After 9 months this continues to be a puzzling guitar in my opinion.
ATO, you are good at finding these headscratchers.
To answer my own question above, brass plate phased out by early 1987.
This guitar I now believe is actually from
1989, not 1984.
I'm sure this confusion comes from the seller using the
Registry for dating.
See where I think it actually fits here:
ST Serial Numbering Systems
And here:
Tokai Strat Copy Timeline 1977- Present
Notable features of this guitar:
5 digit serial number on a guitar with a rosewood board
HSS rout,
11-14 body code,
pot code seems to be
99.
So it appears that these are September 1989 pots
(99) in a guitar assembled in November
(11) 1989?
That all fits nicely.
The confusing part is the label on the pickguard with handwritten date of 2008? That label is unlike anything I have seen on a Tokai. Looks like Western handwriting.
But the wiring looks unchanged....
Maybe the label has to do with something else?
Looks like I am possibly seeing the word
"Sold" in the part of the label that is torn. This may simply be a label for a re-seller...
Btw, it also has what looks like a high mass brass saddles (SS80 or DiMarzio type?).