DaveWW
Well-known member
boohoo 
Dave :wink:
Dave :wink:
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JohnA
Well-known member
stratman323 said:
I think that's probably a very BIG IF
stratman323 said:
You're right - and apologies I've come to this thread very late and there's a lot to read and catch up on.
I've got two of these, the RW board is on a '7' decal neck and I think it's a 120 from the very early 80s. The other is probably a TE 80A (the 'A' stands for Ash) from the late 80s. The earlier guitar has more of a V neck, the later a C or soft V. It's very hard to tell them apart. The later guitar has TEAs (one put in by me) and I can't work out what the pickups in the other one are.
They're drop dead gorgeous in a rather flashy way - it's almost impossible to get a picture that does them justice. And, yes, one is silver and the other gold.
Here's the only good body shot I've got :
PS if anyone is in New York, Manny's is closing down at the end of tomorrow (Sunday). Everything is heavily discounted.
JohnA
Well-known member
Stop posting those pics, I NEED a TE120!!
A
Anonymous
Guest
I don't know what you're complaining about John, it's because of bunbury & villager posting pics of theirs that I had to get this one!
Very nice bunbury, I remember your two very well. I took a gamble that mine would be the same model(s) as you have, & it looks like the gamble paid off.
Mine doesn't have a V neck, the neck is virtually the same as my TE70, so do you think that makes it a late 80s TE80A? Did these come with a rosewood board? I have a feeling that only the early 80s TE120s had rosewood boards?
Very nice bunbury, I remember your two very well. I took a gamble that mine would be the same model(s) as you have, & it looks like the gamble paid off.
Mine doesn't have a V neck, the neck is virtually the same as my TE70, so do you think that makes it a late 80s TE80A? Did these come with a rosewood board? I have a feeling that only the early 80s TE120s had rosewood boards?
stratman323 said:
Perhaps ... but it's really difficult to get any information on these. There's a TE 80A in one of the late 1980s catalogues here, which shows it existed and not much more. Peter Mac suggested the TE80A could be right for one of mine (block logo too). I don't know enough about the histories of mine to know how original they are, so I'm not sure what useful conclusions we can draw by comparing fixtures and fittings. Peter says the 120s had flamed necks - but the neck on my 80 is flamed ... so maybe they both did. Villager has had several pass through his hands, but how many there are? Dunno. But you don't see them come up very often.
stratman323 said:
I've just noticed that your's has got the 'gold' abalone. That's very interesting ... this is surely an original detail. My '120' also has that golden colour. If you look at the '80A' it's silver, and so was the one Villager sold.
JohnA
Well-known member
bunbury said:
I have plenty strings, send her my way :wink:
JohnA said:
I have plenty strings, send her my way :wink:[/quote]
That string's a keeper. And I've grown used to playing it with a TE80A ....
More seriously ... I think the gold / silver colouring is important. This is not just about the abalone. The whole finish of the 120 is a much warmer colour - you can see it in the picture of my two together. This used to worry me ... I'm a bit more confident about the provenance of my silver guitar (the 80?) + it matched the late 80s catalogue picture for colouration. The gold one (120?) does not match the colour in the catalogue and I had occasionally wondered if perhaps the gold one was a bag of parts that had been re-finished in slightly the wrong shade. It wouldn't be the first guitar to acquire and undeserved '7'. Now Mike's is exactly the same mine - and the neck matches the body colour on both guitars. 2 identical bodies, 2 identical necks. This looks like the work of Tokai. I think both guitars are original and I think they're both 120s.
Has anyone else got one of these? what's the colouring / logo / pups etc?
villager
Well-known member
i have had both the sivered and golden finish ones...
still not sure which model is which..!!
still not sure which model is which..!!
A
Anonymous
Guest
Thanks for your input guys. So mine looks more likely to be an early 80s TE120, on balance? What about the rosewood board? Does anyone know if any of the later TE80s came with rosewood? We know there were some maple ones.
And what about the larger frets & dark dot inlays? Could this have been a special order from Tokai? Would the apparently hand written body codes help to confirm this?
And what about the larger frets & dark dot inlays? Could this have been a special order from Tokai? Would the apparently hand written body codes help to confirm this?
villager
Well-known member
the answer to all those questions is ''don't know for sure''
there are not enough of them around to know what was and was not standard...and so incredibly difficult to correctly I.D. yours.
and especially as parts have been changed it makes it even harder..
there are not enough of them around to know what was and was not standard...and so incredibly difficult to correctly I.D. yours.
and especially as parts have been changed it makes it even harder..
MIJvintage
Well-known member
when I saw these two FINE Tokai Teles side X side, I just had to see them again
Mike, you have **** fine taste in Teles brutha :wink:
Mike, you have **** fine taste in Teles brutha :wink:
stratman323 said:
A
Anonymous
Guest
Another possibility - could the neck be from a Fender Japan Tele? That would explain the decal looking original, but did FJ use the Custom Tele name? The FJ Teles I have seen all have Fender Telecaster decals even when they are Customs with the bound body.
The Fender USRIs have a Custom decal, but the neck feels too fat to be from one of those.
But did FJ ever stamp neck codes like this? I have only seen stamps like that from Tokai.
The Fender USRIs have a Custom decal, but the neck feels too fat to be from one of those.
But did FJ ever stamp neck codes like this? I have only seen stamps like that from Tokai.
A
Anonymous
Guest
And isn't that the later type of Tokai truss rod screw? The early 80s guitars had an allen key adjuster.
A
Anonymous
Guest
MIJvintage said:
Well I would never have dared to buy something like this if it wasn't for the education from the fine folks on here. A few people told me, when I joined the forum, that I would find Tokais that would be as good as or better than my Custom Shop Strat & Tele. I was sceptical. They were right.
8)
The lessons on lumber didn't do any harm either. :wink:
villager
Well-known member
i would say 99% thats a tokai neck..
villager
Well-known member
anything could be .
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