Any good suggestions for modding a Tokai LS-230

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billyvasil

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I just bought a Tokai Love Rock LS-230 with a 5A top and bumble bee caps. It is in the mail so no photos yet. I should have it by Friday.

I am going to change the strap pins to schallers because I have them on my other guitar (Fender Strat) and I also have a nice padded strap ready to go.

I am also thinking of changing the bridge with a tonepros or faber unit. I already have a tonepros aluminum tailpeice ready to be put on.

My other guitars all have Buzz Feiten tuning so that is also something I am considering.

Last, I was also considering locking tuners which are also on the strat and help string changes a lot.

What are some changes you have done to make this guitar even better? Please share your stories with a newbie!
 
When you buy a top of the range model like that, the best thing you can do is leave it well alone! Fiddling could well make things worse, so unless there is something that you must change, I would advise you to change nothing.

Buy a cheaper model if you want to mess around with it.

Mike
 
Well I am not thinking of doing anything too destuctive but I will change the strap pins to schallers so I can make sure the guitar never falls down. What are the specs please inform me.
 
billyvasil said:
Well I am not thinking of doing anything too destuctive but I will change the strap pins to schallers so I can make sure the guitar never falls down. What are the specs please inform me.

Grolsch washers over the original pins will also ensure the guitar never falls off it's strap. No need to use those big, clunky, expensive Straplok things.
 
OK, so the specs are pretty good. Is that what you mean? So don't change anything? But would it hurt the value or the guitar if I changed the tuners to something like the Gotoh Kluson Style Locking Tuners?

I know there are a lot of knowlegable people here and I would appreciate some suggestions or maybe even advice about not doing anything as well. Just trying to learn more about these great guitars.
 
billyvasil said:
I just bought a Tokai Love Rock LS-230 with a 5A top and bumble bee caps. It is in the mail so no photos yet. I should have it by Friday.

I am going to change the strap pins to schallers because I have them on my other guitar (Fender Strat) and I also have a nice padded strap ready to go.

I am also thinking of changing the bridge with a tonepros or faber unit. I already have a tonepros aluminum tailpeice ready to be put on.

My other guitars all have Buzz Feiten tuning so that is also something I am considering.

Last, I was also considering locking tuners which are also on the strat and help string changes a lot.

What are some changes you have done to make this guitar even better? Please share your stories with a newbie!

Schaller straplock pins allowed, other modifications denied as unnecessary.

Matti
 
Grolsch washers over the original pins will also ensure the guitar never falls off it's strap. No need to use those big, clunky, expensive Straplok things.[/quote]

First time I'm hearing about that. That's cool. But I do have a set of schallers left over from another guitar I sold recently.
 
The tuners on the guitar are top shelf and stay in tune perfectly, it already has an aluminium tailpiece and brass saddle bridge. These guitars are as good or better than most Historics or even custom shop Gibbo's so my advice would be to leave it as it is. If the tailpiece is not sitting flush to the body maybe install some Fabre washers to anchor it to the body but apart from that these guitars {LS-230} need absolutely no modding, besides it will devalue it rather than add any value...

Mick
 
Here is some advise.....Make all the changes you want, de-value it and then re-sell it to me for way less that you paid for it... OR..... LEAVE IT ALONE.. 8)
 
WOW! You guys are that much against any changes to this guitar?

I am not talking about changing any of the electronics which are all spec'd out great or drilling aimless holes into the top...

I am just wondering if anyone has tried the locking bridges (tonepros or faber) and tuners that retro fit this guitar without harming it in anyway. Tonepros and gotoh make kluson type locking tuners that supposedly drop right into place. Hasn't anyone here tried any of this out?
 
Don't you at least want to try this top-of-the-range LP out properly (for at least a few months) so that you know what it's capable of as standard? It might be perfect. If not, & you can identify a shortcoming that will be improved with some sort of mod, fair enough. But why change anything before you know what you're trying to improve on? That seems crazy to me.
 
There are no shortcomings with an LS90, can you imagine how good an LS230 is? :)
 
billyvasil said:
WOW! You guys are that much against any changes to this guitar?

I am not talking about changing any of the electronics which are all spec'd out great or drilling aimless holes into the top...

I am just wondering if anyone has tried the locking bridges (tonepros or faber) and tuners that retro fit this guitar without harming it in anyway. Tonepros and gotoh make kluson type locking tuners that supposedly drop right into place. Hasn't anyone here tried any of this out?


I have a 2000 Tokai LS-320, which for that time frame is pretty much top of the heap :D

Someone on here questioned if it was even a LS-320, because of the green CORNELL Dumblier caps.
I eventually started a thread in which several members confirmed their LS-320s were in fact equipped with the very same caps :)
Even the one member that doubted my LS-320 was a LS-320, has the same green CORNELL caps in their 2000 LS-320 :p
Funny stuff ..............

I also have received several recommends for changing the pickups in my 2000 LS-320, and I don't recall hearing the chiming in of "don't change" from those posts.

Must be something in the water :p ...................
 
I was expecting more posts to deal with a metric verses inches argument or "this won't fit" but not an all out "don't ever change a thing" discussion.

I will retain the guitar as is (I guess) until I get to know it's sound better and feel better, then I will re-address this question of modding when I am ready.
 
The advice about trying it for a while before you make changes is worthwhile advice, but as long as you're not routing and drilling for stupid mods (which you're not) change it as much as you like in my opinion! It's not a vintage piece for cryin' out loud.

If I had spare money, all my Gibson type guitars would be upgraded to Pigtail hardware because it simply is better than any mass produced parts out there. Fender types may get Callaham or something like that. Whether the guitar actually needs the improvement from those bespoke parts, or whether I can even hear it is a whole other issue that's very difficult to quantify, so the best thing is to do whatever you want. :)

As far as the locking tuners go, the Gotoh Kluson type locking ones are excellent (Fender type came standard on my Momose Strat) and as long as there is no new holes or reaming needed, I say go ahead and put them on. They are not actually needed to keep a LP in tune (using the string reversing lock technique aka proper way to string up a LP) but they do make it much easier to change strings quickly. My pet hate is green tuner buttons on a LP, so as soon as I get round to it those snot green ****** buttons will be gone!
 
MIJvintage said:
I have a 2000 Tokai LS-320, which for that time frame is pretty much top of the heap :D ..............

I also have received several recommends for changing the pickups in my 2000 LS-320, and I don't recall hearing the chiming in of "don't change" from those posts.

Must be something in the water :p ...................

No, we just all know you well enough to know that you wouldn't listen to anything any of us had to say!

:wink:
 

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