Natural History

Hi guys,

I'm newly registered to this fine forum, although I've been gratefully drawing on the wisdom contained within for some time now.

I'm in the market for a maple necked S***t, ideally from 1984 or earlier. A Goldstar has come up for sale on Ebay but I'm struggling to identify which model it is. I'd be grateful if anyone could shed some light.

Here's the listing:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/130951108771?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2648

The seller has also sent me some photos of the inside of the pickup routs, the wiring harness and the underside of the pickups but I can't work out how to attach the pics. Like I say, I'm new here!

Hope you can help.

Welcome to the forum!

Best thing you can do is create a Photobucket account, upload the pictures there and paste the IMG codes here.

2/3 piece body, slotted tuners, looks like an st50/55 on first impresions.
should have 'u' stamped on the bottom of the pickups, pickup bottoms should be grey in colour. if i remember correctly the wires from the pups are black
and white. is there a colour code in the route, should be n for natural, though
it does look like it could have been refinished. any other code marks in the
cavity?
the serial number has 6 digits, which means nothing, though i did have a 6
digit st50 once, normally5, 7 digit or with an L prefix.
round string tree, see page 28 of the" tokai forum memers guitar collection"
by iain black, is the same although it is on a springy.
nice looking axe, if it is genuine.

Thanks for the feedback so far guys.

I'll get the pics uploaded.

In the meantime I can tell you that the underside of the pickups is black. I can't see any markings.

The wires coming from the pickups are black and white.

The only marking in the pickup cavities is a hand-written "4-13" inside the neck pickup route. Its written on a small, rectangular block of bare wood which looks like it was masked off when the finish was applied. There don't appear to be any other internal markings.

The only other thing to note is that the bridge pickup cavity looks like it may have been re-routed for a humbucker.

ah, that's interesting, the pickups on my 6 digit '50 also had black bottoms,
which sounded great, quite raunchy.
the humbucker routing is a big minus (for collectors).
it could be a 1984 built 13th of april, or i believe pete mac has said the
tokai production year started in november, so maybe 13th of february?
it's in very good condition, maybe rubbed down and re-lacquered?

Or it might be younger as advertised. Pics might help.

Thanks for the replies guys.

Actually the humbucker re-routing is not necessarily a deal-breaker for me. I'm looking for a player's guitar rather than a collector's piece so I'm not too bothered, as long as it's reflected in the price.

Likewise the pickups. Since it looks like the guitar has already been messed about with I would have no hesitation in changing them to something more suited to my style of playing, if necessary.

In fact I did the same thing with a Rosewood board '84 Goldstar ST55 which I bought recently. It had already been modified. Here are some pics of how it looked when I found it:













The original gold finish had already been stripped ''

The previous owner patched up a few dings in the body with wood filler so was probably going to respray it, but seems to have lost interest before finishing the job.

Some other changes had also been made, as you can see.

I've never owned a Tokai before, although I'd been reading lots of good things about them (mainly on this forum!), so I didn't really know what to expect.

It was in a sorry state, but acoustically it had an amazingly resonant sound and feel, so I snapped it up and I'm very glad I did.

I had it cleaned and set up so it played nicely. However, the VI stamped pickups just didn't do it for me. They sounded weak and puny and just didn't deliver on the promise of the guitar's acoustic sound.

A mate of mine has an original '63 Strat so I compared the Tokai with that. His guitar has a really nice even tone, with the top end sparkle you'd expect from a Strat, but also lots of presence in the bass and mid tones.

There's a new company recently set up here in South Wales making boutique pickups, so I asked them to wind me a set to my own specs, trying to get as close to my mate's '63 Strat as possible.

Here's the company. They're so new I don't think they have a website yet:
https://www.facebook.com/radioshop.pickups?fref=browse_search

Fitted with the Radioshop pickups my Tokai now sounds incredible. I'd say it's so close to the sound of my mate's '63 that there's hardly any difference.

For ?300GBP I'm well pleased!

Next I'm going to install a bone nut and have it refinished in a vintage early 60s colour. Maybe Sonic Blue or Olympic White, or maybe even restore it to its original gold!

Anyway, sorry to ramble on. The thing is I'm so blown away by my rosewood board Goldstar I'd now like to try and get one with a maple neck and board. I'd go for an '84 or earlier because I've already seen for myself the quality of those instruments.

So that's why I'm keen to try and find out about the natural one on Ebay. If it turns out to be kosher, even if it's been modified, it might be worth investing in as a project, at the right price.

Jacco - thanks for the advice about uploading pics. The Ebay seller has sent me the additional pics in a format that can't be downloaded. I've asked him to re-send in a different format so I can hopefully share with you guys. So watch this space.

wrong type of logo for earlier than 83/84 jacco.too early for 85, proper
headstock shape.
i'd bet it's a good guitar if it can stay in tune.

Younger means later Jonah

i've just come back from the pub, 5 pints of courage best ain't good
for sussing out the vintage of a tokai strat
i do remember that the headstock shape changed after '85 though.
all the best jonah
:lol:

Hahaha!

Are you sure about the headstock shape Jonah? A UK thing maybe? I know several people that bought Tokai strats durng the late 80s with the vintage correct headstock shape.

northampton's a strange place, but it is in the uk, must be a uk thing.

Six figure serial number means it`s later than 84.Also the machine heads are not stamped ,replacements i`d guess.Without seeing the guts it`s difficult to say more.Gabe.

Thanks for the feedback Gabe. The seller hasn't re-sent me the photos so I can't upload them. But I think I've already heard enough to know this one is not for me.

In the meantime another has come up on Ebay. This one also looks less than 100% original, but it has the U marked pickups, which I hear good things about.

Here's the Ebay listing:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/171083768593?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2648#ht_64wt_958

And here are some additional photos the seller sent me:







Looks like the body has been re-routed for two humbuckers?

Again, I have no idea which model this is, so if anyone can shed any light I'd be grateful.

Thanks!

Well the guitar was a Goldstar st 50.The fact that it has been gouged for humbuckers and the neck plate tuners and scratch plate are not original means that I personally would give it a wide berth.For ?350/450 or so you should be able to find yourself a much better example.Gabe.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/281137780130?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649
Something like this could have a been a decent buy.The seller wrongly describes it as 90s it`s not it`s 80s.Gabe.

Hi Slim Jim,

The natural finish Goldstar you first enquired about was the better buy. If you can contact seller privately and threaten him with cash (at a lower price) you may be in for a very nice surprise.
Put it this way - it is NOT a TST-55.

regards
Peter Mac

What it is then? Looks like a 3 piece top top me

3 piece body,post 84 serial number,routed for humbucker, what`s there to like? :-? Gabe.

Hi guys,

To me the body looks to be only 2-piece. The lower join line is obvious but the pics do not clearly show a 2nd one.
The wood is ash, TST-50/55 only used alder - and in Natural you can generally see the filler in the wood.
Also the head has a round string tree - indicating a '54 neck type but the serial# should only be 4 digit. The 0+5 digit indicates a '58 model. ?????
It would be good to see if the codes match.

With out really any other info at this time , I would say a TST-65 but could be a TST-85 (less likely).

Peter Mac