E Pickups

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Sigmania

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Starting a separate thread about the "E" marked pickups with gray backs.

I have read conflicting information on this forum from quite a while back saying that they were made by DiMarzio, but the consensus on here recently seems to be that they were made by Goto/Gotoh.

Just wanted to provide a spot for folks to contribute whatever they know about them.
 
Here is a set of "E" pickups from an "oddball" 1981 ST70 MG I am working on that may have been a custom order guitar?

Note the cloth wrapped wire.

7T4Td14.jpg


7j7AImJ.jpg
 
Here is a set from my 1979 ST100 with the "A" stamped plate used early on.

Plastic wire.

8ZaLCq4.jpg


And plastic wrapped wire from my 1981 ST80.

974bjFE.jpg
 
Plastic wire on a 1979 ST100.

Note "A" stamp on earlier pick guards

8ZaLCq4.jpg
 
Where I got this information from I don't quite remember, but the story went that Rick Neilson's Cheap Trick were on a tour of Japan in the 70s and Tokai Gakki entered into an endorsement arrangement with him and his vintage strats and teles(this may have also happened to his Gibsons) and their hardware were examined in great detail and replicated. Tokai reproduced the woodwork and the bridges which were pot metal at the time were supplied by a generic Japanese manufacture that produced strat bridges for a number of other strat copy manufacturers .The pickups specs were sent to Gotoh to produce pickups which replicated the originals as accurately as materials allowed. The same kind of grey board, and a similar number of windings with alnico 5 magnets with ground edges. The authentic sound and faithfull specs of these early Springys caused an absolute sensation in England at the time and the first batch sold out very quickly indeed. The E pickups were hand wound copies of some of his vintage strat pickups minus the cloth wire which was impossible to find in Japan at the time. The Us were the slightly hotter all machine wound mass produced versions of this vintage specced pickup. These were the pickups that wound up(pardon the pun)on the first Springys. How much truth there is in all this is open to question but It does have the ring of truth about it, (like a Springy or Goldie fitted with E stamped Pickups you might say!)PS the A stamped pickguard appeared on E loaded pickguards and B was stamped on U loaded pickguards.
 
That's a cool story! I like that as much as any other explanation I have heard. The folks at Tokai obviously got their hands on some vintage guitars early on. Probably more than once.

So very cool info. Thanks for sharing all of that.
 
bluejeannot said:
Where I got this information from I don't quite remember, but the story went that Rick Neilson's Cheap Trick were on a tour of Japan in the 70s and Tokai Gakki entered into an endorsement arrangement with him and his vintage strats and teles(this may have also happened to his Gibsons) and their hardware were examined in great detail and replicated. Tokai reproduced the woodwork and the bridges which were pot metal at the time were supplied by a generic Japanese manufacture that produced strat bridges for a number of other strat copy manufacturers .The pickups specs were sent to Gotoh to produce pickups which replicated the originals as accurately as materials allowed. The same kind of grey board, and a similar number of windings with alnico 5 magnets with ground edges. The authentic sound and faithfull specs of these early Springys caused an absolute sensation in England at the time and the first batch sold out very quickly indeed. The E pickups were hand wound copies of some of his vintage strat pickups minus the cloth wire which was impossible to find in Japan at the time. The Us were the slightly hotter all machine wound mass produced versions of this vintage specced pickup. These were the pickups that wound up(pardon the pun)on the first Springys. How much truth there is in all this is open to question but It does have the ring of truth about it, (like a Springy or Goldie fitted with E stamped Pickups you might say!)PS the A stamped pickguard appeared on E loaded pickguards and B was stamped on U loaded pickguards.


You mean this guy form the Spring '82 catalog? They were hot around this time. I remember seeing Cheap Trick in high school in 1981, so he would have been touring for sure and would have been a great contact for Tokai to have.


tKbsfCO.jpg


Google translation:

5. Rick Nielsen. Old guitar collector Rick is now crazy about Tokai. This person, Rick Nielsen, who doesn't need to explain any more. Probably the number one old guitar collector in the world. As you know earlier in the previous catalog, he got the Tokai Tramoku standard model at Cheap Trick Japan performance. It's a normal story that seems to be everywhere up to that point, but it's hard because the important one was stolen in New York. I've done a lot of work here and there, but of course New York, which is famous for its criminal city, doesn't come out. Are you smart there? I thought that it would be better to order another Rick from Tokai rather than worrying about it, so l asked him to make it with a check. Surprisingly, I think there are many guitar freaks who think that musicians can get anything for free, but this is also the case. If you really like the guitar, you want to get it, this is what the musician really is. Oh, take off your hat to the great Rick. I'm so impressed that the eyeballs of lyawata Cine are checked. (Tokai staff who are very impressed) Of course, as a musician, his Udemae is a first-class guitarist who wants Hachamecha to continue to do his best.
 
https://www.flickr.com/photos/147832065@N08/50703512108/in/album-72157715185846651/ From Cliff's Flickr site, Tokai's explanation of Their E and U pickups. I remember seeing this years ago but mislaid the information. E stamped pickups are named St A and Us are called St B.
 
The info might be a little suspect though, Tokai didn't use CNC routing at that time to my knowledge and not all STs were made of alder. Some were made of Castor Arelia (Sen Ash) and others may have been made from bass wood(Linden)
 
Yep. Check out the translations I've been working on from the Flat top 1981 and spring 1982 catalogs. There are some descriptions of the pickups though the translations need work. 8)
 
1981 Flat Top Catalog.

9Z3ABCF.jpg


Pickup (ST Vintage)
ST Vintage (ST60 or above, mounted on all models)
Strat Sound with a withered taste '54. The same coil material as Strat P.U. is used.

jue64Tk.jpg


● Pickup (ST hot)
Pick up cover also began with this color wall.
Powerful pickup.
ST hot (ST45.50.55).
 
Lol. The translation needs help. Let me know if you or anyone you know speaks Japanese. I need help getting all of this stuff translated.
 
HAMAMATSU said:
bluejeannot said:
E pickups have a "withered taste"! :eek: Slightly less powerful perhaps?

8) it says that its a dry sound pu like the 54 strat had.

Thanks HAMAMATSU! I will change that in the original thread on the translation of the 1981 Flat Top Series catalog.

Please feel free to help out with the translations on the other stuff from the 1981 and 1982 catalogs. There is a lot to correct. Would really appreciate the help.

http://www.tokaiforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=26104

http://www.tokaiforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=26112

http://www.tokaiforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=26114
 
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