I don?t do too many NGDs anymore as a lot of guitars don?t stay with me too long but I thought I would throw this one up here as it a fairly rare bird and this is the ?Tokai Forum?. I recently found this LS-150 here in Tokyo in a store nearby called Nico Nico guitars. The store deals mostly in recent and vintage Gibsons , Fenders and other US-guitars but has a fair number of Japanese guitars coming in from time to time. I had a chance to play it the same day but waited about a week before they were able to give me a price. Thankfully the price was reasonable considering the good condition.
Everything is original and there are only really 2 small chips in the lacquer. The finish is quite thin and I have seen these referred to as having cashew lacquer. There is some checking on the back but not the front.
The guitar weighs 4.07 kg and the neck is a thick 58 style. The store guys were telling me that it was a ?kamaboko? profile which refers to Japanese fish-cake on the left in the picture below.
I haven?t played too many old Tokai LPs so can?t really compare but this one definitely has a handmade feel to it. One thing I noticed is that the neck is not perfectly smooth on the back and there is a bit more relief on the bass side of the neck compared to the treble.
As for sound and playability it has good resonance and sustain and no buzzing at a medium action. I am not too thrilled with the SD super distortion in the bridge. It does what it is supposed to do I guess but compared to some nicer pickups like the WIZZ PAFs or some Seth Lovers I am not too much a fan.
In any case, here are some pictures:
Cheers,
Wulfman
Everything is original and there are only really 2 small chips in the lacquer. The finish is quite thin and I have seen these referred to as having cashew lacquer. There is some checking on the back but not the front.
The guitar weighs 4.07 kg and the neck is a thick 58 style. The store guys were telling me that it was a ?kamaboko? profile which refers to Japanese fish-cake on the left in the picture below.
I haven?t played too many old Tokai LPs so can?t really compare but this one definitely has a handmade feel to it. One thing I noticed is that the neck is not perfectly smooth on the back and there is a bit more relief on the bass side of the neck compared to the treble.
As for sound and playability it has good resonance and sustain and no buzzing at a medium action. I am not too thrilled with the SD super distortion in the bridge. It does what it is supposed to do I guess but compared to some nicer pickups like the WIZZ PAFs or some Seth Lovers I am not too much a fan.
In any case, here are some pictures:
Cheers,
Wulfman