Help me ID Tokai Jazz Sound (JB120?)

SpringySound

I'm pretty sure this is a 1980 JB120, but I'd love to know for sure.
Also, I'd love to see someone else's pickups to make sure these are original. The magnet on the bridge pickup looks a bit odd to me. (The bridge pu in the pic is an Artec that was in it when I got it but the 'original' was in the gigbag -- I'll post pics in a bit).

Looks to be a one-piece body. 3TSB. Pickguard missing.
No holes for pickup covers or thumbrest/tugbar, which strikes me as odd.

Barrel-type saddles -- shouldn't they be the ridged type?

No markings in the bridge pu cavity, but something in the neck pu cavity. Hard to read. 10=10YS maybe? I?m guessing YS is the ?Yellow Sunburst? finish, but no idea about the rest.

No marks that I can see in the control cavity under the brass ground plate.

There?s a serial# on the neck plate ? reads 0010854

Spaghetti logo. 4-screw reverse tuners.

Neck heel stamp reads 120A

There's a figure "8" chalked in the neck pocket (which has transferred onto the back of the neck ? so it doesn?t look like the neck?s been off much).

It has a brass nut ? Can?t imagine that?s original?

A bit of fretboard wear from years of roundwounds, but it?s a nicely figured piece of rosewood laminate ? I?ve seen mention of Jacaranda fingerboards. Any idea if that?s one?

It has one changed out volume pot ? the rest of the electronics look like pretty standard issue 250k metric pots, green Japanese chicklet cap (can?t read the value).

Anyone know the significance/meanings of the various stamps/marks?

[IMG]http://i440.photobucket.com/albums/qq123/devnulljp/guitars/1980TokaiJB120/2015-05-29_14-03-24_zpss5e2hola.jpg [/IMG]

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Three quarks for Muster Mark!

SpringySound · Posted: Sat May 30, 2015 3:27 pm Post subject:

Some pics of the whole bass

You have to love the cheeky logo

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Three quarks for Muster Mark!

SpringySound · Posted: Sat May 30, 2015 5:30 pm Post subject: Pickups

Here are some pics of the pickups.
It came with the bridge pu removed and replaced with an Artec. I was told the neck pu was original, but they seem to be quite different designs (with the neck pu looking more like the Artec than the bridge pu).

They seem to be glued into the covers -- at least couldn't get the covers off.

Can anyone compare with their Jazz Sound pu'ps?

The apparently (allegedly?) original bridge pu has what looks like two little bar magnets rather than the one long bar of the neck pu (and the Artec) and is covered with a kind of adhesive fabric.

Makes me think the bridge pu is original and the other two are a replacement set...

Bridge pu (it was missing the hot lead when I got it. I replaced it with a new wire).

You can see the difference in design here -- the neck pu magnet is a single bar and extends below the lip of the cover.

This pic shows the neck pu and the Artec

The Artec comes out of the cover quite happily

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Three quarks for Muster Mark!

bluejeannot · Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 6:52 pm Post subject:

Hi,I don`t think any of the pickups are original as Tokai JB pickups of this era should have individual alnico pole pieces not underlying ceramic bar magnets.If the finish is nitro then, the the bass is a high end model.Cool looking bass .Congratulations.Gabe.
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bluejeannot

SpringySound · Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 7:04 pm Post subject:

SpringySound · Posted: Sun May 31, 2015 11:39 pm Post subject:

Did some more digging -- it's bugging me that there are no holes in the body for the tugbar and every Jaz Sound I've seen so far has one.
But I just found a reference to a JB80, which is listed as having humbucking pickups, which might explain the pickups?

It has the YS finish, and no tug bar.

The 81 catalogue I found (better res. than the one on here, so I could read it) lists the 120 as having a jacaranda fingerboard, while the 80 has rosewood (how to tell the difference?). The 120 has a 1 piece sen (i.e., ash) body, while the 80 has alder (again, how can you tell?).

I love a mystery :)
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Three quarks for Muster Mark!

bluejeannot · Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2015 4:41 am Post subject:

That`s very interesting.Jacaranda is Brazilian rosewood. The first thing I noticed about the fingerboard on your bass is that it`s orangey ,black stripey board looked to me like Brazilian rosewood rather than the more usual Indian variety.This points to your bass being the extremely rare 120!Gabe.
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bluejeannot

bluejeannot · Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2015 4:49 am Post subject:

The body also looks to be one piece,not sen ash though, the body looks to be real ash.which along with the Brazilian board is incredibly rare ,in fact unknown on Tokais.I will stick my neck out and say you have a really rare bird JB120.Gabe.PS the brass nut may also be original.
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bluejeannot

jacco · Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2015 4:33 am Post subject:

I have this one registered as a JB-120 for years now, don't know where I got it from.