So yes, it's almost certainly genuine & looks to be original. By the time of the Goldstars, the pickup covers must have changed to a different type of plastic as they didn't discolour nearly as much - but the knobs usually still did! It's strange, the pickup covers on early Springys often discoloured to quite an extreme extent like this one, the same colour as the knobs. ![]() By the middle of 1980 that feature had gone, as had the model number stamped into the fretboard, which was (unfortunately) replaced by the oval sticker on the neck, which often got removed making identification much harder. 1979 was the last year when Tokai made the rosewood board Springys "50s style" with the truss rod inserted from the back with the skunk stripe & headstock plug. ![]() I'll upload a pic of the grey bottom alnicos when I dig one out.Yep, that's a 1979 ST45 - the model number is stamped into the end of the fretboard. Have you any pictures - the neckplate would be especially helpful. Seeing as your revival had ceramic bar magnet it was most likely a 90's Fernandes Revival 57 model. I think they are L5001or L5000's - I'll have to check the pickup designations. This particular Fernandes has its original grey bottom alnico pickups. I'm not precious about it (number of pieces) and it in no way alters to any degree that my relatively well trained ears can detect! And in terms of ecological validity - it would demand the ears of a bat to detect any such differences in a live situation ! I suspect statistical power is also decreased because a lot of examples, as you pointed out have a solid colour so what exactly hiding under there interms of body pieces is unknown. Similarly, stamped saddles tend to have gone by the time L prefixed neck plates came in circa 1984 although some early L-plates still retain the F.S.R.G REVIVAL stamped saddles. However Ive had one with a hex type adjustment left over from the older late 70's early 80's Fernandes FST line of vintage strats. I'm with you on that - every manufacturer throws out curve balls now and again.Īnd it may be possible to make general statements in relation to probability, but we can't apply the general rule to specific examples.įor example, Most Revivalsr have a vintage screw type truss rod. But a sample of one guitar isn't enough to consider to be a representative sample. I also have no proof! The one I had had the Kluson tuners you would expect from an ST50 or above along with the ceramic pickups you would expect in an ST40. The neck felt to me exactly like a Tokai Goldstar, so I have no problem believing that Tokai made it. I think I briefly had one back in the 80s, but I've only had one in recent years, a Candy Apple Red with maple example. I have much less experience of Fernandes than Tokai. You're quite right that Tokai were one of the manufacturers for a while, but I don't have any more information than can be found here. You are one of the few people to have noticed just how similar some of the Fernandes "The Revival" Strats are to Tokais. To be honest I'm not a big fan of any of the Tokai Strat pickups - my favourites are the early AVRI pickups (before the 57/62s were introduced) which are significantly fatter & warmer. Tokai tend to choose the prettier option & make their two piece bodies centre joined.Įs are generally the favourite pickups of the Tokai cognoscenti, but I seem to be in a minority in preferring the slightly more powerful Us. In fact I understand that some people believe that a two piece body is "better" if the join is off centre - you see this on a few Custom Shop guitars. Of course in practice this makes virtually no difference to the sound or quality of the finished guitar - just the aesthetics. If see through finishes & nicely matched body wood is what you like, I reckon you're better off with a Tokai (even a base model) than almost anything else - & I include Custom Shop stuff in that. I have seen some sunburst AVRIs & Fender Japan Strats & Teles that have mismatched bits of wood that (in my opinion) really should have been painted a solid colour as they're not attractive. ![]() Also, I believe that Tokai have a tendency to make their body joins less noticeable than some other manufacturers. It's harder for me to judge as I'm not a big fan of sunburst so the guitars I've owned tend to be solid colours making it hard to tell. This may be generally true, but I'm not sure if it's an absolute rule. Some say that anything lower than a 50 should have a four piece body. So an ST100/TE120 should have a one piece, ST60 & ST80 should be two piece & ST50 3 piece. ![]() Many of the "Tokai experts" get very pedantic about the link between model number & the number of pieces of wood that make up a body.
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