1979 LS120 For Over $6,000
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Homer J. Simpson
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Really hard to see with the bad pics but it looks like it was refretted? That would be ridiculous at that price (IMO).
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over $6K USD is pretty well retarded for some veneer top 
I‘d say every guitar has to be refretted at one point in time , if it gets enough playtime. I wouldn’t worry , if I had so much money to spend, but I don‘t …
Homer J. Simpson
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I'd generally agree with that, it's generally not an issue with unbound fretboards.
However it's more complicated with bound necks and fret nibs. The nibs are usually gone after a refret (that's why I think this one was refretted) because a fret job with retaining the nibs (which can be done and I was even stupid enough to do that... once in 1985) is super tedious, therefore super expensive and the quality of the job can't be easily guaranteed.
When a vintage guitar has lost the nibs, it has lost one of the features that originally set it apart from the cheaper models and defines its current value, and to get that back the neck needs to be rebound and refinished and the guitar is still not 100% original anymore. At any rate, it reduces the value and doesn't jibe well with guitars offered for NOS grade prices.
However it's more complicated with bound necks and fret nibs. The nibs are usually gone after a refret (that's why I think this one was refretted) because a fret job with retaining the nibs (which can be done and I was even stupid enough to do that... once in 1985) is super tedious, therefore super expensive and the quality of the job can't be easily guaranteed.
When a vintage guitar has lost the nibs, it has lost one of the features that originally set it apart from the cheaper models and defines its current value, and to get that back the neck needs to be rebound and refinished and the guitar is still not 100% original anymore. At any rate, it reduces the value and doesn't jibe well with guitars offered for NOS grade prices.
I have an LS100S ON that was re-fretted long before I got it and it doesn't bother me at all.
My feeling is that if a guitar has that X factor, it gets played a lot and as a consequence you eventually have to re-fret it.
I would be equally concerned about a closet queen that has not played and wonder why it wasn't played very much.
My 2 cents.
My feeling is that if a guitar has that X factor, it gets played a lot and as a consequence you eventually have to re-fret it.
I would be equally concerned about a closet queen that has not played and wonder why it wasn't played very much.
My 2 cents.
And FWIW, I don't think Tokai did veneer tops on LS models in 1979. I believe that started around 1981?
If anyone has seen one they can document from before 1981 I would like to see it.
If anyone has seen one they can document from before 1981 I would like to see it.
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Homer J. Simpson
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Buying a guitar that has lost the nibs wouldn't bother me either (their practical value is disputable anyway), but paying a price as if it still had them (and then some) would.
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no 'expert' here and far from it but from my limited experience with 120s and also from what others have posted in various forums, which can typically be skectchy, I was under the impression that the majority of 120s are veneer with the exception of a hand full of circa 1981 examples.
maybe some others could chime in .......
I had an ‘81 LS120 that was veneer with a COA.
I have an ‘82 that is solid. Presumed to be an LS120, but no sticker and no COA so it’s a guess.
Then things change again by 1983 or so. I would need to check catalogs, but sycamore veneer started being used on LS50 or 60 and also 80 as I recall.
1981 is also the year I believe they started making the ES models? So they were obviously focused on curved top laminates.
I may need to put this on the list of things to research.
Glad you brought it up.
I have an ‘82 that is solid. Presumed to be an LS120, but no sticker and no COA so it’s a guess.
Then things change again by 1983 or so. I would need to check catalogs, but sycamore veneer started being used on LS50 or 60 and also 80 as I recall.
1981 is also the year I believe they started making the ES models? So they were obviously focused on curved top laminates.
I may need to put this on the list of things to research.
Glad you brought it up.
And I am not seeing an LS120 in any of the catalogs and foldout flyers I have for 1979 and 1980.
There is an LS100 in 1979...
In 1980 there is an LS100 and an LS150 and LS200.
So this may not be an SL120 at all.
Would like to see the electronics.
1980 catalog:
There is an LS100 in 1979...
In 1980 there is an LS100 and an LS150 and LS200.
So this may not be an SL120 at all.
Would like to see the electronics.
1980 catalog:
Homer J. Simpson
Well-known member
There are indications that they existed though, alas I can't find anything that really proves it without some remaining doubt, the last post in this thread comes close (-ish), alas there's no pic proving that it's really a 1979 Reborn:
Homer J. Simpson
Well-known member
Here's another one, the fretboard stamp is hard to see but the middle digit sure looks like a '2':
https://reverb.com/item/285522-1979-tokai-les-paul-reborn-ls-120-golden-era-mij-lester-w-hsc
https://reverb.com/item/285522-1979-tokai-les-paul-reborn-ls-120-golden-era-mij-lester-w-hsc
Didn't seem to bother Gary Moore and Stripe which was refretted numerous times.
Originality is overrated. As if everything made are all carbon copies of each other anyway. Manufacturing tolerances throw the originality concept out the window.
My ls120 has a gibson logo on it, does it annoy me? Yes, do I lose sleep over it? No.
Granted, if you are claiming originality and asking stupid money, that's a different matter,
That's interesting. And it doesn't look overly flamed like I would expect with a veneer top.
Do you still have any pictures showing the cross section of the pickup cavities so we can see the center seam at the cavity? Or even at one of the edges?
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