tst-56 ? Maybe? Bueller? Bueller?

[i_mackay]

Ok, I've got home and peeled off the tape, and the magic code is:

2-1 BBV


So what does this tell us??! Looks like a football score prediction to me... anyone else got an idea?


EDIT:
Also just opened up the neck from the body.. on the neck there's what looks like a handwritten 9, followed by a stamped "2-6"..

Cheers guys!

 

[Anonymous]

Well it suggests that it's a genuine Tokai. Did you get some pics while you had the foil peeled back? They would help if you ever decided to sell it.

BB is the colour code. There is some debate about what the numbers mean (batch code, date code, etc.), but yours are Tokai codes, which is probably all you need to know.

 

[i_mackay]

That's good news, thanks again Stratman!

I've still got the tape pulled back at the moment, although to be honest I'll need a better camera if I'm going to get shots good enough to give prospective buyers a good idea of it.

So despite that, all important question now... what do we think she's worth? Like I said the bridge and back plate are a little rusty, and there are some dinks in the body... but she plays great, neck is perfect, frets a little worn but still useable.

It's a bit of a shame to consider selling, but to be honest these days I generally play acoustic stuff, so I'm thinking about raising funds to get my hands on a decent acoustic instead of the piece of firewood Acoustic I currently have..

Anyone in the market for a new tokai?!

Thanks again!

Ian

 

[Anonymous]

I assume you're in the UK? It really helps if people add this to their profile.

Don't worry about a bit of rust, you expect that on a 25 year old guitar. What's it worth? Well black is probably the most common colour for a Goldie, so somewhere around the ?300 mark? Hard to say with the economy as it is right now. Also, the shielding might not be seen as an improvement by many buyers.....

The trouble is, if you sell it, you'll probably regret it in five or ten years time when you really want a nice Strat, & you remember that you used to own one. But you sold it for just ?300.



Your choice.

 

[i_mackay]

Yeah, I'm UK-based, sorry, should have said!

Thanks,

Ian

 

[Anonymous]

Here you go, a black one with a hard case just sold for ?300

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=200329505791

& a sunburst one with a case sold for ?311

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=160328153059

A white one went for ?360

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=160329286025

but what could be better than a white Strat?

 

[bluejeannot]

Also, the shielding might not be seen as an improvement by many.

Foiled again!

Your choice.[/quote]

 

[bluejeannot]

That's good news, thanks again Stratman!

I've still got the tape pulled back at the moment, although to be honest I'll need a better camera if I'm going to get shots good enough to give prospective buyers a good idea of it.

So despite that, all important question now... what do we think she's worth? Like I said the bridge and back plate are a little rusty, and there are some dinks in the body... but she plays great, neck is perfect, frets a little worn but still useable.

It's a bit of a shame to consider selling, but to be honest these days I generally play acoustic stuff, so I'm thinking about raising funds to get my hands on a decent acoustic instead of the piece of firewood Acoustic I currently have..

Anyone in the market for a new tokai?!

Thanks again!
Hi Ian,I might be interested in swapping a guild acoustic for your Goldie, Gabe.
Ian

 

[i_mackay]

I assume you're in the UK? It really helps if people add this to their profile.

Don't worry about a bit of rust, you expect that on a 25 year old guitar. What's it worth? Well black is probably the most common colour for a Goldie, so somewhere around the ?300 mark? Hard to say with the economy as it is right now. Also, the shielding might not be seen as an improvement by many buyers.....

The trouble is, if you sell it, you'll probably regret it in five or ten years time when you really want a nice Strat, & you remember that you used to own one. But you sold it for just ?300.



Your choice.

15 Years later and Anon was right.

Admitedly I have replaced the pickups, pick guard, trem bridge, electrics, pots, dials, and swapped the selector switch for a freeway 10 way switch, but this is a guitar I now play every day, and love.

(Worry not, I've kept all original parts in a safe place)

 

[Sigmania]

Very cool. Unfortunately none of the pics you posted originally are visible.

As you figured out, it is not a TST-56. At least not as it stands now with that neck on it.

The codes don't exactly match, so we have to consider that the neck was swapped at some point.

If you have pics of the original pickups, the switch on both sides showing the code, and the pots showing the code, we could probably sort this out.

At present, you have a 4 digit serial number. That dates the neck plate at least to 1982-mid 1986 for that serial number type.

The 4 digit was used on maple fretboard V necks during that period. So something is not right with the neck being on that guitar.



For reference, here are some TST-56 examples and they did have a 4 digit serial number, but they also have maple V necks.

TST-56 Gallery

And AST-56

AST-56 Gallery

Anyway, if you still have the original pots and switch and pickups that should solve this mystery.

Cool to see that you still have it!

 

[Sigmania]

And just to add to the confusion, here is one of Stratman's Goldstars with the same neck code as yours (2-6). His production numbers seem to match 2-6 and 2=6), but other stuff on the guitar was replaced, so I am not 100% confident this all went together. But the neck plate on it dates it to 1987. So your neck could be off of a 1987 guitar? But that serial number on the body pre-dates that.

Metallic Pink Goldstar owned by Stratman323

SN 212846

Seems to date to Feb 1987

Six Digit Serial Numbers With 2xxxxx

Replaced pickups, caps, nut, tuners?

Metallic Pink Goldstar - but it's confusing me

Tokai Goldstar Sound model

Calling Tokai experts



View attachment 2858
View attachment 2922
View attachment 2860
View attachment 2862

 

[i_mackay]

For origin sleuths intersted in the case:

Pickups are grey "IIV' (so the wrong way round to normal VII) with B&W wires.
Pots are a bit hard to make out, Have added pics to see if they make sense to anyone.
Switch number in top left is 341
Also the neck used to have a "Made in Japan" sticker on the base at the back, but I peeled that off in my youth.

The faceplate is 3ply WBW which I think is unusual.

Number on the neck attachment plate etched in the metal is 2356
Number under the clear lacquer in the body is 2-1 (EDIT after lower post from Sigmania actually 2=1) BBV
Number at the end of the neck is handwritten 9, followed by a stamped "2-6"

 

[Sigmania]

Fascinating...

The pickups are VII which is MKII which came off of a TST50.

The pots date to January 1987.



The switch dates to 1983...



And that pink cable to the jack is something I don;t see until the mid 80s as I recall.

 

[Sigmania]

And the body code is actually 2=1 and not 2-1. That makes a big difference in dating it.

 

[i_mackay]

That feels like a lot of changes through the 80s! I bought it around '92 in the UK, The person who had it before me must have had direct access to Tokai for so many changes!

 

[Sigmania]

I can't see the solder on the switch, but the solder on two of the pots looks untouched. So my guess is that the pots and the jack go together and date to 1987.

The saddles in that bridge mean the model it came with was a 50 or higher.

The VII marked MKII were introduced mid 1983 and ran for a few years but fade out around this 1987 mark.

By the way, these pickups were stamped individually with the "II" and the "V" separate so there are sometimes errors where the characters are backwards like IIV or VI. But they are all MKII.

 

[Sigmania]

That feels like a lot of changes through the 80s! I bought it around '92 in the UK, The person who had it before me must have had direct access to Tokai for so many changes!

Or just had some guitars and or parts around. These were not expensive guitars at the time and people did not always appreciate their build quality.

What often happened is neck swaps. People liked a different neck for whatever reason, or these other pickups and there you go.

Strats are great for being able to swap things around as you know.

 

[i_mackay]

Thanks, I added another pic of the switch showing soldering in the pics above.

Also thanks for imparting your knowledge - I've often wondered at its heritage (hence the original post 15 years ago) as the rosewood neck seemed non-standard..

I don't think I'll ever sell it now - it's kinda grown up with me, and is really the only strat I ever need. **** fine Ol' gal!

What does the 2=1 mean re body age then, different to 2-1 ? Useful to know for me and others in future..

 

[Sigmania]

This is a puzzle. I am trying to sort this out in my head.

There was a TST50 in 1987.

But that switch is 4 years older. They are nice switches so I could see someone wanting to used one. But it would be odd to have a box of switches in the factory sitting around for 4 years. Typically the switches we see are a couple months older than the production dates. Not years.

1987 catalog

 

[Sigmania]

And hard for me to tell on this solder on the switch. The factory solder is usually a bit cleaner without all that cable folded back. So good chance this switch was salvaged off of an '83 guitar and put in this body?