Wow, that is really interesting. They look kind of like a single coil version of this pickup. My link.
The metal pickguard is neat and the knobs. It might be one of the guitars that caused Fender to open their Japan plant in the beginning.
"The promise of a new, revitalized Fender dawned in the early 1980s as the dismal CBS era wound down, and concerned Fender officials noted the abundance of Japanese guitar makers who were blatantly copyingâin some cases cloningâoriginal vintage Fender designs with great accuracy and low costs, albeit with some occasionally bizarre details.
In one particularly galling instance, for example, one manufacturer used headstock logos closely resembling those of original pre-CBS Fender guitars, but using the words âTokaiâ (with a large backward uncrossed âFâ), âSpringy Soundâ instead of âStratocaster,â âBreezy Soundâ instead of âTelecaster,â âOldies but Goldiesâ instead of âOriginal Contour Bodyâ andâthe last strawââThis is the exact replica of the good old Stratâ instead of âFender Musical Instrumentsâ in small print below the main logo. Ouch.
Fender acted by setting up its own official Japanese manufacturing operation, Fender Japan, in March 1982. A joint U.S.-Japanese venture, Fender Japan produced guitars with material and technical support from Fenderâs U.S. facilities; Japanese manufacturing facilities even included factories that had been producing the aforementioned Fender copies. By May, Fender Japan had six vintage instrumentsââ57 and â62 Stratocaster models, a â52 Telecaster, â57 and â62 Precision BassÂź models and a 62 Jazz BassÂź."
It could be one of those sort of copies mentioned, but they are hard to identify.
