PLz Help me with this guitar...

Greetings forum memebers,
I bought a guitar from a friend who said that this was the best value stratocaster ever. I never heard of tokai before, so i was a bit scared of hadning over the money. So i googled tokai and i was directed here.
I went on to the dating page, and tried to date the guitar. I looked at the pictures and saw that the sahpe is the same as one from 1985, but the sticker on it says ' goldstar sound ' and a little sticker saying ' oldie but goldie ' on it. I dont understand how can this work, a different sticker on different headstock?

I looked at some other threads in this forum about guitar, and i saw that people were interested in the numbers under the pickguard and on the neck. I took the guitar apart and tried to look on the numbers. I found one number in the neck pickup space, and it looked like somebody tried to scratch it out using some sort of metal object, the paint was all scraped away. The number was hard to see but from what i could see it said ' E2 - 11 ' I think.
I took the neck off and was really shocked, i could see 2 numbers. One was a stamp that looked like it was under the finish, and a second number over the top that look like someone had written it with a permanent marker. The stamped number read ' 11- (12) ' The bracket part i could not see as it was blocked by the permanent marker. The permanent marker number read ' E2 - 30 '!
I am worried by this, and i want to know if you think this is not a real goldstar sound tokai strat guitar. As the numbers do not match.
The neck is rosewood, and i have found that the frets are very very short, very low profile, and you need to press hard to not get any fret buzz. I hope this helps, and i hope you can help me. Because if i find out that this is not a real tokai goldstar sound guitar. i will not be very happy, and i will hit my friend of the head with it, and take my money back! :evil:

Numbers not matching is common but without detailed pictures it can't be identified correctly. Take pictures of the cavity under the scratch plate of the body and the underside of the scratch plate and the neck pocket. Also the headstock and the neck plate serial number.

Mick

Or I will hit Mick on the head..!!!

Mick

Thank for your help, I had to borrow my friends camera to take the pictures and it was not very good.
The neck plate does not have a serial number on it anywahere. I tired to take it off and look on the back but there was none. I tried to take a picture of the number inside the cavity, but it was so scratched out the camera could not pick it up. I took pictures of the neck part, but there is nothing there.

So i managed to take these pictures of the neck the headstock and the scratch plate:

Headstock:
[img=http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/1184/headstock.th.jpg]

Scrathcplate


Scratchplate:


Neck:


I hope this helps for the guitar.

What country are you in? That's vital info for ID ing a Tokai as the headstock shape changed at different times in different markets.

You can add it to your profile

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I'm not familiar with the modified headstock models, so I'm not sure if I can comment on whether various bits are original.

Hello, im living in england. I hope this helps. thanks

Ah, well, we never really established the date when the new headstock shape started in the UK. It seems that Blue Suede Music were distributing Goldstars in the UK until at least the late 80s, & I think they retained the original headstock shape all that time. In the US the cut-off date was 1985, which is what Ned has put in the Registry.

The pickups & switch don't look right to me for a Tokai, but maybe they changed them on the later models? Hopefully somebody who has one will be able to help?

Are there any codes in the body in the control cavity? Pics would help.

Thank you for your reply. The pickguard looks fairly new on it. maybe it was swapped.
The only number on the cavity under the pickguard is a very scratched out number I can bairly make it out with my eyes, and the camera does not show it clearly, but here is the picture.



hope this helps thanks.

Hmmmm...somebody has deliberately scratched the number off.
Don't know why the hell you'd bother on a modified headstock model..it's not like you can pass it off for an earlier model.
And no magnets on the underside of the pickups...I don't think they're Tokai..maybe some squier pickups?

Ozeshin said:

And no magnets on the underside of the pickups...I don't think they're Tokai..maybe some squier pickups?

Click to expand...

Magnets on the bottom of the pickups?

stratman323 said:

Ozeshin said:

And no magnets on the underside of the pickups...I don't think they're Tokai..maybe some squier pickups?

Click to expand...

Magnets on the bottom of the pickups?

Click to expand...

I meant the grey backing plate...force of habit.

Thanks for your replys. But apart from the pickups being tokai, is the rest of the guitar tokai ?

I'm a bit stumped on this one.

:-?

Ozeshin said:

Hmmmm...somebody has deliberately scratched the number off.

Click to expand...

Is it possible the guitar was re-finished and then someone tried to rub the paint away so you could still see the proper code, only it didn't work out that well?

Yup, agreed. That hasn't been scratched off - it's paint over the top and an attempt at thinning it; either an overspray at manufacture or a refinish.

I'd guess it's a genuine 90's Tokai strat.
The codes are not what we're used to seeing but they are Tokai-ish.
Ditto with electronics, shielding and body work.
My 25 (currency of your choice)!

/Magnus

I think It`s even later than that . I was seeing guitars like this in the U.K in 2003.I also think it`a genuine tokai,but with inferior switchgear,and notice the slab rosewood board.I also remember a review in Guitarist magazine at about that time in which the Tokai was rated about the same as a Fender Mexican Strat but at ?300,compared to the Fenders`s ?400 price tag,it was considered a better deal.Gabe.

Hey, thanks for all your replies, it really has helped. So we have established that this is a genuine tokai strat. From the 90-00 but i thought that tokai stoped making strats after the 80's...?
So do you think that this is a bad guitar? Like the rosewood slab board thing... Whats the difference from a non slab rosewood neck? Do you think that i should do some upgrades to the guitar like electronics if you say they are ' inferior ' and other things mentioned? Is this guitar good, or do i need to give it back to my friend and demand my money back? Thanks.

Tokai have made Strat type guitars for ages, if you buy a Fender Japan Strat new today, there's a good chance it was by made by Tokai under license to Fender. I haven't tried one of the later ones, so I can't comment on what they're like.,

As for whether you should take it back, it depends on 2 things. If you like it, & what you paid for it.