Tokai - Gene Parsons - String Bender

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Sigmania

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From the Spring 1982 Catalog.

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GENE PARSONS ● Former Byrds. Gene Parsons is a well-known steel guitar player, guitarist, drummer, and "String Bender" designer and maker. In the solo album, you can hear multiplayer such as electric guitar, drums and banjo. He is now at his home in North California with his wife, 9-year-old Ehime, and the cat Cleopatra. Endorsement between Tokai and Gene Parsons, the creator of this String Bender. Tokai has an exclusive contract for the special patent String Bender in Japan. Please apply at Tokai product dealers nationwide. We accept it as a complete build-to-order manufacturing.
 
Also form the Spring 1982 catalog:

Gene Parsons, a member of The Byrds, the creator of String Benders. A Tokai String Bender model that comes to rock musicians who are sick of dry guitars. Gene Parsons developed and completed this mechanism with genius guitarist Clarence White. He's now a recluse in Northern California, it's a wonderful extraordinary Casper, and he's working on this String Bender He builds his own house, cracks maki, grows vegetables, and has a family that loves a self-sufficient life that is unimaginable in America today. His lifestyle his may be what we should imitate now. In Japan, Tokai has an exclusive contract with this string vendor, and orders have been received from each country under Gene. It's fun because the vendor of Banjiyo is also in the process of devising.
 
One for sale on Reverb.

https://reverb.com/item/50230430-t...are&utm_campaign=listing&utm_content=50230430

Welcome to Kurosawa Music Ochanomizu Store!
We can ship anywhere all over the world!!

Thank you for looking!
Please contact us for more information.
Also, please carefully read our shop policy below the guitar description!

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From the specifications of the instrument, serial number, etc.
Produced in small quantities from 1980 to 1981,
TE equipped with a string bender has arrived.

Tokai Musical Instruments, a leading guitar factory in Japan
Even now, the old-fashioned production style has been maintained.
We will complete one musical instrument by embodying the many years of experience and skills of craftsmen.

Especially for purely domestic guitars from the 70's and 80's
With the "Japan Vintage" crown,
Its elaborate construction and details are evaluated as more than the original family.

Meanwhile, the TE150 that arrived is a miraculous one.
The new list price at that time was 150,000 yen,
The catalog also stated that it was made to order.

56.9 is written on the sticker of the musical instrument store on the back of the head.
Perhaps it means September 1981 (September 1981).
With the release of this model
It became a hot topic by connecting Endorsement with Gene Parsons of the former Byrds.

It can be said that it is one of the longing for guitar kids who know the time,
It's a miracle that time goes by and it's distributed in the second-hand market! !!

It is in the original state such as frets and nuts.
Metal parts such as bridges are cloudy or dirty.
The neck is in good condition with no major warpage.
The truss rod also turns left and right.
There are small scratches and small dents,
It is beautiful for its age.

With semi-hard case


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Looks like they were called a TE150....

Which is very weird since this was an aftermarket mod done through Tokai dealers.

But this one has a 150 oval sticker. :eek:

So TE150 BL

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150 sticker seems inline with Tokai model pricing system. Maybe this one was done at the factory as a custom or test build?
 
I agree. There could not have been many of these. Pretty rare I would guess.
 
Easy to tell if it was factory installed or done later. Look at the pictures of mine. The finish is in the cavity for the string bender, so it was routed for the string bender before it was finished.

If I recall, I've seen pictures of one in sunburst that show it was routed for the string bender after it was finished (no finish in the string bender cavity).

Production model vs installed afterward.
 
Here's a Tokai ad from 1981 in a Japanese magazine that shows the model (TE-150 SB-BL) and that it was a limited run.

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Looks aftermarket to me.

No stain in the cavity and you can see blade marks and also some blow out of the finished wood at the end.

Not to mention the black paint on the underside of the plate.

If this were done at the factory I would assume there would be stain in the cavity as well as the cuts being as neat as the pickup cavities.

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Yes, as I posted, production models had the finish applied after the cavity route for the string bender. So easy to see if it was factory installed. One more tidbit, if I'm not mistaken, the Tokai model coming out in 1981 was before Fender offered a production model with a String Bender. Another Japanese first.

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