Tokai Strat

[Anonymous]

The overall condition of the paint is good for a 25 year old guitar, & there is no obvious discolouration.

The frets do seem to be original & they don't have much wear, so it looks as though this guitar has had quite an easy life. Though that doesn't mean it hasn't had lots of exposure to sunlight I suppose.

It's interesting to compare it with my old Jaguar, which was (I believe) refinished at some point into one of the greens (Surf Green or Sea Foam Green, I can't tell the difference). No flash this time.

We had four blue Goldies at the convention last year (none of them mine). I believe that the one on the left is Iain Black's, & I believe it's (allegedly) Sonic Blue too.

Tokai's Strat colours were a little strange sometimes. Fiesta Red became Flamingo Orange, which is a lot more orange than Fiesta Red. Tokai's Lake Placid Blue was quite close to Fender's. Neither Gold Metallic or Metallic Green had any real equivalent in the Fender range, yet the colour Tokai called simply Metallic Red was an almost perfect copy of Candy Apple Red.

It's funny, I used to dislike the Fender pastel blues & greens, now I like them.

 

[Anonymous]

These might be of interest too

From left, Sonic, Daphne & Lake Placid Blues. Obviously Fender's nitro will age in a different way to Tokai's poly. The one on the far right is some sort of green, I would guess Sherwood Green.

 

[Anonymous]

By way of comparison, here is an (allegedly) original finish 1964 Sonic Blue Strat:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=310138680669&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Here is a new Surf Green 62RI Strat:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270484200272&_trksid=e11012.m204&_trkparms=algo%3DSI%26its%3DI%26itu%3DUCI%26otn%3D8&ssPageName=ADME:B:WNASIF:GB:1348

I think that proves just how wrong Tokai got this colour! My theory is that Tokai made an easy mistake, back in the 80s, & got Daphne & Sonic Blue confused. They thought they were painting guitars Sonic Blue, but they were actually painting them something close to Daphne Blue. Over the years, the Daphne Blue has gone more green due to the effect of sunlight.

 

[JohnA]

Mike, I can't see pictures here at work but what's the colour like under the scratchplate? I had a Bacchust sonic blue strat that had turned very green, but under the scrathplate it was a totaly different colour.

 

[Anonymous]

Mike, I can't see pictures here at work but what's the colour like under the scratchplate?

It's Daphne Blue under the scratchplate. :wink: Very little difference under the scratchplate, not a lot of fading. The poly finish must have something to do with that - colours under nitro are likely to change more.

 

[blake375]

Hmmm. That original Sonic Blue, though a lighter tone, is not a million miles away from the colour of my SB Springy, but nothing like the SB Goldies we?ve seen on the forum. It?s even patchy like my Springy.

There must be a certain kind of poly topcoat that goes evenly yellow over time ? I seem to remember seeing something about Squier pro tone strats a while ago ? one finish option was a blue woodstain, but they went totally green as the topcoat yellowed.

 

[Anonymous]

Update on the Goldie. It's great. A really nice Strat. I decided to change the pickups, so I fitted Seymour Duncan Alnico IIs in the neck & middle & a Duncan Twangbanger in the bridge. I already have a Twangbanger in my white Goldie & I love the fatter, more compressed sound - it does come close to a Tele.

But the Alnicos were the surprise - they warm up the sound, compared to the Duncan Vintage pickups. They don't have quite the same tightness about the bottom end, but that's not a problem for me.

I'm not gigging at the moment, but my mate Noel who bought my gold Goldie is, & I'm trying to convince him that these are the right pickups for his Goldie, so I took it to his gig last night. He used it on Sweet Home Alabama, announced to the audience that he loved this guitar, & that Tokais are better than Fenders, then he said to the band "can we do some Hendrix? I got a Strat!". So they played the best cover of Hey Joe I can recall hearing. If I didn't know what the guitar was, I would have HAD to wait till the end and ask what this amazing Strat was, it was that good.

I'm going to see if I can video them at the next gig so you can see what I mean. Excellent stuff - and it looked great too.

This one's a keeper, no doubt about that. 8)

 

[settebello]

Mike,you push the prices.

Volker

 

[Anonymous]

You're right Volker, but what are we supposed to do? Say that Tokais are rubbish? :-?

It's a dilemma. Anyway, a large part of the praise is for the pickups, it didn't sound anything like as good with the originals. And that Musicman amp of Noel's didn't do any harm either.

:wink:

 

[settebello]

You're right Volker, but what are we supposed to do? Say that Tokais are rubbish? :-?

:wink:

I dont know the seymours,but i have a set of Haeussel Alnico II in my
SE800 and they're really great sounding pups.

Volker