anyone ever seen one of these before?

westone collector

i was hoping one of you fine gentlemen could tell me something about a guitar i have, i've been searching for information for quite a while now and so far i've found nothing...
i bought this guitar used in the mid 90's from a local music store and at that time it was cream/off white colored and had the tokai logo on the headstock. it's 24 fret, neck thru, and has a pretty unusually shaped body.
it has no serial numbers or identifying marks anywhere on it except for the "patent applied for" and "made by goto" on the back of the pickups.

i recently started refinishing it (sanded it down to bare wood in hopes of staining it and adding a coat of polyeurethane) and it rekindled my curiousity, can anyone tell me what this is? i'm not interested in the value of it, just what model and how old. it's like a member of the family...

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f198/viciousroadie/Picturethis2a234234rt56002.jpg

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f198/viciousroadie/Picturethis2a234234rt56004.jpg

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f198/viciousroadie/axes/Picturethis2a234234010.jpg

japaxes · Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2007 1:38 am Post subject:

HI, can't be 100% but your guitar looks more like an ARIA (80s) as it
has got that very distinct peghead & looking at the bridge & tailpiece it
also looks like standard ARIA stock . body shape i am not shure of but
looks like ARIA (because shape not too far from one of their cardinal range) but with a BC rich twist. I may be wrong but im sure one of our
forum members will be able to help.
any way it looks great....

tokaiguy · Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2007 9:07 am Post subject:

I agree... first thing that came to mind was an Aria

TG

Silver · Plucker Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 13

So, if it's Aria try this pages:

http://matsumoku.org/guitars.html

And a forum:

http://www.matsumoku.org/ggboard/index.php

westone collector · Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 8:24 pm Post subject: still hoping for info...

i'm still pretty certain this is a 60's tokai. i figured i'd try again and see if i could finally get some info. from someone who wasn't here when i origionally posted this.
thanks,
tom

BlueThird · Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 10:08 pm Post subject:

Have you got any pictures from before you stripped it down? Very much doubt that I'll be able to help, but the logo might get you some extra info from someone else. Shots inside the pickup cavities and of the electronics might be useful too.

Interested to know what it's like as a guitar, and what it looks like now.

leadguitar_323 · Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 11:10 pm Post subject: Re: still hoping for info...

e-classics · Posted: Wed Jan 06, 2010 1:13 pm Post subject:

First thing I thought of was Westtone. Looks like a cross between a Aria and Westone.
_________________
1978 LS-60 Reborn
1983 Talbo Blazing Fire A100D GM
1984 MAT M752 Copper
1984 Talbo bass Blue Met.

leadguitar_323 · Posted: Wed Jan 06, 2010 6:02 pm Post subject:

Looks like a Aria headstock and with the neck through design i think its more likely a Matsumoku made guitar.

Mick
_________________
so many guitars....so little money...

mirrorboy · Guitar God Joined: 27 Jun 2003 Posts: 491 Location: U.K.

seek and ye shall find

Here's a guitar very similar to that in a 1981 Tokai catalog. There is a picture bottom right of Mick Ronson playing it, and I believe the guitar was described as a "Tokai Special".

I would take leadguitar's advice and contact Tokai. Maybe you could also ask them about Mick Ronson's "Tokai Special".

chrisheyes · Posted: Thu Jan 07, 2010 8:00 am Post subject:

Top detective work Mirrorboy

Nice one !

leadguitar_323 · Posted: Thu Jan 07, 2010 5:51 pm Post subject:

Excellent work mirror boy, i don't mind being wrong at all, the more correct info the better..

Mick
_________________
so many guitars....so little money...

westone collector · Posted: Wed Jan 20, 2010 1:56 am Post subject: that's better than nothing...

thank you very much, at least i know a little more about it now than i have for the last 10 years or so. i'm not even going to ask if it's valueble, i've had it longer than any other guitar and i hope to get it back together and play it again fairly soon.

i did notice that the one in the picture was slightly different than mine. mine has the dark wood (mohogany?) in the center section and the lighter colored wood for the wings. the one in the picture seems to be reversed so that only the wings are mohogany. i'm guessing that since mine seems to have more mohogany in it mine will sound a little better?

someone asked about it's condition before i stripped it... before i took it apart it played great. low action, no dead frets, rediculous tone, and some pretty amazing sustain. i also own an ibanez xiphos with dimarzio d'activators and as far as i can remember the tokai sounds better, most likely due to the tokai having a fixed bridge? i'm more of a collector than a "musician" so please excuse me if i sound like a total idiot.

as for the question of it's current condition, it's still apart - only now it's completely sanded down and ready for stain. i'm planning on staining it with green or red tinted stain unless one of you fine gentlemen have a better suggestion...

when she's all back together and all set up i'll upload a picture...
thanks VERY MUCH for the help, i truly appreciate it.

BlueThird · Posted: Wed Jan 20, 2010 2:34 am Post subject:

If it were mine, I'd let the wood ? and the design ??do the talking. Look at in a certain way and you imagine a flying vee, even though it isn't that at all. Look at it another way and there's a hint of Strat or BC Rich. I reckon a stain would distract from the ambiguity, by reducing the contrast between the two woods.

Think you need to get yourself some white jeans and a white shirt and get up on stage with it. And make sure to give the lighting tech specific instructions about highlighting the guitar from different angles every now and then?

westone collector · Posted: Wed Jan 20, 2010 2:56 am Post subject: