Hello from a newbie I have an '83 Vee

Hi There,

Newbie dipping his toe in the Tokai water here, I thought I?d introduce myself and show you my Tokai Flying Vee.

I?m 41, live in the small town of Peterborough in the UK and married with kids. I found the registry whilst doing a google to try and get some info on this. I?ve put the details in the registry then joined here as I hope you might be interested in seeing it.

I started playing at school but wasn?t really interested so didn?t follow it up,. My kid brother (4 years younger than me) started playing and has become quite good. Around the late 80?s I decided to try again and asked him to find me something reasonable to learn on, he found the Vee, I think, in London (he lived down there then) . I do know it was a private sale and not from a shop, I don?t know if the previous owner bought it new or second hand.

Anyway my playing has been sort of on / off since then and I haven?t really got a whole lot better, I just don?t practice enough to be honest. I also own a Japanese Strat 57 re issue which to be honest I play a lot more than the Vee, something about the neck on the Vee makes it a bit more tricky and of course the Strat is a lot easier to sit down with, the Vee keeps sliding off my knee!

Anyway from searching your great forum I think I have a 1983 TFV-70. I?ve no idea if it is fully original although I certainly haven?t changed anything other than the strings.

As you can see it?s a bit beaten up, has a few dings and the ?gold? effect is wearing off the pick ups, I don?t know whether it?s the done thing to renew the covers or leave them as they are? The volume pots are rather strange they only seem to work for 1/5 of the rotation, you seem to get nothing at all then all the adjustment comes between 8 and 10, I?ve no idea if this is normal for these but it?s always been like it!

Anyway any comments good or bad would be welcome, thank you

Kindest regards, Paul

Hi, welcome to the forum. I'm afraid I don't know much about Vee's so I can't tell you anything about it, but I'm sure there are plenty of others on here who can.

Looks like the Bride has been replaced and possibly the tuners- Nice looking AXE!
Rarer than hens teeth too!

Nice V......here's a hello from a cousin:

Got the info about the pots wrong, I wrote that from memory.

having go it out to photograph yesterday i decided to have a thrash with it last night. It actually plays a lot better than I remember (once it and I got warmed up a bit). :roll:

Any way the volume pots do nothing until about 1 1/2 and then you seem to be at full volume by the time you get to 3.

Still it was great fun playing it again, it must be nearly a year since I played it last.

Marcus yours looks lovely, much better condition than mine.

Gorgeous guitar No worries about the condition, it's actually quite nice in comparison to many with that type of finish from that era. A few dinks and donks are to be expected. Nice photography as well, very enjoyable to look at.

I believe an extra strap button has been drilled below the neck heel, in addition to the changes mentioned above. All very minor stuff and I think you have a winner there.

Did it come with a case?

flymuck said:

Marcus yours looks lovely, much better condition than mine.

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On the contrary, I think yours looks great - just like she should. Mine's still so minty fresh that I'm still worried about putting that first ding in her.

Ducati said:

Gorgeous guitar No worries about the condition, it's actually quite nice in comparison to many with that type of finish from that era. A few dinks and donks are to be expected. Nice photography as well, very enjoyable to look at.

I believe an extra strap button has been drilled below the neck heel, in addition to the changes mentioned above. All very minor stuff and I think you have a winner there.

Did it come with a case?

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I did think it was odd having 2 strap buttons at the neck end.

It has a case but not a tokai one (or at least it has no badges or names on it). Garish green inner lining! I'll take some pictures and post.

I would love a Tokai Vee All i can find is the Korean ones, jap ones never come up on ebay.
Are the korean ones anygood for thrash kinda stuff like metallica megadeth? (with a pickup change obviously)

Paul,

great axe ... although I'm not the V-lover ... :-? :-?

... but I must confess that I'm more and more attracted by these axes as often as I'm being aware of them ... :lol: :lol: :lol:

Roger

BTW - Marcus, you know that I adore your guitar selection ... !!! :wink:

Here is the case, it's made of a thin plywood and covered with a plastic coated canvas type material. It's quite tatty really and as you can see the handle has just been taped up. It's been like this for the 20 years or so I've had it. You can also see where the lining on the lid had rubbed through on the nut.

There are no identification marks or makers names anywhere on the case.

Incidentally I emailed machinehead music who's "supplied by" sticker is on the back of the headstock but they haven't any records of sales going back that far so they can't help with any of the history.

Wow....bitchin case! Really completes the look in the second photo.

Crazy_Joe said:

I would love a Tokai Vee All i can find is the Korean ones, jap ones never come up on ebay.
Are the korean ones anygood for thrash kinda stuff like metallica megadeth? (with a pickup change obviously)

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M8...here in Oz the big "V type" guitars for metal are the ESP Dave Mustaine 8 Ball...and the two new Ibanez models.
I'd have thought that the old style V's are a little too tame looks-wise for "nu-metal" like Avenged Sevenfold and stuff like that...too "Old School".
Sound-wise they'd suit just fine...they were one of the "Old-School" metal axes of choice...hell I got mine coz of Michael Schenker.

Hi Flymuck,
those are great pics of the guitar - and a very nice guitar indeed.
On inspection i would agree it is a TFV-70 YN from 1983, probably imported into the UK by BlueSuede Music.
The strap button on the SHOULDER is the add-on, the Bridge is NOT genuine and neither is the case - it should be Black tolex with a green interior.
The pots may need a new 500ohm capacitor to sort them out but other than that you have the MIJ, mahogany body and neck 1958 FlyingV replica.
Interestingly, Tokai would bleach the mahogany to make the colour lighter in order to get the yellow stain to look like Korina, remembering that Korina ( African White Limba) is a member of the mahogany species and was kept a secret as to its real identity until the 90's. Ibanez used Ash for their replicas and Epiphone use sawdust for theirs(although they claim it's Korina, i believe it is more to do with the colour than the timber.)
Anyway thats my 2p worth
Peter MAc

Hello from Tomorrow land Peter...
I'm amazed at the sheer number of ppl who still think that because a guitar says "Korina" in the description that it MUST be Korina wood.
Even the vintage Ibanez destroyers were stained to achieve the effect.

Thanks for the info Peter, I wonder why the bridge was changed, bearing in mind it was only about 5 years old when I got it.

i would agree it is a TFV-70 YN from 1983

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What does the YN stand for?

hi flymuck,
the bridge may have been changed to the brass one for a bit more sustain - it's an 80's thing.
the colour was labeled YN = Yellow Natural, as other colours were available - mainly for the Explorer TEX-70

Have a look at the 1984 catalog, as 1983 was really the first year this guitar was offered.
regards
Peter Mac

Thanks again Peter and everyone for your help, it's been great finding out about it, my son tells me he wants it! He'll have to wait

Gorgeous guitar Flymuck! I've always been a bit of a closet V-man. Blame Marc Bolan & Jimi, NOT the Schenker bros! :wink:

I had a similar TFV-70 that I bought brand new from 'Rockbox' (I think that was the name) in Camden Lock c. 85. It had the same brown case with green interior as shown - i.e. not black - so I think it is the original case. There's a pic of the guitar and case on my website www.plankspankers.co.uk - see Japanese Vintage Guitars page.

I bought it, new, for - wait for it ?179! It was reduced from ?479, why, I don't know. Though sold some 3+ years ago, I kept that 'Sale' card!

My hero at that time was Mick Grabham (ex-Procol Harum) who was playing with his then pub band Fast Buck at the Red Lion in Brentford and he used one with Velvet Hammer pups installed. What a sound - what a player. After he told be that, I looked for VHs but couldn't find them for sale anywhere - only in recent years have I realised he may well have meant VH-1s.

I couldn't get on with the V as a stage guitar, looked the dogs, but found it hard to play particularly at the dusty end. However, it looked fantastic and sounded great - never better than on the day I demoed it for sale of course!

Important guitar for me as it started me on the Jap V road.