2009 Goldstar Sound strat, is this one a rarity?

Tokai Forum

Help Support Tokai Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
Oct 27, 2006
Messages
17
Reaction score
1
Hi All,

I bought last week new from a music shop a Tokai Goldstar Sound (presumably TST50) strat copy. They had it in the shop for years and I finally decided if noone else was having it then I would.

The strange thing is, I thought Tokai were not making these fender copies in 2009, and that they were still manufacturing for fender japan at the time?

There are a few other features of the guitar that make it stand out from my other two TST50s (a 2011 sunburst and a 2013 mary kaye), namely:

-Very bright 'amber' sunburst
-One piece swamp ash body
-Parchment pickup covers/knobs
-Deeply tinted maple neck
-Plain unstamped (gotoh presumably) saddles
-09 serial number

Is it possible with the above features this was part of a limited run? The (apparently) one piece body in particular is very unusual.

Pics below:







 
willowgardenuk said:
Hi All,

The strange thing is, I thought Tokai were not making these fender copies in 2009, and that they were still manufacturing for fender japan at the time?

I guess you have to contact to Fender and Tokai for the details of their deal to get this sorted. Nice guitar though.
 
I bought ans sold a few of these in 2010, also with 2009 serials.

I don't think they were a limited run, the ones I got were part of 'stock' that Tokai had at the time...they offered them all to me, I took a few and I think the rest went to the UK.
If I remember correctly they were made for some kind of 'trade show' in Japan.
The colour is just a regular Tokai two tone sunburst (GS).

For me, one problem with these guitars is the thin vintage frets...that's a deal breaker for me.
I also wasn't a fan of the one ply scratchplate, although that's "57 RI" correct.
What I do these days is order the TST and TTE50 models in Ash or Alder with 6105 frets and satin finish maple or rosewood necks.

Here's one of the ones I got.

d6ca.jpg


rxdy.jpg


9y2f.jpg


r1fy.jpg
 
That looks to be very similar to my above '09 strat, the one difference (it may just be the lighting in the photo) is that the tint on the neck on my strat seems to be a good deal darker (it's as dark as you would see on eric johnson strats for example). This also distinguishes it from my other two TST50s, both of which have far lighter, more natural looking tints to the maple.
 
Your guitar is the UK version of TST & TTL. It's made for the UK market only;

http://www.tokai-guitars.co.uk/index.php?page=shop.product_details&category_id=18&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=126&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=31
 
Current TST/TTE/TJB models. Those guitars are(was until this year) made for Japanese market and for countries which do not have problems with Fender regarding headstock design.


TST50A-2 GS(2tone sunburst) Maple 1 pcs. neck, Swamp Ash 2 pcs. body
TST50A-2 YSOR(3tone sunbrust) Rosewood Fingerboard, Swamp Ash 2 body
TST50A-3 FRR(Fiest Red9 Rose Fingerboard, Swamp Ash 3 pcs. body
TST50A-3 SOBR(Sonic Blue) Rose Fingerboard, Swamp Ash 3 pcs. body
TST50A-3 SOB(Sonic Blue) Maple 1 pce. Neck, Swamp Ash 3 pcs. body
TTE70A-3 (Union Jack top) Rosewood Fingerboard, Swamp Ash 3 pcs. body
TTE50A-3 CARR(Candy Apple Red) Rosewood Fingerboard, Swamp Ash 3 pcs. body
TTE50A-3 CAR Maple 1 pce. Neck, Swamp Ash 3 pcs. body
TTE50A-2 BL (See-through Blond), Swamap Ash 2 pcs. body
TTE50A-2 YSOR, Rosewood Fingerboard, Swamp Ash 2 pcs. body
TTE70A-3 PR(Paisley body painting) Maple 1 pce. Neck, Swamp Ash 3 pcs. body
TTE70A-3 UK(Union Jack body painting) Maple 1 pce. Neck, Swamp Ash 3 pcs.body
TTE70A-3 RR(Rosewood) Rosewood Fingerboard, Swamp Ash 3 pcs. body
TTE55A-3 CAR, Body Top&Back Binding, Swamp Ash 3 pcs. body
TTE55A-3 CARR, Body Top&Back Binding, Swamp Ash 3 pcs. body
TTE55A-3 GS, Body Top&Back Binding, Swamp Ash 3 pcs. body
TJB55A-2 YSOR, Swamp Ash 2 pcs. body
TJB55A-3 VWHR(Vintage White), Swamp Ash 3 pcs. body
TJB55A-3 VWHR(Vintage White), Swamp Ash 3 pcs. body, Matching headstock.
TJB55A-3 CARR, Swamp Ash 3 pcs.body

The difference between AST, ATE, AJB, APB (Export) and TST,TTE,TJB is as follows.
AST70, ATE78B, ATE82 and AST100 have 22
frets, original headstock, trusrod adjustment on the headstock.
TST50A/TTE50A/TST70A/TTE70A Ash body, 184mm
radius neck, bottom trussrod adjustment, 21 vintage frets, old vintage
headstock (2 means 2 pcs. of Ash body, 3 means 3pcs. of Ash body)
Steel block, CTS pot 250k, CRL switch - optional, by dealers request.
The spec. for TST50 is more high-grade than AST70, just the model number is small.
This is not all modification.
Personally, I do not really like the pickups. They still use Gotoh pickups and current ones sounds very thin.
 
Thanks for the detail, interestingly the blonde mary kaye style is not listed as a finish option yet I was able to buy one new last year, also the same dealer (Frets Guitar Centre) advised that I could get a black TST50 ('blackie' style) if wanted.
 
willowgardenuk said:
Thanks for the detail, interestingly the blonde mary kaye style is not listed as a finish option yet I was able to buy one new last year, also the same dealer (Frets Guitar Centre) advised that I could get a black TST50 ('blackie' style) if wanted.

I mentioned that "This is not all modification." Of course I know about Mary Kaye style guitars. Tokai is very flexible company and colour options may also vary depending on dealer demand.
 
I agree to an extent that the gotoh pickups are not perfect, they are perhaps a bit 'sterile' sounding. Certainly better than the stock pickups on a similarly priced fender though.
 
willowgardenuk said:
I agree to an extent that the gotoh pickups are not perfect, they are perhaps a bit 'sterile' sounding. Certainly better than the stock pickups on a similarly priced fender though.

They are certainly better than the pickups used in Fender standard strats made in mexico or similar ceramics pups used in cheapest Japanese and Korean Fenders (and Squiers).
 

Latest posts

Back
Top