Identify this guitar?

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hoofer

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Jun 30, 2009
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I have managed to get 1 picture up, which is progress for a dummy like me!
This is a 2004 serial number made in Japan. Light coloured mahogany back, solid top, UK export style headstock set at the correct vintage angle. Huge 50's type neck, very soft nitro finish. Medium sort of weight.
Have been playing since 1971, had over a dozen "real" Les Pauls, this is as good as any, and better than all but 1. It plays nicely and stays in tune! Had Bare Knuckle pickups fitted before I found it, they sound muscular.
 
The guys here will probably need more pics than that.

Only thing I can tell you for sure is that the model number will have a Q at the end of it. :D
 
JVsearch said:
The guys here will probably need more pics than that.

Only thing I can tell you for sure is that the model number will have a Q at the end of it. :D

I'll hazard a guess that the first two letters of the model number will be LS. :lol:

Great photo, Hoofer, you look like Andre Agassi. 8)
 
hoofer said:
How do you know I'm not Andre................anyway Steffi says hi!

Because your location would be Las Vegas. :D

Tell Steffi I'm still in love with her, always have been. :p
 
I'd say that in 2004 it would have been an LS90Q...should'nt be Nitro finish though...Poly is the norm for that model.
We need pics of the pickup cavities/back of the guitar/a side on pic of the neck/a pic of the reverse of the headstock.
Sounds like a lot of mucking around but Tokai model numbers are related directly to the price of the guitar in Yen and it always fluctuates so we tend to identify on specs rather than anything else.
 
Yep, lts a LS80-85-90Q which ever one it was in 2004, as Oze says the numbers reflect the price and as the price changes every couple of years so does the model number. It is a poly finished guitar, it will have a quilted maple veneer over a 2 piece maple top and 2 piece back. These are very nice guitars.

Mick
 
Ozeshin said:
..should'nt be Nitro finish though...Poly is the norm for that model..

There tends to not be a lot of difference between the more recent Tokai nitro & poly finishes, in my experience. The nitro they use isn't the soft stuff that wears quickly, & the poly they use isn't usually applied with a spoon (like some manufacturers), so it can sometimes be hard to tell the difference.

Mike
 
Can anyone tell me how thick the laminated top usually is?

The "quilting" dosn't appear to have the "depth" of a solid quilt top (like my 2000 Singlecut) but when I took the front pickup out a few weeks ago I couldn't see the join between the maple underneath and the "quilt" laminate.

The tokai sounds better than the PRS played clean, but once the distortion kicks in the PRS has an absolutely massive tone.
 
The vaneer is very thin <1mm is the general concensus. It's real wood too, so it's more decorative cheating than material cheating. Beneath the vaneer is a standard maple cap with all the tonal benefits that bestows (the vaneer is tone neutral)
 
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