UK Goldstar Sound sale feeler?

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plexi

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Hi All,

Long time lurker, first time poster.

I've owned this Goldstar Sound since early 1985 - metallic red, unpainted headstock, dark rosewood neck, E series pickups, final prospec saddles, original tweed case.

https://imgur.com/gallery/CAO2OqE

I'm currently considering letting it go. Reverb and eBay seem to be all over the place for value, with very few recent transactions to get a sense of what a fair value is.

Is anyone interested? Anyone care to comment on what a fair market value would be?
 
I'm no expert but I'd say somewhere between £700-1000 going by eBay/reverb prices. Lovely guitar.
 
I don't mean to rain on your parade but your lovely guitar has the serial number and the single ply scratch plate normally found on maple necked Goldstars. Rosewood Goldstars usually had L series serial numbers .Is the paper model sticker number discernible? It looks like ST55. It would be interesting to see if the neck codes and body codes match.
 
Good catch!

Also it has E pickups. ST55s had U pickups I believe? And that’s not an ST55 color either as far as I know.
 
https://www.tokairegistry.com/tokai-info/tokai-fender.html


4 digit serial number.

4lwr26A.png
 
So possibly:

body of a 1983 ST80+?

neck of a 1984ish ST55?
 
Possibly, but my money is on an 84 ST 60 body which were mostly fitted with Es (which would of course have had a ST 60 V neck originally) mated to a similar vintage ST 55 rosewood neck. The neck and body codes should be the giveaway as to what this is.
 
Thanks for all the interest and analysis, very interesting. Where would I find the neck and body codes?

I bought this guitar in '85 and picked it from three in the store in Glasgow. All three were all metallic red with rosewood. I picked this one because it sounded and felt the best to me. Which was fortunate because the other two had matching headstocks, which I didn't care for...

Glasgow guitar stores had many Tokais in those days - I saw many variations that would not seem believable as off-the-shelf retail now, including a metallic pink with black pickups on white guard and rosewood neck combination.
 
Take the neck off and you will find the neck code on the heel by the truss rod .Unscrew the the scratch plate and you should find the body code in the
body rout under the pots. It will be something, something, MR, (Metallic Red)
 
https://www.strat-talk.com/threads/getting-my-hands-on-a-tokai-goldstar-rosewood-car.453896/ Here is a MR Goldstar 50 rosewood board, with the correct scratch plate.
 
plexi said:
Thanks for all the interest and analysis, very interesting. Where would I find the neck and body codes?

I bought this guitar in '85 and picked it from three in the store in Glasgow. All three were all metallic red with rosewood. I picked this one because it sounded and felt the best to me. Which was fortunate because the other two had matching headstocks, which I didn't care for...

Glasgow guitar stores had many Tokais in those days - I saw many variations that would not seem believable as off-the-shelf retail now, including a metallic pink with black pickups on white guard and rosewood neck combination.

If you picked this one, out of three, then it must have spoken to you very well.
Do you have any idea if it was sold as 'new' when you purchased it, or was it sold as 'used?'
As far as the seemingly miss matched attributes it is not out of the realm of possibility that parts at the factory could have been used in a way other than cataloged, or published.

As far as body & neck codes on Tokai examples: most of the ones I have owned typically have matched but then, not always 100%.
I have had the rare example here & there that have codes that didn't match exactly, yet it was obvious the body & neck were original to each other.
MIJs can certainly throw some curve balls :lol: Tokai included.
 
My recollection is that all three were being sold as "new". Tokais were the new thing at that time, I wasn't aware of any used Tokais for sale in Glasgow.

Regarding photos of under the pickguard, there's a couple of photos from 2007 on imgur. Apologies for the slightly blurry photos, iPhone cameras weren't what they are now on back in 2007. This was the only time the pickguard has been off. The markings say 1 1 5 MR - what does that mean?

6IR9wSf.jpeg


I'm not very keen on interfering with the perfect set up (for me) on this one by removing the neck, the sticker on the base says 55. My curiosity may get the better of me though :)
 
I have one other old photo from under the pickguard that shows the markings unobscured by wiring:

v5qhorA.jpeg


When I combine the two pictures, it looks like 1 1 - 5 MR to me.
 
MR is the color, metallic red.

The 11=5 is a factory code. There is another code stamped on the neck but you have to take it off. If it’s also 11=5 then they were likely mated at the factory. If not, we are back to a mystery.
 
Thanks all for your insights so far.

I'll weigh up my increasing curiosity against messing with the set up by removing the neck.
 

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