# The Tokai Goldstar Sound I bought for $250.00



## Kenmac (Jan 24, 2007)

Just thought I'd tell you all about the very first Tokai I bought back in 1985 for $250.00. The ad was originally posted in the Buy & Sell newspaper and at that time I'd heard of Tokais but I never saw or tried one out. So I went to this guys place and tried it out. The action was a little on the high side for me but it sounded good in most pickup positions. (More on that later.) 

I was pretty impressed with it and bought it. It came with the original Tokai tweed case but the person who owned the guitar prior to the guy I bought it from made some modifications. He installed a Kahler copy vibrato system which I never really bothered with and he replaced the bridge pickup with an Evans Eliminator Lead pickup. To be honest I didn't like the sound of that pickup even though I know that Evans pickups are revered by a lot of guitarists. It sounded too trebly to me. So there's the first two mods, the vibrato system and the bridge pickup. 

Now here's where we get into my modifications. I hope you guys don't flip out over these. A couple of years after I got the guitar I had some stickers laying around. One was a gold star and the other was a musical staff with notes on it. I put both of them on the headstock of the guitar. Hey "Goldstar" and the notes denote "Sound" right? :smile: About two years after that I decided to change not just the Evans pickup but all three of them for Fender Lace Sensor pickups. I also had a guitar tech add a 22nd fret to the guitar because (and I know this may sound silly) I felt like I was getting ripped off in a way with a 21 fret guitar. 

The thing to remember about the mindset of the mid to late eighties was that Tokai made good copies of Fenders and Gibsons but at the time people didn't take them as very good guitars in their own right. The last modification I made was to install a Roland GK-2 pickup on the guitar as I sometime use a Roland GR-33 guitar synth and I had the guitar tech set the action up for slide guitar but not so high that you couldn't play it normally. Now having said all this, IF and that's a BIG if, I were to sell this guitar a person would have to be a pretty hardcore Tokai fan to want to buy this. But truth be told, I'm not selling it. Anyway here are some of the photos. There are more here: http://s145.photobucket.com/albums/r227/Netskenmac/Goldstarsound/ On the Photobucket website there are also some standalone photos of the original Tokai case and in one of the pictures the sun made the colour of the fur lining bloom a bit. It's actually more of a crimson red as you see in the first two photos.


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## elindso (Aug 29, 2006)

It looks nice.

How's the Roland gizmo.

Can it make it sound like a guitar:smile:


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## suttree (Aug 17, 2007)

i'm wondering. do you play slide with the gk-2a? if so, does it track well at all? i'd be surprised if it did...


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## Greg Ellis (Oct 1, 2007)

I'm a huge fan of 80's Tokai, so IF you were going to sell it, I would certainly be interested. 

I'd probably want to play if first, and I think I would probably undo some of those mods, eventually.

How are the frets doing?

Here's my Tokai Strat - similar vintage


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## elindso (Aug 29, 2006)

Those pickups look very Tiesco Del Ray.

They were cheapies but sounded great.

That's why David Lindley likes them.


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## Greg Ellis (Oct 1, 2007)

elindso said:


> Those pickups look very Tiesco Del Ray.
> 
> They were cheapies but sounded great.
> 
> That's why David Lindley likes them.


Mine? They're just bare humbuckers in black. Nothing unusual about them at all.


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## Kenmac (Jan 24, 2007)

:smile: You'd actually be surprised by the guitar sounds in the GR-33 guitar synth. While they may not be convincing enough on their own they sound great in a mix. BTW you haven't lived until you've heard a piano being played with a slide. I was talking with another guitarist I know who has a GR-33 and I said to him that when you play the piano sound with the slide it sounds more like an effect than an instrument. He got a laugh out of that and agreed. Sorry for not posting yesterday BTW. My computer was giving me grief.



elindso said:


> It looks nice.
> 
> How's the Roland gizmo.
> 
> Can it make it sound like a guitar:smile:


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## Kenmac (Jan 24, 2007)

Yep, as I just said to Elindso, playing the piano sound with the slide is really a unique experience. :smile: The tracking of the GR-33 is definitely the best out of all the Roland guitar synths. You do get a few occasional glitches but for the most part you don't have to alter your technique like you had to with the earlier models.



suttree said:


> i'm wondering. do you play slide with the gk-2a? if so, does it track well at all? i'd be surprised if it did...


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## Kenmac (Jan 24, 2007)

Thanks Greg. I have this Goldstar and also a Springysound Strat along with a Love Rock and I'm not selling any of them. The frets are fine, especially on this Goldstar because I mainly use it for slide. I like the matching headstock on yours. When did you buy it? 



Greg Ellis said:


> I'm a huge fan of 80's Tokai, so IF you were going to sell it, I would certainly be interested.
> 
> I'd probably want to play if first, and I think I would probably undo some of those mods, eventually.
> 
> ...


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## Greg Ellis (Oct 1, 2007)

Kenmac said:


> I like the matching headstock on yours. When did you buy it?


I didn't buy it. I rescued it. From a garbage can.

Life smiled on me, for once.


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## Kenmac (Jan 24, 2007)

Cool! :smile:


Greg Ellis said:


> I didn't buy it. I rescued it. From a garbage can.
> 
> Life smiled on me, for once.


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