FS 1982 Tokai LS150 Cherry Sunburst

[jacco]

I also remembered this one, with the sticker in the neck pup cavity:

http://www.k4.dion.ne.jp/~yjibika/en_1981TokaiLS150.html

And Le Juges 150 chevron type is exactly the same as the LS-150 pictured in the 1979 vol.3 catalog

 

[JVsearch]

...and it has a mid-length tenon, not the longer one.

Isn't that what it should have?

For years I've thought the medium tenon was the correct one.

 

[Peter Mac]

Hi guys

as I said, I am happy to be proven wrong.
Jacco - the link shows an entirely different LS-150 and if you look at the oval sticker you can see the white that appears as you peel the sticker off.
In terms of the tenon, some earlier model LS-150s had a long tenon, that later went back to the mid tenon. I read this in an article a while ago but can't seem to find it at the moment.
The LS-120, 150 and 200 were only released in 1980 and so the specs changed over the following few years.
From 1978 to 1979 you had LS-50, LS-60, LS-80, LS-100 and LC-100.
If you look at the flame top LS-150 from 1980-81-82 they may be striped, but the stripes fade in and out along the length of the body. The LS-100V does not because it has a flame veneer on it. It's striping is very similar in look to this LS150.
If you look at the '82 catalogue Vol 5, p 4, the 3 guitars on the bottom are LS-200V - LS-150V - LS-100V If you can magnify the picture you will have a comparison of the different types of flame.

regards
Peter Mac

 

[villager]

i have a 1979 LS-200..

 

[jacco]

Hi guys

as I said, I am happy to be proven wrong.
Jacco - the link shows an entirely different LS-150 and if you look at the oval sticker you can see the white that appears as you peel the sticker off.
In terms of the tenon, some earlier model LS-150s had a long tenon, that later went back to the mid tenon. I read this in an article a while ago but can't seem to find it at the moment.
The LS-120, 150 and 200 were only released in 1980 and so the specs changed over the following few years.
From 1978 to 1979 you had LS-50, LS-60, LS-80, LS-100 and LC-100.
If you look at the flame top LS-150 from 1980-81-82 they may be striped, but the stripes fade in and out along the length of the body. The LS-100V does not because it has a flame veneer on it. It's striping is very similar in look to this LS150.
If you look at the '82 catalogue Vol 5, p 4, the 3 guitars on the bottom are LS-200V - LS-150V - LS-100V If you can magnify the picture you will have a comparison of the different types of flame.

regards
Peter Mac

Hi Peter,

I'm sorry, it's not a personal attack just a different opinion based on a combination of observations and catalogs.

I have logged 14 LS120s in 1979, 2 150s and 1 200 (see Mark's website) all within the 9005xxx range. So they were released in 1979.
The 1979 vol. 3 catalog shows all these models, except for the 120.
Here is the 150 in that catalog which resembles Le juge very much in my opinion



Further; the white you talk about on the oval sticker is actually silver and shows differently at different camera angles.
I showed Hiroyuki's 150 because of the fact that he also has the 150 sticker placed in the neck pickup cavity which you had never seen before, probably not an uncommon use in Japan.

 

[le juge]

Dear Peter,

The sticker was moved by a previous owner in the PU cavity. I have check the back of the headstock and I can see the oval mark that prove the sticker was previously here (like all Tokais at this time).

I bought it to an european seller in 2007, he had it a long time ago and possibly put the sticker in the PU cavity (or someone else before).
The sticker looks good on the picture but in reality, it is blemished and the edges are worn.

The top is a solid flamed top, for sure not a veener. LS150/LS200 are custom order only, there is not one kind of flamed top.

 

[le juge]

i have a 1979 LS-200..

Yes, a nice example.
I hope you should be upset if Peter tell you this top is a veener.

 

[Peter Mac]

Hi Guys

Firstly - Vol 3 is for MY1980 - it was printed in January 1980.
Tokais' 1980 production run started in September 1979 , as a matter of fact Tokai production runs always started 2-3 months prior to the Year

2nd - le juges explanation about the oval sticker is good. The photo made it look far newer than it seemed and I will concede this point. I was wrong.

3rd - Is this last photo from the LS-150 or is it another guitar with a similar tiger-stripe top?

4th - still haven't been able to locate the article on tenons

regards
Peter Mac

 

[le juge]

The last picture is the 1979 LS200 of the member "villager". Just to show, you can have this type of stripes on a solid top.

 

[Peter Mac]

I know that you get that with solid filtch match tops.
But the top on your Love Rock doesn't appear to do that in the photo'

Carving stripey maple is a crap shoot. From a 2" slab, it is carved down to a thickness of 1/2" at the edges. In most cases, the stripe doesn't extend that far and changes consistency or may have a blemish that wasn't visible before.\
The thing about solid 2 piece tops is that the sides are a negative of each other generally. The thing about veneer flame is they look the same all the way across.

regards
Peter

 

[le juge]

I know that you get that with solid filtch match tops.
But the top on your Love Rock doesn't appear to do that in the photo'

In reality, the top has an incredible 3D depth, but it's difficult to show this on a picture. Maybe not enough light to make a good photo.

 

[le juge]

Carving stripey maple is a crap shoot. From a 2" slab, it is carved down to a thickness of 1/2" at the edges. In most cases, the stripe doesn't extend that far and changes consistency or may have a blemish that wasn't visible before.\

No, not necessarily, it depends of the angle the wood has been cut.

As you can see on the curved side of this flamed maple neck, the stripes stay the same.

 

[le juge]

Sold !