Can anyone help Id this 2002 Tokai Love Rock?

[Jaxscottk]

Hello Everyone,

I was hoping some of the Tokai experts here could help me ID this Love Rock I recently purchased. The store advertised it as a ls80f, but my confusion stems from it appearing to my eyes to have a lightly flamed solid top- not a veneer. It has a 2 piece back. Any help or observations would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Grenville]

The photos aren't large or clear enough to see if it really is a solid top or not, I'm seeing no evidence of that from here.

 

[Jaxscottk]

Hi Grenville. Thanks for the reply. Here is a larger photo showing the grain lines that seem to transition from the top thru the cap.

 

[Grenville]

Yeah, wow, maybe you got lucky?

Did you buy the guitar new from a Tokai dealer?

 

[Jaxscottk]

No, I got it from a second hand store here in Okinawa. It's got a few dings but its a really nice guitar.

 

[Eigen]

A larger photo of the pickup area at the center seam, like the second to last photo in your first post would help clarify if its solid top or not.

Hard to say from the small photo, but it looks like its one piece across the center seam.

Either way, I am sure its a great guitar, Tokai's are very consistently high quality.

 

[Jaxscottk]

Hey Eigen, your right- the cap is one piece under the veneer join. I didn't catch that. Thanks for your expert suggestion! Yes, the Japanese folks that make these are some expert craftsmen.

 

[brokentoeswalker]

The cap is most likely more than one piece.

The fact that it doesn't have a long tenon and the electronics were not that of the higher end models also were give aways.

Sweet Tokai !!

 

[Jaxscottk]

Thanks BTW,

Yeah I knew about the electronics but did not recognise the tenon. I thought it was the long one. The seemingly continous grain lines on the side of the neck pocket confused me. I guess I could just open up my 2015 ls173 to see what the premium features should look like. Duh...

 

[Jaxscottk]

So- I opened up my ls173(ls196 today) to compare the construction to my ls80f and the "deep joint" neck tenon on the 173 looks just like the 80f's tenon. Am I missing something?