What Tokai do I have

[StanleyDenmark]

 

[Sigmania]

Does it say "71" in the second line?

That would fit with the serial number being before Voidoid56' guitar.

Possibly January 1987 pot date?

 

[StanleyDenmark]

Yeah 71 in the second line is my guess

 

[Sigmania]

Let's wait and see what Voidoid56 thinks. I sent him a message.

If the pot date is Jan 1987, then the guitar was probably made shortly after.

That would really help us with the timeline on this period of Tokai strat copies.

So glad you found that guitar and posted pictures!

 

[Sigmania]

Here’s a red one with a maple board on Reverb but it’s impossible to see the serial number.

Tokai Gold Star Sounds Strat 1987 Fiesta Red | Reverb

 

[Sigmania]

What do your tuners look like? Do you have a picture of the back of the headstock?

 

[StanleyDenmark]

What do your tuners look like? Do you have a picture of the back of the headstock?

 

[Sigmania]

Yep. Those are the tuners they put on the low priced models.

At least we know roughly what model it is.

The model is an AST in the 40 range. Possibly 50 with inflation.

I don't have access to catalogs that would have your guitar in them if they exist.

The 1986/87 catalogs available on line have the TST models which are the Fender headstock.

 

[Sigmania]

And the color is Olympic White (OW) that has yellowed over time to close to a Blonde color.

 

[Sigmania]

Do you have any closer pictures of that code under the pickguard?

The 2 = is blurry in the one I can see.

 

[StanleyDenmark]

What does the Numbers 2=7 indicate?

 

[StanleyDenmark]

Do you have any closer pictures of that code under the pickguard?

The 2 = is blurry in the one I can see.

View attachment 840

 

[StanleyDenmark]

Both 2 and = look blurry - perhaps a shaky hand so it is basically a double tap or what the correct English term is

 

[Hodge69]

The laminated fingerboard tends to suggest earlier than 1987, in my opinion.
ST40 from 84, 85 could be bang on.

 

[Sigmania]

The laminated fingerboard tends to suggest earlier than 1987, in my opinion.
ST40 from 84, 85 could be bang on.

I'm not sure why you are saying that? Do you believe that Tokai stopped making veneer fretboards before 1987?

That's news to me.

What I noticed is that they likely moved to slab boards while making guitars for Fender in the 90s/2000s.

Just wondering where you got that from?

Also, it has the - sign on the neck, so it's 1985 or later on that basis alone.

And in 1984/85 it would be called an AST62 as I said before and say so on the headstock. Instead it says "Goldstar".

 

[Sigmania]

And the pot codes say they were made January 1987 based on what Jacco posted a while back for Burny guitars with similar codes. Yours should be 250k in a Strat, but otherwise similar.

First line:
M500kOhmA (tone) or M500kOhmB (volume)

Second line:
YM L
Year = year
M = month
L = type
M = 1-9, O, N and D; 1=january, 2= february, etc, O = october, N=november and D= december
L = K or P. K=normal type, P=push-pull

How to read Burny pot codes

The wiring is unmolested, so I am going with a 1987 mfr date unless someone else sees something I am missing.

 

[Voidoid56]

Voidoid56 knows how to read the date codes on these pots. Yours look a lot like the one he dated to March 1987 (73)

Yours looks like one of yours may be "74"? Hard to see.

I am wondering if it is April 1987?

Wiring looks unchanged.

Hopefully he will chime in.

View attachment 831

Yeah, 74 would be April 1987 (though I think it's 71, for Jan 87?).

That code format has been well-known for a good while now, as I recall it was the community on the My Les Paul forum that cracked it. It's common in userialled Burnys and often the easiest way to get a ballpark date on those. I think the earliest ones I've seen have been 1983 and the latest 1991 or '92. The first digit is the last of the year, the second the month (1-0, plus N and D for Nov-Dec). The letter after the space is of unknown significance, but it's almost always a K, but N and V have been seen occasionally as well.

I've had two Tokais (though one is badged "Bradley") with these pots, both with 73 March '87 dates and 22xxxx serials, so close to this one. Details here:

Bradley-branded 1987 Goldstar

 

[Voidoid56]

L = K or P. K=normal type, P=push-pull

The P for push-pull theory doesn't hold water, the P-marked pots are perfectly standard. Push-pull pots have a switch box attached to them which would cover any date code, and basically always have smaller housings anyway.

 

[Sigmania]

The laminated fingerboard tends to suggest earlier than 1987, in my opinion.
ST40 from 84, 85 could be bang on.

My apologies to you Hodge69. I just got my hands on a 1984 catalog (1984 Vol. 2) that I had never seen, and saw that the AST80 apparently had a slab board in that catalog.

That said, Tokai continued to use the radiused laminate rosewood board design into the 90s.

The slab rosewood board was offered on special models at the same time as the veneer.

I have one of the first slab rosewood boards Tokai made, a 1981 ST70R.

The 1982/83 AST-62 seems to have a slab board as well.

At any rate, I wanted to clear that up and say that I see where you might have been coming from now that I have seen that AST80 as well as the AST-62. I had no idea they were making a "Goldstar" with a slab board in 1984.

Here's a pic of the AST80 from the 1984 catalog.

Thank you VintAxe.

 

[StanleyDenmark]

My apologies to you Hodge69. I just got my hands on a 1984 catalog (1984 Vol. 2) that I had never seen, and saw that the AST80 apparently had a slab board in that catalog.

That said, Tokai continued to use the radiused laminate rosewood board design into the 90s. And the slab rosewood board was offered on some higher end models before that. I have one of the first they made, a 1981 ST70R.

At any rate, I wanted to clear that up and say that I see where you might have been coming from now that I have seen that model. I had no idea they were making a Goldstar with a slab board in 1984.

Here's a pic from the 1984 catalog.

Thank you VintAxe.

View attachment 964

So does this effect what we believe about the age of my guitar?