ST-80 questions

[brad347]

OK, so I got this ST-80 last night that I think is from 1981 or so. I pulled the pickguard tonight and, to my surprise, it has the "U" series pickups.

Are these the right pickups for this guitar? Were there different options?

What are the differences between an ST-100 and an ST-80?

This presents a bit of a conundrum for me. My '84 TST-56 has the E-series pickups which sound fantastic. I know this Springy should be more desirable, but I'm going to have to sleep on which one to keep and which one to sell.

I'll have to do a side by side comparison of them to see which one sounds better to my ears... but my favorite thing about the TST-56 is the pickups. I wonder if it would be kosher to swap them out... I certainly would make that known to the buyer for honesty's sake... but I don't want to rob a fine guitar of its fine pickups... what to do....


Any thoughts?

 

[chrisheyes]

Brad347

Look again at this thread where Hans-Jurgen translated the old catalogue which explained the differences in the models.

http://www.tokaiforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=4315&highlight=

E Series = VS-1 Dimarzio
V Series = Vintage
U Series = Hot

I have an ST-100, ST-80, ST60 and SS40

ST-100 (1980) 54 Copy 2 Colour Sunburst- 1 piece swamp ash body, 1 Ply Scratchplate, E Series pickups, Gold Hardware ( Trem ,Tuners and all Screws)

ST-80 (1980)- 57 Copy - 2 piece Sen Ash Body, 3 Colour Sunburst, 1 Ply Scratchplate, E Series picups, Chrome Hardware

The difference between my ST-100 and ST-80 is in the quality of body wood and the gold hardware. The neck shapes are slightly different too. The ST-100 is a thick rounded V, where as the ST-80 has a more pronounced V

My lower grade models are made from more pieces of Alder, so have less attractive grain pattern on display. The SS40 has lower grade tuners which suffer tension loss

 

[brad347]

That's weird. My ST-80 has the sticker at the end of the neck and everything, and the original tags that say it's an "ST-80 BBR" which probably indicated the black color.

Interesting to know that the U pickups are "hot."

That doesn't sound up my alley... did the ST-80 ever come with U pickups as stock equipment? Did the TST-56? If so, I wouldn't feel bad about swapping 'em (or maybe even swapping the entire pickguards so as to only de-solder the wire to the jack... they look identical)

Thanks for your info. i'll have a look at the other thread.

 

[brad347]

So, I checked out the other thread and it seems that the ST-70 came with U-series pickups... this would've been next down the pecking order... maybe they were just out of DiMarzios at the factory that day? All solder joints look unmolested and this guitar appears very much all original with original hang tags... Odd!

 

[javelin70]

Interesting to see the inside of a Springy! The Goldstar Sound strat I recently bought looked exactly the same:

I had doubts about it being original since the TST50 I bought new in 1985 didn't have the brass plate (which is now removed since the original pickguard was butchered by a previous owner to accommodate a 22 fret neck). Probably my Goldstar is from the very early production in 1984, it has U pickups but they are not hot in my opinion. There might be different specs for the pickups used in the the Springys vs the Goldstars.

Regarding the pickups my 1984 Love Rock TLS-50 (I bought it new and was the first person to open the box it came in!) has the PAF pickups normally used in the TLS80!

Mike

 

[brad347]

I'm starting to suspect that Tokai would often substitute pickups and/or use what was available.

What is your opinion of the U pickups?

 

[javelin70]

I like the U pickups and have not replaced them except in the bridge position where I use a hotrail pickup. I can measure the resistance of the bridge pickup that is removed from the guitar. I would say they have normal output for a single coil.

edit: I've now measured the pickup and the resistance is 6,13 Kohm, definitely not a hot pickup.

Mike

 

[brad347]

I'm wondering if I could've gotten tricked... maybe this dude swapped the pickups out...

Then again, he didn't even know it was an ST-80 or that one Tokai was different from another until I asked and he looked on the hang tag and sent me a pic of the back of the neck with the "80" sticker still intact, so if that happened I bet it wasn't malicious. I sent him an email to see what (if anything) he knows about it.

Also, I'm wondering what the "BBR" suffix means on my hang tag, which says "ST-80 BBR"

 

[javelin70]

Also, I'm wondering what the "BBR" suffix means on my hang tag, which says "ST-80 BBR"

BBR = color code, black with rosewood fingerboard.

Mike

 

[mike martin]

hi
the u's are louder than the v's as they measure 5.7 thats about equal to vintage strats i think. i got a springy with sd 's fitted but managed to get hold of a set of u's and v's to try . i kept the u's as they sounded much better to my ears . and to me they sounded better than the ssl1 duncans. i put the bridge and neck u's in and the reverse wound duncan in the middle, great sound now.
mike

 

[mike martin]

hey jav
do you know what 1=17 na-y
means in my springy cavity
mike

 

[javelin70]

hey jav
do you know what 1=17 na-y
means in my springy cavity
mike

I've never understood the number codes like your 1=17, 6=8 and 9=3 and so on. na-y could be a color code as well I guess, is it stamped in the control cavity where you normally find it? na could mean natural, what color is it?

These are the codes from my Goldstar Sound:

Mike

 

[brad347]

Also, I'm wondering what the "BBR" suffix means on my hang tag, which says "ST-80 BBR"

BBR = color code, black with rosewood fingerboard.

Mike

This is way interesting, as my guitar does not have a rosewood fingerboard, but rather a maple one!!

It is, however black.

On second look I noticed that the hang tag just says ST-80 BB while the "Guarantee and musician card(?)" says ST-80BBR

These were both in a plastic bag together tucked inside the case pocket, looked like they had been there for years. Perhaps another mistake?

HMMM.....

Starting to look a little more suspicious though!

 

[brad347]

The U pickups actually don't sound half bad. Comparing side by side with my E pickup-equipped TST-56 there was actually surprisingly little difference... The ST-80 did feel a little more open and resonant in my hands and a little less like a "new guitar." This is probably due to the Nitro finish vs. Poly. This makes me wonder what the E pickups would sound like in it.

I'm still tempted to just unsolder the two wires and switch the pickguards...

 

[togps]

Ahhhh, hey, here are the experts!!

Great thread!!

Make a jump to this quiz thread
http://www.tokaiforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=4495

and win Ma? of beer!! Good luck

 

[javelin70]

This is way interesting, as my guitar does not have a rosewood fingerboard, but rather a maple one!!

It is, however black.

On second look I noticed that the hang tag just says ST-80 BB while the "Guarantee and musician card(?)" says ST-80BBR

These were both in a plastic bag together tucked inside the case pocket, looked like they had been there for years. Perhaps another mistake?

HMMM.....

Starting to look a little more suspicious though!

If it's a mapleneck it should be only BB so the hang tag is definitely correct.

Mike

 

[brad347]

maybe they just rubberstamped the "guarantee and musician card" incorrectly? or had another one laying around? Odd....

 

[mike martin]

hi jav
yep its natural
would be interesting to know what the last letter means. maybe it is some sort of code for the yaer it was made

 

[javelin70]

hi jav
yep its natural
would be interesting to know what the last letter means. maybe it is some sort of code for the yaer it was made

Hmm, that's interesting, if you look at the picture of the codes from my Goldstar it has a Z after the color code. I suspect that it's a very early Goldstar, the first year for the Goldstar is 1984, If your Springy was made in 1983 it would make sense but then it should have the block logo:

http://www.tokairegistry.com/images/tf_block.jpg

On the other hand my Goldstar could possibly have been manufactured late in 1983 making yours a 1982 model with this logo:

http://www.tokairegistry.com/images/tf_spag1.jpg

So which logo do you have?

Mike

 

[mike martin]

hi jav
spaghetti type