Tokai ST-55n info needed...

Hello all,

I recently purchased a 7okai Springy Sound st-55n, serial number 1024158, which i believe makes it a '81.

Here's some pics....
http://www.astro.cornell.edu/~shannon/images/tokai55body.jpg
http://www.astro.cornell.edu/~shannon/images/tokai55body2.jpg
http://www.astro.cornell.edu/~shannon/images/tokai55guts.jpg
...I have the pickguard off because I'm painting on some conductive paint to shield it some.

I'm having trouble finding info about the 55's. The n is for natural finish I'm assuming but I'm puzzled as to the model and how it fits between the st-50 and 60. I was a bit surprized to open her up and find these thin wires w/o cloth coming from the pickups. If I remember correctly my Goldstar st-50 had cloth covered wires. Also, you don't see it in the pics but the 55 has a skunk stripe. Could it be that this is a late 60s clone? What was the last year Fender has the small headstock anyone know?

The guitar just arrived and had old ratty 09s on it which were quickly cut off. However, in my brief time playing it I believe there's great potential with this one. I've always loved the Tokai U pickups.

Any info you can share would be appreciated.

thanks!
Tom aka Carlovee.

The 55 models (and 65, etc) usually indicates a special paint. Which on yours is the natural finish.

Ned

Also, dont worry about the plastic covered pick up wires, I have had Springys and Goldys with both types on "U" marked pick ups. Your Guitar looks great and 100% right to me.

MY st 55 goldstar is a lefty. I always thought the '55' was a left handed 50.

Hi Carlovee,

Looks a nice guitar 8) . But just a general point on shielding paint;- I always wondered why vintage collectors rejected Strats & Teles with shielding paint. Now I realise it?s because it erases original date codes & factory numbers, so it?s one way of fakers covering up the true identity of the guitar.

OK, I know your Springy isn?t yet in the giddy collector heights of a 54 Strat (& may never be), and I know you want to get rid of the buzz, but it?s just something to think about before covering up any body id numbers :-? .

Ian.

Whoops, seem to have become a "Guest", LoL. Eh...maybe I am :-? ?

Ian.

the "5" on the end of a model number usually indicates something special or different from the standard model. Typically this indicates a different color from the norm or as was pointed out a left handed model.

Ned

Hello all,
This is my first writing from Japan. I'm so excited to find this wonderful site. Didn't know that there are so many Tokai-enthusiasts all over the World.

Let me explain what "ST-55N" stands for. "ST" is STratocaster. In the Japanese domestic market, "55" showed the price: 55,000 yen. "N" is, as Carlovee thought, natural. If it was NR, it would be natural finish with a Rosewood neck.

We didn't have "55" grade ST guitars in the Japanese market. The Tokai ST line consisted of 42, 50, 60, 80 and 100 grades in Japan. Taking a look at the photos, I think your beautiful ST-55n is equivalent to ST-50N sold in Japan around 1980. Your pickups, pots and everything seem original. It's a nice guitar.

If requested, I'm gonna tell you about Tokai springy sold in Japan in the early 80s. Among about 25 guitars, I own 3 Tokai springy guitars - 1979 ST-80GS, 1979 ST-60NR and 1980 ST-60GS (this one I bought in Jan 1981 as a brand-new guitar).

Sorry if my English is hard to understand - it's not my mother tongue.

Shinjiro

Hi Shinjiro,

thanks for the info ... please, tell us more about your springy's and other tokais as well ...
> some pics would be great too

Sami


btw. your english is way much better than mine :wink:

S-Blues welcome to the Forum :wink: , and other members like me will be looking forward your knowledge,i know i will because im after a ST100 at the right price if one comes up

Your English is good :wink:

Hi, Jinx and Rossi

Sorry that I don't understand well "im after a ST100 at the right price" but I guess you mean you wanna get ST100 in auction, right?

We can hardly see ST-100 in auction. I see ST-100 only once in one year or so in the auction site I use (Japanese biggest). Obviously just very few ST-100 guitars were made when compared with ST-80 because, as far as talking about the Japanese market in the early 80s, many of us thought ST-80 was much better than 100 to buy. As you may know, the difference between them is just the gold-plated parts. As guitar players, we thought additionally paying 20,000 yen just for the gold-plated parts was too much. Actually, ST-80, not ST-100, was always on the top pages of Tokai catalogs 1979 to 1981. So, Rossi, if you are a guitar player looking for ST100 just to play, not to add to your guitar collection, I recommend ST-80. The Springy guitar specs are as follows:-

ST-42: 3-piece body, poly-finish, "U" pickus, "U" neck with cheap, non-Kluson type pegs (Price in Jpns market: 42,000yen)
ST-50: 2-piece body, poly-finish, "U" pickups, "U" neck (50,000yen)
ST-60: 2-piece body, poly-finish, "E" Pickups, "U" neck (60,000yen)
ST-80: 2- or 1-piece body, Lacquer-finish, "E" pickups, "V" neck (80,000yen)
ST-100: 1- or 2-piece body, lacquer-finish, "E" pickups, "V" neck with gold-plated parts (100,000yen)

FYI, 1 USDollar was around 250yen at that time (currently about 120yen) and Fender Strat was priced about 180,000 yen, Gibson Les Paul Std., about 230,000 yen in Japan.

From my experience, Springy guitars having lighter bodies sound greater. So you better get a light weight ST-80 having 1-piece body. Less than 3.5 kg (how many pounds?) is so great.

My 1979 ST-80GS is really cool and in collector's condition but has 2-piece body and is a little heavy. But sounds soooo nice. I love it as much as my real 1965 Fender Strat. As I told, I own two ST-60 guitars. They have the same "E" pickups as ST-80 but sounds are different. ST-80 gives dry, real 50's sound, really like Eric Clapton's "Blackie" guitar, which you can listened to, say, on his "Slowhand" album. It seems that ST-60 gives more mid range. So, if you are a hard rock guitarist, you might prefer ST-60 to ST-80. I don't know why the sounds are differnt with same "E" pickups, maybe due to the different finish materials?? Sorry it's really difficult to explain how a guitar sounds, moreover, English is not my language.

I hope this will help you.

Hi, Jinx and Rossi

Sorry that I don't understand well "im after a ST100 at the right price" but I guess you mean you wanna get ST100 in auction, right?

We can hardly see ST-100 in auction. I see ST-100 only once in one year or so in the auction site I use (Japanese biggest). Obviously just very few ST-100 guitars were made when compared with ST-80 because, as far as talking about the Japanese market in the early 80s, many of us thought ST-80 was much better than 100 to buy. As you may know, the difference between them is just the gold-plated parts. As guitar players, we thought additionally paying 20,000 yen just for the gold-plated parts was too much. Actually, ST-80, not ST-100, was always on the top pages of Tokai catalogs 1979 to 1981. So, Rossi, if you are a guitar player looking for ST100 just to play, not to add to your guitar collection, I recommend ST-80. The Springy guitar specs are as follows:-

ST-42: 3-piece body, poly-finish, "U" pickus, "U" neck with cheap, non-Kluson type pegs (Price in Jpns market: 42,000yen)
ST-50: 2-piece body, poly-finish, "U" pickups, "U" neck (50,000yen)
ST-60: 2-piece body, poly-finish, "E" Pickups, "U" neck (60,000yen)
ST-80: 2- or 1-piece body, Lacquer-finish, "E" pickups, "V" neck (80,000yen)
ST-100: 1- or 2-piece body, lacquer-finish, "E" pickups, "V" neck with gold-plated parts (100,000yen)

FYI, 1 USDollar was around 250yen at that time (currently about 120yen) and Fender Strat was priced about 180,000 yen, Gibson Les Paul Std., about 230,000 yen in Japan.

From my experience, Springy guitars having lighter bodies sound greater. So you better get a light weight ST-80 having 1-piece body. Less than 3.5 kg (how many pounds?) is so great.

My 1979 ST-80GS is really cool and in collector's condition but has 2-piece body and is a little heavy. But sounds soooo nice. I love it as much as my real 1965 Fender Strat. As I told, I own two ST-60 guitars. They have the same "E" pickups as ST-80 but sounds are different. ST-80 gives dry, real 50's sound, really like Eric Clapton's "Blackie" guitar, which you can listened to, say, on his "Slowhand" album. It seems that ST-60 gives more mid range. So, if you are a hard rock guitarist, you might prefer ST-60 to ST-80. I don't know why the sounds are differnt with same "E" pickups, maybe due to the different finish materials?? Sorry it's really difficult to explain how a guitar sounds, moreover, English is not my language.

I hope this will help you.

S-Blues i want a ST100 because of it being so rare and hard to find,Yes im a guitar player of 40 years and i want that SRV sound.I have a very nice Fender Strat 1983 natural and the bridge pickup is something else,but now im a Tokai man i a few LSs i like the build of the guitars also mmmm the price.You cant play a Gibson badge because thats all your paying for

Rossi,
I recommended ST80 because I believe it's the best cost-performance guitar in the Tokai ST line. Now I've understood you want ST100 because it's rare. Hope you will get a good one. Actually I didn't mean that ST100 would be a wrong option and I want you to know that I also want an ST100 if I find a good one.
ST80 (and 100) sounds like the Strat used by SVR heard in the "Family Style" album, rather than "In step" and earlier records.
I'm 43 years old now and really wept when hearing of SVR's death all of a sudden.

S-Blues

carlovee said:

Hello all,

I recently purchased a 7okai Springy Sound st-55n, serial number 1024158, which i believe makes it a '81.

...I have the pickguard off because I'm painting on some conductive paint to shield it some.

Also, you don't see it in the pics but the 55 has a skunk stripe. Could it be that this is a late 60s clone? What was the last year Fender has the small headstock anyone know?

I've always loved the Tokai U pickups.

thanks!
Tom aka Carlovee.

Click to expand...

Beautiful guitar! I wouldn't use shielding paint, cover the back of the pickguard with aluminium foil instead, it works great. I used aluminium tape for my TST-50 Goldstar and it works very well. I bought a Springy -82 and found that the previous owner had used shielding paint, all the markings are hidden unfortunately. It's the best strat I've ever played (and yes, I've played pre CBS strats as well), the tone and sustain is excellent.

The skunk stripe is there because it's a one pice neck, that's where the truss rod goes in. If you have a glued on fingerboard there's no need for it. The maple neck ST-50/55 are 50's replicas.

I love the U pickups too, I have them on my 1984 Goldstar.

Mike

Shinjiro, welcome to the forum! Are you sure about the ST-50's having 2-piece bodies? Most early Goldstar TST-50's I've seen have had 3-piece bodies, some 2-piece (my 1984 TST-50 has a 3-piece body). My black Springy 1982 seems to have a 1-piece body, it's probably an ST-60, it has the U-shaped neck. Unfortunately the original pickups were replaced with Seymour Duncan SSL-1's in the 80's, otherwise the guitar is totally original. I bought it from the original owner.

Mike

javelin70 said:

Shinjiro, welcome to the forum! Are you sure about the ST-50's having 2-piece bodies? Most early Goldstar TST-50's I've seen have had 3-piece bodies, some 2-piece (my 1984 TST-50 has a 3-piece body). My black Springy 1982 seems to have a 1-piece body, it's probably an ST-60, it has the U-shaped neck. Unfortunately the original pickups were replaced with Seymour Duncan SSL-1's in the 80's, otherwise the guitar is totally original. I bought it from the original owner.

Mike

Click to expand...

My Tokai Goldstar ST-50 has a center-joined 2 piece, 'U' pup's, Deluxe on mechanic and FINAL PROSPEC on saddles.

Dunno if this helps, I suppose if enough of us chime in, patterns may begin to emerge...

My ST-60 is from 1980 and has a one-piece body, very thin polyurethane finish (2-colour sunburst), V - p'ups (stored safely as I'm using WCRs in it ), U-shaped neck, rosewood board with skunk-stripe, and "60" stamped in the fingerboard after the 21st Fret. "TOKAI" stamped saddles, steel trem-block.

The ST-80 (...which I got from Chrisheyes - thanks Chris!) is also 1980, 2-piece body with centre join, 3-colour sunburst (nitro paint), E - p'ups (but again, I'm using WCRs), hard V-shaped maple neck with skunk-stripe. "TOKAI" stamped saddles & tuners, not-magnetic metal trem-block. (...but I have a Callaham block coming for it).

XLarge said:

My Tokai Goldstar ST-50 has a center-joined 2 piece, 'U' pup's, Deluxe on mechanic and FINAL PROSPEC on saddles.

Click to expand...

It seems like Tokai used both 2- and 3-piece bodies for the (T)ST-50's and the (T)ST-60's and better models had either 1- or 2-piece bodies.

Mike

javelin70 said:

XLarge said:

My Tokai Goldstar ST-50 has a center-joined 2 piece, 'U' pup's, Deluxe on mechanic and FINAL PROSPEC on saddles.

Click to expand...

It seems like Tokai used both 2- and 3-piece bodies for the (T)ST-50's and the (T)ST-60's and better models had either 1- or 2-piece bodies.

Mike

Click to expand...

However better than Greco Strat guitars.
I have seen recently a Sunburst Greco strat body in six pieces.....