Beautiful guitar, and you're a lucky man to own it. The early LS120s are awesome guitars. Please don't take the following as trying to "rain on your parade" or "bring you down" or anything like that. There probably are some non-veneer LS120s and even if it really is veneered it doesn't affect the tone or playability or beauty of the guitar (other than probably making it more beautiful). I pondered posting something before, but I wouldn't want someone to pass up the joy of owning one just because it might possibly be veneered. If I had known mine might be veneered, I might have done something stupid and bought a Historic instead.
Given Polybiss's location in Poway, CA and his writing style, I'm pretty sure he used to sell under the name "mackelchea". He posted here as "Ochay". (What are the odds of there being another Tokai collector in Poway?) If my presumption is correct, he's the same guy who sold me my '80 LS120. I'm sure he believed it had a non-veneered top, and I'm sure he believes the ones he's selling now have non-veneered tops. Just as I'm sure he thinks the fretboard is Brazilian rosewood.
But as we found out with mine, it's not that easy to see the veneer just by looking in the pickup cavities. If mine didn't have a small area where the veneer has lifted a tiny bit, I think I could still convince myself that it wasn't veneered. (A year later the delamination hasn't gotten any worse and I don't think it's going to peel off like the 2-ply veneers on some Grecos.) See this thread from last year:
http://www.tokaiforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=13572
I took lots of pics of mine trying to highlight the flame and this pic was the best I could do. It's not super flamey in this pic, and in real life, from most angles, under most lighting conditions the flame is even more subtle.
They didn't typically use wild flame veneers on the veneered LS120s. They went for the look of most real '59s, not the garish flamboyant flame popular today. Mild flame isn't proof that it isn't veneer, nor are matching seams/joins, nor even a little flame in the thick maple cap under the veneer.
Since yours has non-stock pickups, you might consider scraping away a little finish on a pickup cavity wall to verify. Just to add to the general knowledge database. If you do that, the veneer is thin and the glue line is almost invisible -- you have to look super closely.
Again, it doesn't really matter. Just as it doesn't matter if the fretboard is really Brazilian or "just" one of the nicest pieces of Indian/Madagascar/whatever rosewood your fingers will ever touch. You'd have a hard time finding a better sounding/looking/feeling Les Paul unless you could afford a genuine '50s LP. (Maybe even then, although I don't want to stray
too far into hyperbole.)
I'm having a hard time hitting the "submit" button. I really don't want this post to be misconstrued. You've already played it, stared at it in awe, caressed it and fallen in love with it. If you suddenly discovered that it had a balsa wood core or was chambered or something like that, the guitar itself wouldn't be any different than it was before you discovered that.
My children will have to pry my veneered LS120 from my cold dead hands or cremate it with me. (I hope it won't end up in the urn with me -- future generations deserve the privilege of seeing it, hearing it, and playing it.)
