The same reason that many (but not all) of Tokai's base level models got ceramic pickups. The reason for using them must have simply been saving on cost to get them down to a price of 45,000 Yen. The problem is that replacing them with Klusons leaves holes in the headstock where they don't line up. It's quite possible that the early Tokai traps were significantly better than the later traps on cheaper guitars that some of us have grown to hate. I'm very wary of any trap shaped tuners, though plenty of Tokai owners seem happy with them. Especially if (as I assume) Tokais are significantly less common in Canada. I'm reluctant to comment on price because we're separated by a lot of water! But if 620USD = £475, that doesn't sound unreasonable to me. The only real problem with the base level models like the ST42 or ST45 (same model, different years) is those trap tuners which are "vintage incorrect" & rarely anything like as good as the Kluson type on the higher models. So I would expect that you would have to pay more for that than we would in Europe. Even Springys are fairly common in Europe, though I imagine they are quite rare in Canada. Value? Hard to say, it depends on how common they are in Canada. 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. Yep, that's a 1979 ST45 - the model number is stamped into the end of the fretboard.
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