Mystery Guitar With TOKAI Stamped Saddles

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Sigmania

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Trying to sort out what this guitar is?

Tokai Goldstar Sound Stratocaster Strat Electric Guitar - Sunburst | eBay

I had originally thought it was Korean, but now am wondering.

Noe serial number, no "Made In" stamp.

Ceramic ROHS pickups date to after 2003.

TOKAI stamped saddles.

Truss rod adjustment at the headstock. That apparently changed sometime between 2003 and 2009.

Is this Korean or Japanese from the period of mystery (1994-2009) ?

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Last edited:
This can be very misleading on photos but if you look at the neck/headstock transition and the transition/shape at the heel, this doesn't look like a serious attempt at making a Fender neck, or a Tokai neck shaped meticulously like a Fender neck. The fretboard radius looks like 12". I seems to be consistent with the ST style guitars at the end of this thread though.
 
Yep.

It's Korean or Chinese, authorized or unauthorized. May never know.

I am leaning towards Chinese.

AST33 or something similar.

And apparently the "TOKAI" stamped saddles were reintroduced.

I see this a lot with Chinese mfr. One notable example are the Chinese Sigmas where they are using the 70s logo on new guitars. Makes everything more confusing.
 

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