ls70f or ls65? (Love Rocks)

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Stokeboy

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Hi all, im new here so dont bully me :)

Anyway currently looking to add a LP style axe in my arsenal (wanna beef up our band). I tried a very nice 2001 Love Rock ls70f inmy local shop. It had a beautiful light honey flame top and it actually sounded pretty amazing through a valve amp i was playin with in the shop (normally a tube user). Having done some research, the ls70f does not have a maple top unlike its ls65 counterpart, and of course a Gibson. Considering the second hand ls70f i was playing with will will turn out as the same price as a new ls65, shall i go for the 65 with the 2p maple top? The guy at the shop says he will be getting a few ls65s on the 20th, but ive never actually seen one up front. I know they vary but what are the Cherry or Honey tops like?
 
Consensus here appears to be that the (plaintop) LS65 sounds better as the top is not a laminate. But it doesn't look half as nice IMO.
 
stokeboy where do you live? Your statement about your guitar shop getting a few LS 65 soon is like a dagger in my heart. You mean you don't have to resort to practically smuggling the Tokais into your country like us Americans? :wink:

It angers me that Tokai is one of the few companies to make a truly accurate Les Paul copy, complete with a real maple top, something that no, zero, zilch, nada company has the balls to do. It's just maple, what's so hard about slapping it on top of mahogany, is alder that much cheaper (i.e. Epiphone tops)?

Why can countless companies basically produce a carbon copy of a strat with no fear of legal recourse, but in the U.S. the Gibson is the only option? :evil:
 
Thanks for the input guys. I think i will try out the mahog top.

Frank, i'm living as a 19 yr old student in Stoke on Trent (England) and living away from home for the first time! Stoke may sound familier to LP lovers, because it was the English town where Slash was bought up before he moved shores to America. Anyway i have no idea why in response to your last sentence. You could always import one from Japan? or have a browse on Ebay where they usually have some.
 
Stokeboy said:
Anyway i have no idea why in response to your last sentence. You could always import one from Japan? or have a browse on Ebay where they usually have some.

Wow, I never knew Slash was raised in England. I just thought he was born there and moved to the U.S. while he was still an infant. Well, he does a good job of hiding his British accent. How is the dialect in Stoke? Do people in that town speak English like the people in London or like the boys from Oasis? It's funny because MTV puts subtitles at the bottom of screen whenever Oasis is interviewed-their accent is that thick.

Which particular model were you referring to when you said you would try out the mahogany top?

As for importing Love Rocks, that's the course of action I took-but the $260 upcharge($140 for shipping and $120 for case) almost made it unworth it, considering Gibson LP Studios can be gotten for $850. But in the end it was worth it. My LS65 rivals or even betters the Studio 8)
 
Paladin2019 said:
Consensus here appears to be that the (plaintop) LS65 sounds better as the top is not a laminate. But it doesn't look half as nice IMO.

I've heard this here before, but I'd have to disagree. I've got a mid-80's ALS60 that supposedly has a laminate top and it's very resonant acoustically - more so than a production Gibson LP, altough not as much as the Historic series. Endless, ringing sustain. I say "supposedly" a laminate top, because as hard as I've looked in the pickup cavities, I can't seem to see the edge of the veneer from the maple cap - I just taking Peter Mac's authoritative word.

Frank555, hate to put another dagger through your pump, but we've got a local music store near Vancouver thats a Tokai dealer, and he must have about a dozen or so in stock at all times - Love Rocks (new and used), Strats, Teles, acoustics, a couple of Flying V's. He says he hopes to have the legendary LS320 in by Christmas, sort of a one shot deal. I'm at the top of his list, natch (I wish).
 
Frank555 said:
Stokeboy said:
Anyway i have no idea why in response to your last sentence. You could always import one from Japan? or have a browse on Ebay where they usually have some.

Wow, I never knew Slash was raised in England. I just thought he was born there and moved to the U.S. while he was still an infant. Well, he does a good job of hiding his British accent. How is the dialect in Stoke? Do people in that town speak English like the people in London or like the boys from Oasis? It's funny because MTV puts subtitles at the bottom of screen whenever Oasis is interviewed-their accent is that thick.

Which particular model were you referring to when you said you would try out the mahogany top?

As for importing Love Rocks, that's the course of action I took-but the $260 upcharge($140 for shipping and $120 for case) almost made it unworth it, considering Gibson LP Studios can be gotten for $850. But in the end it was worth it. My LS65 rivals or even betters the Studio 8)


I'm pretty sure Slash was raised in England for a while anyway, but i sure can't hear any English lingo in him :). Stoke is in the midlands so the accent can vary quite a bit. Most the people have Birmingham accents tho, couldnt really explain how it sounds it words! Further north from Stoke, people would start soundin like Oasis who are from Manchester. Don't worry, many of us Brit's do't have a clue what they chat about half the time either lol.

Anyway back to guitars... the model i'm going to try out is a new LS65 in either violin or cherry finish with plain maple cap. I've jus read on this board that the body construction is pretty close to the Gibson Std apart from the poly finish. I've own a LP Std before so i'll be able to compare! I'm praying i don't pick a boggie!
 
Skybone said:
Well Stokeboy, I'd say go with the LS70, over the 65, but thats just my opinion cos I have a 70 myself! :wink:

The LS70 i tested sounded great, no doubt about it. However if the LS65 sounds jus as good, i'd rather go for that instead with the non laminated top. They will cost about the same too, with the 70 being used.
 
Just thought I'd throw some petrol over this.....

Re: Laminate vs solid - the laminate is incredibly thin under which is a full Maple cap - which and here is the point - is glued on top of a mahogany back!
Could someone please tell me why it is OK to glue your maple onto Mahogany but not sycamore or maple onto maple??????


Secondly the LS 65 has a 3 peice mahogany back - 2 glue joints, whereas the LS70 has a two peice back - 1 glue joint straight down the middle.

I can't agree with people who say that the 65 is tonally better than the 70

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr 8)

GB
 
I think the point is that the maple cap has a thickness and mass significant to complement the mahogany of the the body itself. A thin laminate on the top has low mass but acts as a damper on the soundboard being too thin to positively contribute to the sound.
 
Does anyone have any measurements of this damping effect, I'd be interested in seeing them.

What is the cut-off frequency for a maple only cap compared to a laminate cap?

GB
 

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