinished?

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Some close-ups of parts of the guitar:
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8479/8186894996_a0e6b1ca86_c.jpg
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8489/8186896366_7dd0fd0f06_c.jpg
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8058/8186894464_00439281cb_c.jpg
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8065/8186894102_4ca96fedfd_c.jpg
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8200/8186895648_a94d818203_c.jpg
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8343/8186893634_1d0d4e8a9f_c.jpg
 
look in the pickup cavities for some codes, could it perhaps been a solid colour and then refinished before you got it ?? My breezy is a three pice as well but its newer and sunburst.
 
brokentoes said:
look in the pickup cavities for some codes, could it perhaps been a solid colour and then refinished before you got it ?? My breezy is a three pice as well but its newer and sunburst.

Thanks for the advice. I have looked in the control cavity before but there were no codes that I remember, and no sign of any other coloured lacquer.

Have just popped the neck and looked in the neck pickup cavity. The neck pickup is stamped "TEB" and there's a stamped code "5-18" and a handwritten "N" (N = natural finish?). This code is also stamped on the end of the neck. The neck pocket has what looks like a "44" pencilled on it.

Notes:
1) I put the small, veneer shim at the base of the neck pocket to get the saddles in the position I like them with a decent action.
2) I'm worried about the pick-guard screw on the treble side of the neck pickup. As you can see, the hole is so close to the edge of the rout that it has broken through. IIRC, the control cavity screw-holes are also very close to breaking the body timber, making it a delicate job not to damage them when looking inside the guitar. Is this typical for Tokais or even Fenders?

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While I was at it, I took a photo of the volume/tone pots.

(Note also the damage to the wood around the screw holes that worries me.)

Both are marked M500KΩB so even I can work out that they're 500k, which explains the brightness when turning down! This seems like an odd value as most things I've read suggest 250k pots with Fender style single-coil guitars. Again, not sure if this is a Tokai thing or if they have been replaced at some time:

8187044609_367cd20d6c_b.jpg
 
Sorry to spam myself but my "plan B" is to simply chuck a sticker over the offending join to distract the attention!
That way I get to keep a great sounding Tele and don't have to spend anything.
 
From neck&body codes + serial it seems an all original breezy. The logo suggests 1984-85 model ('64 - '65 replica) but don't know if the serial match the year...
 
Hi, I agree with bluesy rat. N is used for Natural finish however not normally hand written. Could it be a last minute decision to change a custom colour to natural? I am converting a Squire to Surf green and the auto paint and lacquer has cost me about ?30 plus a bit of elbow grease with the wet and dry. Really happy with the results tobe shared on the forum soon. How about blonde or butterscotch finish?

Iain

Ps sticker looks cool too , did you see the custom job a forum member did with old comic books. How about photo copied $100 bills all over. I will dig out the link. Lots of possibilities to change the finish.
 
iainblack said:
Hi, I agree with bluesy rat. N is used for Natural finish however not normally hand written. Could it be a last minute decision to change a custom colour to natural? I am converting a Squire to Surf green and the auto paint and lacquer has cost me about ?30 plus a bit of elbow grease with the wet and dry. Really happy with the results tobe shared on the forum soon. How about blonde or butterscotch finish?

Iain

Ps sticker looks cool too , did you see the custom job a forum member did with old comic books. How about photo copied $100 bills all over. I will dig out the link. Lots of possibilities to change the finish.

Thanks chaps. The last minute idea sounds plausible but I'm still surprised that they went with a transparent finish over such obviously mismatched timber. It's a three piece body so I'd imagine typical of the regular models and I'd have thought they would go with a solid colour.

As for the DIY route, the last time I tried that was with my Hondo II strat in about 1980 and the results were, to say the least, disappointing.
I doubt that I could even get it stripped properly.
I have considered just buying a new, finished, body but I'm not sure about the appropriate screw holes and sizes. Presumably the Tokais, having different bridges, use different screw patterns? Then there's the neck bolt issue and the metric sizings :(
 
Stickers are your friend. Try a few rather than one big one, it's like tats that are more akin to body art.
 
Check out Dave's amazing custom job!

http://www.tokaiforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=19660&highlight=

You wouldnt need to remove the finish just take it down with 1000 grit / wet & dry, clean it up, spray, rub down etc then seal. Or pay someone ?100 to do it for you? Might get it cheaper at an independent car repair paintshop?
 
iainblack said:
Check out Dave's amazing custom job!

http://www.tokaiforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=19660&highlight=

You wouldnt need to remove the finish just take it down with 1000 grit / wet & dry, clean it up, spray, rub down etc then seal. Or pay someone ?100 to do it for you? Might get it cheaper at an independent car repair paintshop?

It's quite something!
Not really my thing but very impressive nevertheless.
I keep thinking about getting it resprayed but the costs I see online are always a couple of hundred quid and upwards. Hardly worth it for a guitar that's not worth much more than that!
The other problem is that it's absolutely full of dings, scrapes and gouges. Oddly enough I think these look great, unlike the horrible join in the wood!

This happens every couple of years. I get the Breezy out and think "this would be great if it didn't look so bloody awful". I then price up a refin and general fix-up, decide it's not worth paying when I could get something like a Baja tele for the same price and shove it back in the case. It will pass soon enough and I'll shut up for another couple of years.
 
Maybe its me but i don't think it looks that awful, why not just play the hell out of it and maybe add to the dings and scratches etc and get your mojo workin' ?
 
Thread revival alert!!!

Decided to go ahead with the refin a year or two ago.
Got a local chap to to an aged-white finish for a mid-60s vibe.
He kept all the original dings and scrapes, so it still feels like my guitar.
Very happy with the result and it gets a lot more play time these days!

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Looks beautiful!

To get back to your original question; it has april 1987 pots, so 1987 it is.
 

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