NGD!!! First post...need info on my Tokai!

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horax

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Just engaged in a trade with a local musician who used to live and perform in Austin, TX.

He said he received this strat from Tommy Shannon of SRV and double trouble fame.

The story says that he knew him when he lived in Austin, and that this guy worked at a music store that Tommy owned.

When this guy moved to Denver more than 20 years ago, Tommy said he could have his pick of strats from his collection.

he chose this one.

It's obviously well played, but a few things are amiss from the start.
He got rid of the 1957 neck and put on a mighty mite Fender neck which si AWESOME, I might add. Wide and flat, baby! And MAPLE!

Also, you will notice that the pickups are not stock. It has two 30 years old hotrails and an SCN noiseless in the neck. It has a five positoin switch instead of 3. and the scratch plate is obviously all parts.

Now, on to the good stuff...the neck joint looks like a 1960 fender strat.
The surf green is over red or burst or something...it's peeking through the natural relic.
The clear coat is checking and you can see the yellow tint on top of the aweseom surf green!
I'm digging this strat!
The trem block was replaced because the original was rusted out.
The serial number on the neck plate is 49587.

I've done some research and it looks like a Tokai made in October of some year, model 70R??? The thing is there's an intersting stamp on the inside of the trem cavity AND in the neck joint that says something like, "A Martyron Finish."

I'm hoping I can get some help here.
I want to know as much info about it as possible.

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No idea. And you never know once money is involved. Changes everything sometimes. 😉
 
This is just a guess, but one pic shows that stamp over the re-paint in the trem cavity. Guessing whoever did the re-paint to match the Fender neck did the other one in the neck cavity???
 
Hi guys,
I don't believe it.
Other than the Springy from Texas Flood, Stevies other Tokais had altered headstocks.
The colour code of 'OR' (Old Red) was a type of Dakota Red and only available to the U.S. Market, so this has been re-sprayed Surf Green and by the sounds has had a Fender headstock put on.
Can you find out what happened to the original Tokai neck?
Next, a 70R would have a '62 Rosewood board - not the Maple one seen here so it goes back to a swap.
Finally ST-70 was not a U.S. model : TST-56 and TST-62 or later AST-56 and AST-62 were the American models.

Peter
 
The guy I got it from just said that he got rid of the original neck because he hated the V-profile. Sold it over 20 years ago. :(

So what exactly do I have here guys???

Is this is OR and only available to the USA, and the ST-70 was NOT a USA model...am I getting lost or is there more to the story here?
 
OK, what it is is a Partsocaster - essentially a Tokai TST-56 body with a Fender neck and custom electronics. If the blades are 20 years old, then they are by Seymour Duncan. They are humbucker with 4 poiint wiring.
The 'V' neck indicates a TST-56 ( Tokai replica of a 1956 Strat) and Tokai ST-70 maple did not have V-necks.

As with the colour, OR was for TST-56 and TST-62 guitars. The re-sprayed colour appears to try and match the Fender headstock colour. Surf Green was a DuPont colour used by Fender in the '60s on all their guitars. It was probably resprayed in the States and not Japan.


Peter Mac
 
I think I found out more about the stamp: A Martyrok Finish

Marty Bell
E-mail Address(es):
[email protected]
Business Information:
Phone: 760.805.7024
Web Page: http://www.martybellfinishing.com

www.myspace.com/martyrok
 
That could be good news.
Contact him and see if he ever did a refinish for SRV or Tommy Shannon or the guy you bought the guitar from.

Peter
 
Heard back from him.
He IS the guy who refinished the guitar. He told me some stories about Austin, TX and the people he's worked with.

He is known to have worked on Tommy shannon AND SRV's guitars and refinshed a lot of them.

He gave me the phone number to the guy who owns the shop where all this went down and urged me to give him a call.

I then found Tommy shannon's contact info and have sent him an email, and am hoping for a response.
 
No word yet, but a pix surface of SRV with a red Tokai strat with tommy Shannon and the guy I got the guitar from, so the plot thickens!
 
Awesome. Just happen to be listening to the SRV box set right now. The tone is amazing he pulled out of his guitars. And the way the bass balances Stevie. The studio stuff is really well mixed IMHO.

Would love to see the pic! Post if you can. ;)
 

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