This is a keeper, but what is it?

Tokai Forum

Help Support Tokai Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

dannacet

Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2015
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
So, I had an old Silver Star, and it became an important guitar for many years gigging and recording. It was great and I recommended that a good friend get one - he ended up with a Goldstar and still maintains to this day it is better than any fender start he has played.

I was never tempted with the new Tokais until the other day when a friend told me that a close friend of his was buying a new Gibson LP Standard and was looking to trade in a couple of older "lesser" guitars. I said I might be interested in seeing them and he was interested in cash that might weigh better against his new purchase.

One of the guitars was a 2006 Love Rock. I played it and loved it, the weight, balance, finish, everything about it. So I bought it on the spot.

The only thing is I don't have a clue what model it is. Its definitely Japanese (I've trawled the forums here for clues - 2 screw TRC, and "Made in Japan" is a giveaway). It seems to have a 2 piece top and a 1-piece back - I know this can be difficult to see sometimes, but I certainly can't see any seam or join on the back.

I would appreciate any help... I'll link some pics in the next post.
 
Thanks for that. The serial number is 06xxxxx so I assume 2006.

Did they do any other non-flame VF LS in 2006, or is it almost certainly a LS135?
 
dannacet said:
Did they do any other non-flame VF LS in 2006, or is it almost certainly a LS135?

Yes, they do a Vintage Series LS85/90.

As Jacco says yours appears to be a Premium Series LS135.
To check if it's a Premium Series, check the tailpiece, if it's very light then it's aluminium and a Premium Series.
Check the saddles, they should be brass.
Check the toggle switch, it should be a Switchcraft?
The pots should be CTS.
 
Paladin2019 said:
I don't think its the premium model. The fret ends are unbound.

Even LS260 come without fret ends binding. Fret nibs is on LS420 and LS540 only.
 
Even back in 2006?

I still have my doubts. Back then premium series stuff was very hard to get hold of in the uk and pushing Gibson prices. Why would someone seek out and pay a lot of money for what they considered a 'lesser' guitar than the Gibsons that they could get on any high street?
 
Thanks for your comments everyone.

Back in sometime around 2003 when I bought my Tokai Strat there was a lot of interest in the "Lawsuit" stuff (apologies for using that term but at the time that's what everyone was talking about). People were importing a lot of guitars. And in every guitar shop I went into, everyone was talking about Gibson's quality issues.

I don't know exactly what those issues were, but lots of people were shying away from the brand at that time. It wouldn't be too far off to say that there was a huge amount of interest in non-standard brands in the following years, rather than people just blindly going for the big names as would have been the norm in the past.

Saying that, I have just opened the back of the guitar and it has green caps as opposed to orange drop, so it's probably not LS135.

Did the LS85/90 have a 1-piece back?
 
Thanks, I'm very happy with the guitar nonetheless.

So just a question regarding the pots. What is the benefit of CTS pots? Are the "Made in Japan" ones not as smooth? Are there huge benefits to change them?
 

Latest posts

Back
Top