EBAY body...is it a real Tokai body. Pls Help

patchel · Last edited by patchel on Sat Mar 15, 2014 2:40 pm; edited 6 times in total

Is this thing a real 80's Tokai Body??? The neck pocket looks a lot like other Tokai Guitars. But the Humbucker Route and not having any stampings kind of threw me off. Parts body off of EBAY. I wanted a real replacement for my long gone TST56. I also have a really nice AST 56 neck. I have a set of real pickups to go in when I get it all sorted out Please let the experts add their thoughts ...

(There's a towell over part of the body...it's not cut off)

The neck pocket looks alot like some other pictures I have seen...

The Back Route looks like some others I have seen, with the screws showing thru....

The Humbucker Route and lack of ink stamping make me scratch my head... does not seem to match with the 7 hole "50s"pick guard

FINAL PROSPEC looks legit...

Are these the right knobs?

the electronics are gone....it has expensive Fralin Pick Ups in it..maybe the switch is original?

Fralin PUs ..any of this stuff original? I have a brass plate with the original PUs on another guitar...

I have a nice ATS 56 neck... (on a MiniMyte) body)

and a beat up TST neck....has tha Leo looking "T" script...

Please help, I want to put my original TOKAI Pickups, one of the necks and the body, trem and 7 hole pickgaurd together to try to recreate my 84 ish TST56...did I get ripped on the body, or is it legit Tokai?... looks like it is 3 peice, maybe ASH...it's real grainy in the routs ( at least it ain't plywood )

... Big Thanks to felixcatus for showing me how to get the images to display!

felixcatus

Len · Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 10:47 am Post subject:

It?s an original Tokai body. Sen wood I?d say. The humbucker routing is typical for later Goldstars.
The screw holes in the neck pocket are still countersunk like on earlier Springies & Goldstars. But the pickup middle & neck routings are different (no recess for pickup screws).

I think this must be a post 1984 or 85 body. They probably started to use this kind of routing from ~1986 onwards (!?) - but that?s just a guess.
I once had a sunburst TST-50 with that kind of routing. It also had the same ?step? routing in the trem cavity. It probably was a late 80s or a 1990s model. I find it a bit hard to exactly date Goldstars. Early springy sound serial numbers are so much easier

patchel · Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 5:01 pm Post subject: Thanks Len!

Len, Thanks!... Do you think the knobs are right? I have the original tone knobes, dimensionally they are the same, but the ink is darker.

I am using it on a the AST neck ( the AST is perfect even has some birdseye) The original TST is really beat. Bad crack repair across the head stock,screw holes from the Khaler, and I sanded the back of the neck....not sure what I was thinking when I was 19 years old. On the original body I added a Khaler ( for an 80's american standard) and a really bad humbicker route (used a chisel I think) totally roached the body. I almost have a guitar finished, when I do, I post photos of the buildup.

Thank again, Tokais are the best

woodstone · Plucker Joined: 26 Mar 2017 Posts: 11 Location: london

Hi all, this's Dom,
I know this's an old post, but I just sign in on this group.
I have a Tokai AST 56 vintage series with the same body and I'm wondering if it is original.
Did you find out the about the one in this discussion?
Thanks
Dom