84 Goldstar?

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Seller has sent me more pics, HSS factory routing and an assembly date sticker Feb 2008 under the pickguard!
 
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I wonder if these are tokais at all, maybe a run of fakes? I can't find any history of these guitars for sale.
 
It’s interesting. The other HSS Tokais have have the post 1985 production code with a “-“ instead of an “=“.

But this Goldstar has a 5 digit serial, and obviously not the Fender numbering system since this guitar is a 3 tone sunburst with rosewood veneer board, features from well after 1961.

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How long was this Fender headstock shape available in Europe? That would help bracket the date. It’s post 1985 and pre?

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Sigmania said:
How long was this Fender headstock shape available in Europe? That would help bracket the date. It’s post 1985 and pre?

In the UK around 86 I think. These guitars are much later than that.
 
Hmmm. The TTE50 in the other thread has a Fender headstock and pot codes from 1987 I believe.

Were there Fender headstocks made for other markets after 1985? In Japan for example?
 
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Also, I am not seeing a brass ground plate on any of these. Wonder when that stopped?

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With the body code, 11-14 (and the countersunk holes for the neck bolts on those other HSS bodies) they seem to be MIJ Tokias.
 
After 9 months this continues to be a puzzling guitar in my opinion.

ATO, you are good at finding these headscratchers.

To answer my own question above, brass plate phased out by early 1987.

This guitar I now believe is actually from 1989, not 1984.

I'm sure this confusion comes from the seller using the Registry for dating.

See where I think it actually fits here:

ST Serial Numbering Systems

And here:

Tokai Strat Copy Timeline 1977- Present

Notable features of this guitar:

5 digit serial number on a guitar with a rosewood board

HSS rout,

11-14 body code,

pot code seems to be 99.

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So it appears that these are September 1989 pots (99) in a guitar assembled in November (11) 1989?

That all fits nicely.

The confusing part is the label on the pickguard with handwritten date of 2008? That label is unlike anything I have seen on a Tokai. Looks like Western handwriting.

But the wiring looks unchanged....

Maybe the label has to do with something else?

Looks like I am possibly seeing the word "Sold" in the part of the label that is torn. This may simply be a label for a re-seller...

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Btw, it also has what looks like a high mass brass saddles (SS80 or DiMarzio type?).


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