Won a Mystery Tokai Love Rock- Any Guesses?

[wulfman]

I got this coming from a YahooJ auction. I was the only bidder. No model in the description or any date of purchase and not my favorite finish for a LP but I threw in a low bid and was surprised to be the winner.
Very interesting Yahoo Japan Translation - Love Rock

Any guesses as to year and model?

Thanks all,

Wulfman

[mojo hobo]

Hi wulfman!
Looks like a TLS-60 from 1991 going by the serial number 91*****.really need more detailed pictures to determine 100%.
Decent price...IMHO
Might be a higher model, ls100 flamey top nearly, need more pictures ...fingers crossed x




MOJO HOBO

[wulfman]

Thanks for the info. Where did you see the S/N? I didn't notice it anywhere in the listing or photos. Phew, maybe I have been on the Internet too long today.

[mojo hobo]

No problems WULFY! When i buy guitars from yahoo .japan i always see if the seller has been asked any questions..It is in the a auction page at two places...

Translate the page first and then look for ASK THE SELLER! A,it is usually just under the seller yahoo name and feedback text..
It is also half way down the page usually under the photos section..There was 2 questions asked about the tokai ,WHAT WAS THE SERIAL NUMBER?
The seller gave the 91***** number... 91 i think is 1991 ...japan made..As for the model well going by the pictures i reckon it could be a TLS-60/65..but that flame looks to good, So it might be a higher model ls 100 .I for the moment do not know what tls models were being made in 1991..need a bit more research to see.the headstock angle from the pictures looks 18 degrees to me ,so again a higher model ...hard to tell?

When you get it,post those pictures...



MOJO HOBO

[wulfman]

Thanks mojo hobo! I am pretty close to fluent in Japanese but never noticed that link. Should prove useful in the future.
Should be an interesting guitar for me. I have a couple of Tokai strats from 1980 but this will be the first LP.
I will post a report.

Cheers!

[mono]

That flame reminds me of tonebone's Burny. Pretty interesting!

[planks]

Very nice, congrats!

[shan564]

Good price, I'm jealous.

[Udonitron]

Yeah I was watching that one too...it went for cheap...only you bid on it! VERY similar to TB's Burny, I too thought that when I saw it up for grabs. It almost has that iridescent flashy 70's sticker look to it. Love it.

[wulfman]

Originally Posted by Udonitron

Yeah I was watching that one too...it went for cheap...only you bid on it! VERY similar to TB's Burny, I too thought that when I saw it up for grabs. It almost has that iridescent flashy 70's sticker look to it. Love it.

Yeah, it had a weird ending time of 12:35 pm, right in the middle of lunchtime in Japan. I thought it would go up to the 40k range. Should have it here by next week, we will see what it looks like in person.

[Udonitron]

Yeah you got a killer deal and the super nice $18 local shipping lol...must be rough!

[wulfman]

Ok, finally some time to take pics and get them posted.
In brief:
- Neck with heel cap
- Pickups are high output w/chrome covers. Output around 11k for the neck, 12-13k is my guess for the bridge using a non-digital meter.
- 3 piece back with a large piece in the center and two smaller 5 cm width pieces.
- The previous player wore belt buckles and had the guitar hanging low.
- A few nice dings on the side and back.
- Rosewood is really dark like chocolate. Nice.
- Frets have very little wear.
- Looks like a short tenon to me. Please let me know if that is not the case.

- Top is some kind of veneer I think. If I look closely I can make out what looks like some kind of weave in the finish. Am I seeing things? Did Tokai use some kind of flame maple print fabric around this time? I couldn't tell much by looking in the p/u cavity other than the cap is maple.

First impressions were a little underwhelmed. The guitar had a cruddy set of 9's on it and the action was super low on a dead straight neck. Once I cleaned up the board and body and put some 10's on with some relief everything was fine. This is a great guitar for rock, seems to really push the front end of amplifiers.

Any ideas on what model this would be? No luck finding a '91 catalog on the net so far.

[Custom53]

Nice looking player... I'm not good at $$$ conversions so what did you pay for it in USDs...?

[vintageJIM]

a currency calculator = your friend .....................

Currency Calculator

[mojo hobo]

Well wulfy,You finally got it then,Happy new guitar day fella

Its a 1991 LS60.. reasonable nice guitar for the price..!



MOJO HOBO

[reborn old]

It might be called an LS-65 by 1991. LS-60's had already increased in price 50k yen by then. I have pics of a 1990 LS-65 that has a similar flame appearance except without the chevron angles. >>>>

You could do an acetone test (to confirm it is Poly finished) in a PU cavity to make sure it's not a higher end model than LS-65 ... if it is still unassembled.

[mojo hobo]

Yes ,REBORN OLD...the LS60 changed to the TLS 65 model ......pretty sure it a TLS - 65 and not a higher model...really nice top though..



MOJO HOBO

[wulfman]

Originally Posted by Custom53

Nice looking player... I'm not good at $$$ conversions so what did you pay for it in USDs...?

With the yen so high it would be around $400 US.

If anyone is interested, I would probably let it go for the same price paid. I like the guitar but I have been on a bit of a Yahoo Auction spree lately and have some other recent Les Paul/Strat buys that need to be played.

Thanks everyone for the model info, I have seen a lot of new Tokais in person but not many used of this vintage.