Members King Loudness Posted May 8, 2010 Members Share Posted May 8, 2010 Hey guys, The used shop I work at has just taken an old "Phoenix" branded Strat copy on trade, and I became so smitten that I brought it home for a while. It's basically a dead on copy of a '50's Fender Strat, with vintage style tuners, vintage 6 screw trem with big block, 50's contour ash body, 21 fret maple neck, etc. The only changes to this one are that it has a black PG with EMG 18v single coils (). Anyhow, from my limited research through Google, I came up with the following: *Made between 1982-1985 by Tokai in Japan. They may or may not have been made for the Canadian market only, and they replaced the El-Degas brand of guitars. Apparently Larry DiMarzio was the mastermind behind this, and they all came with DiMarzio pickups (I can't confirm this, since all the pickups and electronics are unoriginal to the guitar). Can anyone confirm/deny this, or just tell me a bit more about these guitars? (Also, does anyone have any pickup recommendations? I won't be keeping the EMG's in here once I get the guitar into my ownership). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MelloYello Posted May 9, 2010 Members Share Posted May 9, 2010 I have no idea what it is.. If you like it and it priced fairly just go ahead and buy it. Then make it your own.It sound like a nice guitar. Tokia made some beauties at that time. If you don't buy it pm me. I'm interested if it is a tokia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members King Loudness Posted May 9, 2010 Author Members Share Posted May 9, 2010 It's a fair enough price, and I'd planned to pick it up regardless of what it was, just wanted to know if anyone else had any knowledge of them. Bump! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Gerk Posted December 20, 2010 Members Share Posted December 20, 2010 They seem to be hard to find information on .. I recently picked up one of their ES 335 copies. I've read the same info that you did and a few "old timers" in the canadian music store scene have corroborated this info. Mine (the Vintage 1090 series) at least seems to be basically the same as an 80's Tokai model (ES 150R-TR except the tuners are different) .. it's pretty much identical right down to the pattern on the headstock (but not the brand name). Mine has no serial numbers on it but I found a brochure at vintaxe.com for them (which my music store buddies also remembered). They definitely had a link to DiMarzio (their logo is prominent on the brochure). Yours is likely a Vintage Model 1081 or 1082 -- that was their 2 strat lines. The only differences in the brochure seemed to be the pickup configuration from what I can tell (maybe also the finish?) The images show that a 1081 that was sunburst and a 1082 that was a solid colour, but not sure that this means anything ... it might have just been what they chose to show on the brochure. I'd post the advert but Steve would probably not be happy as he charges to get access to them! I'm just loving my Phoenix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tim gueguen Posted December 21, 2010 Members Share Posted December 21, 2010 Never seen any Phoenix brand guitars in Western Canada. And the bit about them being replacements for the El Degas brand name seems unlikely since like other import lines El Degas switched to South Korean production during the mid-late '80s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Gerk Posted December 21, 2010 Members Share Posted December 21, 2010 There was a distributor listed for both toronto and vancouver in the brochure and I saw a few people post about Phoenix Tele's (I think) from that area on some other forum while doing research. Possibly where the other info in the original post in this thread came from. I can't corroborate the El Degas part of the story, nor the fact that they were "made by" Tokai. I can say that my particular ax is pretty much a dead wringer for a Tokai of that era, that they were made in Japan. They came stock with DiMarzios and they were definitely imported by B&J Music. My music store contacts confirmed that they were Canadian market only. Anything else is still speculation, such as the "made by Tokai" -- I haven't heard anyone that actually knows for a fact comment on this officially. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members harold heckuba Posted December 21, 2010 Members Share Posted December 21, 2010 Electra became Electra/Phoenix right before they changed to Westone but those Phoenix all looked like the Westones they came to be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Gerk Posted December 21, 2010 Members Share Posted December 21, 2010 Electra became Electra/Phoenix right before they changed to Westone but those Phoenix all looked like the Westones they came to be. Yep, the Electra Phoenix are a whole different bunch of guitars. No relation to these ones aside from being made in Japan I would say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Invader.CC Posted December 21, 2010 Members Share Posted December 21, 2010 I had a Phoenix Tele in my early teens which was the early 80's..Other than that i can't say much at that time i was to new to the guitar to judge quality besides i don't remember much about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Doug/Pam Posted December 22, 2019 Members Share Posted December 22, 2019 https://guitarscanada.com/index.php?threads/phoenix-guitar-help-to-identify.75424/ is this the guitar you are referring to ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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