Tokai TST50 Stratocaster 1983 in Fiesta Red - 40 years on, the guitar that changed it all for me!

 

The Tokai TST50 in Fiesta Red -

One of my top guitars of all time!

On Monday 19th November 1983, I purchased a guitar that change everything for me - the Tokai TST50 Stratocaster in Fiesta Red for £199 from ABC Music in Surrey. 40 years later, I am still enjoying a couple these fine 1983 guitars, both in Fiesta Red.

For some years starting in the 1970's, I had been making do with unsuitable guitars whilst learning to play and because I had no money to buy a decent one. Occasionally I would be able to get my hands on someone else's guitar to try and to realise what I was missing or what was eluding me.

The controversial Tokai TST50 -

it outclassed the Fender guitars of the day  

I was ideally looking for a guitar suitable for the playing I wanted to do and the sound I wanted to create. In those pre-internet days, that meant looking at guitar magazines, visiting guitar shops and hoping the advice from the shop was good and not from someone looking to offload a guitar.

                                       1985 on stage with the Tokai TST-50 guitar

In 1980 when I was 14, the Shadows released an album called String of Hits and this was the right sound at the right time for me to aspire to playing and creating, for a short time, this was mostly attempted on a Starway Stratocaster copy guitar borrowed from my English Teacher at school. 

                                      1985 at the Hope Pub in Richmond, London 

                                                playing the Tokai TST-50 guitar

The Shadows at that time were recently back on tour and in the singles charts with singles from the string of hits album such as Don't cry for me Argentina and theme from the Deerhunter, I could see on their television performances and hear on the record a guitar style and sound I wanted to perform - that of the Shadows lead guitarist Hank Marvin.

1983 Tokai TST50 - the equal of the pre-CBS 1959 Stratocaster

The string of hits LP cover had artwork by a studio called Cream, and their album art was a joy in itself to look at, clever, stylish and just outstanding.

By early 1982, I was now playing often in various short lived bands with people at school, I was round my friend Dave Kent's house when he played me a 7 inch single from 1960, called 'Apache.' Like many before me, it had changed their playing and Dave and I listened to this single again and again, the 7 inch record material seemed to give it a special resonance, almost ethereal. What a fantastic sound. Dave purchased a used Musima guitar made in the GDR which was sort of Stratocaster like and had a trem arm.

The Shadows first album from 1961 -

it features Hank's first Stratocaster on the cover -

It would take me 17 years to get the same 1959 year guitar 

After leaving school, some months later I got back in touch with Dave around late 1983, I had only then recently purchased the Tokai, at the time I was working in London on an evening shift for a wine company, so in the mornings I had the time to myself and one Monday in November 1983 went to buy this great guitar so I could try and emulate the Hank Marvin sound I was after, whilst the house was empty.

The price of the guitar at £199 was then for me 4 weeks wages for this new icon and worth all of it. Getting home that day with the guitar in a cardboard box under my arm, which I had walked home 2 miles with, I only had a brief time to try it  out.

I plugged it in and briefly played along with a Shadows record. This was the sound and the right looking guitar. It even looked like Hank Marvin's guitar. This was the start of a journey. 40 years later it is still inspiring me to play.

The Shadows String of Hits album from 1980 - 

I was lucky to find this signed copy on sale

Soon enough with 3 schoolfriends and Dave's brother, we had ourselves a small band going and for a few years made a lot of noise down at the local youth club! I was meanwhile learning the Hank Marvin style and have been doing the same thing since.

Hank Marvin playing his 1958 Stratocaster in the late 1980's

Recently I put a book together with pictures of every guitar I have owned since 1977, it was called 150 guitars later, because that is where I am now, 150 guitars on from 1983.

A barely played 1983 one owner TST50 with rare decal mistake!

One thing is for sure the Tokai TST50 is one of the great guitars I have owned and has been seldom equalled. Nowadays I have 2 of these TST50's to hand, both from 1983. Next to a maple neck 1959 Stratocaster I restored in 1999, the Tokai is on a par with that, not much else is, except the recent Mexican made 50's guitars from 2018 onwards.

Playing eat again on the 19th November 40 years on, it is still one of the best guitars ever.

Hank Marvin and my 40 years of stratocasting

Hank B Marvin - guitar genius

My earliest recollection of seeing and hearing Hank Marvin and the Shadows was in 1976, on a Saturday morning television screening of Summer Holiday. I knew this was the sound I wanted to achieve.

About that time I had a creaky ribbed old Spanish guitar with nylon strings, on which I was learning a few chords. At a party of some people we knew, a group were playing electric guitars and one of their tunes stuck in my head - I would later recognise it as Shindig, by the Shadows. Even at that young age and lack of musical ability, this music stood out.

Fast forward a year and I was taking guitar lessons, I tried a steel strung jumbo an American kid in the class owned and this was totally for me. Immediately, I realised that nylon strings were the wrong sound, I must get a better guitar. This was reinforced when my guitar had to have a new tuning peg and I get to borrow a Levin parlour size guitar, again, this was it!

I hadn't the means to get this back in the 70's

Playing along to music on the radio and trying to work out the songs by ear was a good start. In 1978 to 1980 the Shadows appeared on Top of Pops playing their chart hits, Hank Marvin was playing 'Don't cry for me Argentina' in 1978 and the sound was what I wanted to get. And of course that red Stratocaster. 

Hank's original Stratocaster of the same vintage as the one he often used in the 80's

I wanted one for Christmas but was fobbed off with the line 'when you can play properly,' that 'properly' was never defined and I would have a few years to wait until I could buy one myself. Maybe that perseverance was for a reason? If I'd got one easy, would I have stuck with it?

This album opened my ears to the style I wanted to achieve - the Shadows sound

In 1980, I managed to borrow an electric guitar from a schoolteacher and plugged it into a Sound City 50R PA with reverb, I was getting nearer to the sound I was after but alas no trem arm! The guitar was a Starway 'stratocasterish' type of copy, probably from the late 60's or early 70's. From this I worked out how electric guitars operated.

Again the limitations became obvious, but I carried on. I did get to play a real Stratocaster in 1980, a schoolfriend's brother owned one, but again no trem! My friend Dave purchased a Musima Stratocaster copy from the 1960's in April 1982 when he was 16, This had a trem arm! It was an East German cod copy of a Fender in some ways. 

The Shadows 1960 single Apache - Dave and I would marvel at the sound!

I started work in 1982 and purchased a Hondo 2 guitar that was based on a Gibson Les Paul, I hadn't intended to buy it, it was actually foisted on me by a friend I was at school with who knew I wanted a guitar and thought it was what I was looking for. Sadly it wasn't the guitar I really needed, for a start the pickups sounded wrong, humbuckers when I needed a single coil sound. Time to move on.

The Shadows first album - what a sound

When I got a copy of the Shadows first album it was becoming more obvious that the sound I sought was not what I could obtain with the Hondo, on the first album's cover was the clue - a Stratocaster and preferably in Fiesta red, like Hank's, which Cliff Richard had bought him.

Well, this was much closer - in fact even closer than Fender's then current guitars

In November 1983, I became the proud owner of a Tokai TST50 Springy Sound Stratocaster guitar, in Fiesta red. Plugging into the Sound City, I was now much closer to that sound. These Tokai guitars were a revelation, better made than the Fender guitars that they stole the sales from. Fender had been bought in 1965 and the guitars weren't the same by 1980. 

A somewhat tongue in cheek Tokai advert!

The Japanese with their eye to quality, copied original Fender 50's and early 60's guitars, the result was a shock for Fender, who admitted the copies were better than the guitars they were making.

The Watkins Tape echo - a later solid state one but the same principle as the originals

Echo was the next step for my sound. Hank Marvin originally used a Meazzi and then bought a Vox badged version of it. I managed to get a Watkins Copicat tape echo, a staple of the 1960's guitarists who wanted Hank Marvin type sounds. This was now the way forward.

At the Hope Pub, Richmond in the 1980's

It was in late 1983 that I got back in touch with Dave about starting a band, we had played together since 1980 but after we left school, I started work and he went to college so we were both busy. 

I had started to tentatively write music and starting a band seemed the next logical step. We met up and decided to give it a go. With his brother Will on bass, James a school friend on drums and Mark the singer, we went round to Mark's house to practice.

Us in 1985 with Alan 3rd right, standing a school friend of ours

still using the Sound City (lower right)

It was a bit of a disaster, Mark dried up and couldn't sing, so I had to take over the vocals. At least we got going now. We put together a list of around 20 or 30 songs, some of our own compositions and a load of 50's and 60's songs, early rock n roll, Cliff and the Shadows, Cream, Rolling Stones and similar music that we thought would give us a good spread of material.

Sadly there was a lack of suitable local venues, music was going away from guitar bands to synth bands and we were looking out of step even though we were competent performers. We had hoped to get noticed and perhaps get signed by a record company but we couldn't get any interest from venue owners, which meant we couldn't really be seen. 

I had for a few years been playing jazz, it had been an interest for a while and I first performed live in 1980 and I'm still doing it. Since we had left school, our musical tastes had diversified and although we had some common ground, we seemed to want different things musically. The band lasted about 3 years until I left to do other things. I hoped to get into composing which I saw as a future possibility, in which we might then get me into the industry into which I could involve the band. 

At work I'd frequently I'd often get things come into my head as ideas for songs or instrumental music and I'd write them down on scraps of paper for later and hurriedly when I got in from work, start composing with a guitar in hand. Happy days. For about three years I was having the time of my life doing this. It helped to erase previous disappointments and setbacks, here I was now able to make my own way, on my own terms. Exciting stuff.

20 years on we reunited for Dave's 40th - it was like we never were apart

During the band years I was avidly writing, also learning and seeking out new and old material. It was really quite bizarre, here I was in the early 1980's about the same age as Hank Marvin was in the 60's starting on pretty much the same musical journey as he did back then. I was fortunate that Hank was a sort of template whereas he made his own style. 

The musicians I was learning to play from - the Shadows and Cliff Richard, were back in the charts again amazingly, so I was able to play both their new and old material. A great musical education. Whilst I learned, I played other styles too so I was not limited. This paid off.

The Shadows in 1984 - presented with Fender 57 reissue guitars - 

Fiesta red Stratocasters may not have been so prevalent without the Shadows

Even then in the early 80's I realised that this was a remarkable thing, almost a destiny to follow. The sounds Hank was making were often out of reach in some case and it was some years before I learned how he attained them. I found some of the new Shadows material too long, at over 4 minutes. By contrast I found some of the old ones too short, a fact Hank also commented on.

Cliff Richard in a Summer Holiday publicity still at Aldenham bus works - 

I was also a massive fan of London Buses and vowed to own one - 

I did get to do this in 2009 and to also drive various Routemaster buses!

The Shadows in this 1980's incarnation had developed their style musically, from beyond their early sound. So they continued in this way until 1990, when Hank Marvin was offered a solo tour, by which time he had moved to live in Australia. This made touring more difficult for the group. 

Hank did some good work musically on his solo tours and recordings, but I felt they lacked something - Brian Bennet and Bruce Welch at a minimum. This combination just worked so well, with Cliff it was truly special even in the 80's and beyond. 

Hank on tour around 2000

The factors of the solo tour and Hank's residence abroad really ended the Shadows as a unit for the time, which was sad. Since their 1968 breakup they had gone onto other things, Bruce produced records and published music, Brian composed, Hank did sessions and television with Cliff Richard. A new dawn was to come.

The reunion tours of 2004 and 2005 - 

fans though that they would never see this band play again live

The 1975 Eurovision appearance got the Shadows back into almost the 'unit'. From 1990, it looked like the Shadows would be just another band gone from recording and performing. Sadly, things had been said around that time that created a bad atmosphere between the group members and there was always the question 'are you getting together again?' For most of us, we were resigned to the fact that it was all over.

The final tour - 2009 - Cliff and the Shadows

They may get together again, who knows?

When the 2004 Shadows reunion was announced, I knew I just had to see them, perhaps this would be my only chance? Luckily the concert I attended was filmed and came out on DVD. Then they did a few dates in 2005 and I saw them again that year. I missed their 2009 tour, but as I had met Cliff a few times in the 1990s and very nice chap he is, I was content with the DVD as a consolation prize!

The Fender Custom shop 1959 Stratocaster - 

not far removed from Hank's original - not cheap but nice! I bought one.

I have continued my playing of the Shadows music since 1980, trying to emulate the sound. I've got close, I use the Vox Valvetronix Studio and their AD60 and 120 amplifiers which look like the AC15 and AC30 used by the Shadows. 

I have been playing through VOX amplifiers since 1985

It has been a long journey about 150 guitars in fact - I now have 2 Tokai springy sounds, I managed to find a 1959 Stratocaster like Hank's which I restored and have a 1959 Custom Shop Stratocaster like Hank's original. So I've achieved my aim in that respect. I play other styles of music but Hank's style is something I come back to time and again.

Cliff driving the London Transport RT Double Decker

In 1983 I bought the Shadows book and found out that I was distantly related to Shadows founder Jet Harris, in that we were both related to music hall star Vester Tilley. Destiny again? 

Mind you, when I was young I lived in London near a Bus garage in Teddington! So the red double decker addiction is part of that journey too, the coincidences and paralells are quite spooky.

In 1983 I was working in London and used to read the Shadows book going to work on the train. It seemed a lot of paths were colliding! Round the corner from where I worked was a Bus stand, so Routemasters aplenty, the same when I worked in the Kings road and also in the City of London. I am glad to have seen these buses in their prime and ridden on them.

Signed pic of Cliff and the RT from Summer Holiday

Thankfully youtube has plenty of videos of how to play their tunes and also original performances from the 1960's onwards. I'd never have predicted that in 1980!

Nearly 40 years on from picking up that first red electric guitar, I am glad that I did. I may have dipped in and out of musical styles over the years but I always come back to the Hank Marvin and the Shadows music.

Thanks to Cliff Richard for buying Hank that first guitar and for pushing Norrie Paramor to give them their own recording slot for Apache! 

And Hank, you've given me a great hobby! I can't thank you enough. And you Cliff!

Tokai Goldstar TST50 Springy Sound in Fiesta red review v TST50 Springy Sound from 1983

Tokai TST50 Goldstar TST50 review

Tokai TST-50 (lower) from 1983 with a 1959 Stratocaster I restored

Not much has changed since 1983 - except the decals

Back in 1983, I purchased a Tokai TST-50 Springy Sound Stratocaster, as an avid Hank Marvin fan, as it was about the closest I would get to Hank's legendary 1959 Fender Stratocaster.

My quest to find a 1959 Stratocaster took me around 16 years and came in the form of a guitar that needed restoring, now complete and pictured above. 

However, the Tokai from 1983 really was about as good as you could get back then for what I could afford. Weighing in at £199 or £250 with the case, a 1959 in Fiesta red was about £5000 if you could find one. That seems like peanuts now!

A pity I didn't back then as today it would be worth around £40-50,000. 

The TST-50 from that era featured a 1958 C shape neck, it was basically as good a replication as you could get of one of Fender's golden era guitars, made before 1966. 

Tokai were acknowledged even by pop players as great guitars and some were even used by big names over Fender, they were quite amazing. I did find the pickups were rather weak on my own 1983 original.

But, a big legal argument ensued because these guitars were too close to the Fender original and better than Fender's then current 3 bolt neck guitars which had lost their way due to cost cutting.

In the mid 80's, Tokai seemed to disappear from the Stratocaster style guitar market, they later on reappeared with a changed headstock shape Stratocaster style guitar many years later.

Cut to about 2010 and Tokai have come back with a very much nuts and bolts replica of the Stratocaster, right in the style of the Fender Stratocaster.

So I decided to try a new one, to see how they compared to the 1983 one, which I now have a pair of, both in fiesta red. 

The new TST50 Goldstar-
Little unchanged from the 1983 guitars

One good upgrade Tokai made has been the use of Gotoh vintage pickups, they are stronger than the ones on my 1983 guitar. They give a good sound and have enough power in for the sort of instrumental playing I do and for general pop music.

 

The revised decals

The neck is still the 1958  C shape which I prefer and is easy to play with the vintage wire type profile frets. Tokai install a spacer under the string tree which I personally like. These were on the 1983 guitar too, a modification I have done on a number of my other Stratocaster guitars. 

The neck on the modern Goldstar is slightly deeper than on the 1983 but the difference is negligible and only noticeable if you have an original old Tokai to hand to compare.

The Goldstar is still an easy guitar to play when set up correctly. I use it for a few different styles of music and find it works well.

If you are considering one, I would say go for one, the build quality is very good, playability good, sound is good. For a made in Japan guitar, it offers great value. 

I don't think you'll be disappointed. And being built in fairly limited numbers, they are a good investment too. You rarely get a bad Japanese made guitar and I am very pleased with the one I have.

Hosco Vintage Pre-CBS type Hank Marvin Fender Stratocaster replacement body review

Hosco Vintage Pre-CBS type Fender Stratocaster replacement guitar body

Bare Alder Hosco Stratocaster body

There are many pattern Stratocaster bodies out there whether you're replacing one or building a replica of an old Stratocaster from the Pre-CBS 1954-65 era.

That old saying 'you get what you pay for' is certainly true, but also to bear in mind that in some cases you are merely paying for the name too. Over the last 35 years I've built and repaired a fair few guitars, mostly stratocaster types including work on Pre-CBS guitars.

To mark my 35 years of guitar work, I decided to build the guitar I had specified and drawn up in 1983. And for this project I chose a Hosco Alder body. So, here's my review of it.

Beautiful wood grain on the rear of the Hosco body

I was no stranger to the Hosco brand name, a few years ago I did a project with a Mexican 60's reissue neck on a Fiesta Red Hosco Stratocaster body. A few years on and I chose a Hosco again as my project basis.

New Mexican Standard neck - a great player and 2018 made.

2015 onwards necks were from retooling and play and feel better than the previously

I had decided to use a Fender Mexican modern standard stratocaster neck for this project and had noted from my research that the Standard and 50's Classic player / 50's Reissue Mexican bodies and necks were interchangeable for fit.

Mid 59 - 65 Pre-CBS Hosco Fiesta red body

In my 62 reissue project a few years back, the Hosco body in this was a very good fit to the Mex 60's neck. With that in mind, I decided this was the way to go for this job. With no finished bodies to hand, I chose a bare Hosco body in Alder and Rothko and Frost paints, their White sanding sealer spray, Fiesta Red spray and a clear gloss in Nitro cellulose.

Right colour and nice finish - undrilled bridge screw location

The body purchased through Axecaster on Ebay was a nice example, it was sanded smooth and would take a minimal final sand to be ready to spray, or you could likely use spray it up with a high build filler and be ok. It has the bridge holes for the vintage Stratocaster bridge already drilled which is useful.

Body primed in white sanding sealer and Hycote hi build white primer

The machining on the body is nicely done, the shaping of the contours is first class and the neck joint is a nice fit to the body. It was slightly less tight than with the 60's neck but within acceptable limits. 

First coat of Rothko & Frost Fiesta Red on

The depth of the body is acceptable as are the contour cuts. I'd started the project a while back with another guitar of which the colour didn't suit what I was looking for so I sold that on and decided to start with a fresh body.

Great colour, looks like Hank's in the daylight

My project is half vintage, half modern, my 35 year old 'design' if you can call it that was to use a more modern 'Smith' Stratocaster neck with the adjuster at the nut end and the larger Fender logo, but in the general style of a modern Hank Marvin Custom Shop Stratocaster.

Start of assembly

The recent Mexican standard neck fits that brief, it is a nice C shape, slim and easy to play with modern radius of 9.5" and slightly more meaty frets.  Pickups would be Kinman Impersonator pickups Hank Marvin style with Gold hardware on the guitar.

Ideal for my project - Fender locking tuners

The Tuners I chose were Fender locking tuners, made for the neck so no need to have to re-drill any holes, they fitted perfectly - always something to be aware of when building a custom guitar.

Kinman Impersonator pickups fitted

Having used many bodies over the years on project guitars, I'd say that the Hosco really does the job for me, they are well made, well finished, certainly for the price they are a good buy. There is always the issue of neck to body fit, I have found that a standard Stratocaster neck by Fender fits which is always the ideal situation. 

Building up in progress - 

Kinman Impersonator Hank Marvin pickups wired

I'd certainly recommend these bodies if you're looking to do a build.

A great resonant guitar - plays nicely and

the Kinmans sound great.

Guitar reviews for you - Tokai TST50 Stratocaster in Fiesta Red 1983 lawsuit model

                                         

Tokai TST50 (lower) and Fender 59 Stratocaster (top)

The best maple neck Stratocaster that Fender made originally was the 1958 and 59 models. The slim C-shape neck was a joy to play and players like Buddy Holly and Hank Marvin of the Shadows.

In the 1970's a bloated CBS run Fender Musical Instruments suddenly became aware of a whole industry of Asian usurpers who were making guitars like theirs only better. Having owned a 75 Stratocaster and a 1983 Tokai, the Tokai is the better guitar.

The TST50 really hit the UK market bigtime in 1983 and 1984 although it had been in production since 1982. Essentially it was a replica of the 58/59 Fender Stratocaster. Having been precisely measured from a 1950's original, it could not fail to be a highly playable and amazing sounding instrument. It did not disappoint.

With a slim C shape neck, deep cut out contours on the body, it was a revelation. If you going to buy a copy, this high end guitar was going to be it. Until they fell foul of a trademark word on the strapline of their decal and Fender took action.

The original Tokai guitars had the Tokai name in a 'spaghetti' style as on the vintage guitars, during legal action, the logo became a block letter logo. It later reverted to a spaghetti style.

Essentially, Tokai had replicated the original Fender Stratocaster to a degree that was unheard of, having to change some wording to escape easy pickings for a lawyer, at a distance, the guitars looked like the real thing.

Although now available again with the Fender headstock shape that they had been forced to abandon in the 90's, the guitars are essentially superb as they ever were.

Original Tokai TST50's were £199 in 1983 with an optional tweed hard case at £50 on top. Second hand these guitars are around £400-900 depending on age, condition and finish.

They are amazing to play and I regret selling my first one and had to wait 18 years to find another. So if you do see one for sale, they are a good investment as well as player.