Identifying and questions re: Tokai Love Rock

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I'm surprised it took you this long to jump in and slag poor little Johnny off, Oze. I'm sure it's only because he gets a better tone than you do - you're jealous aren't you?

:wink:
 
Yes...I'm booked in to have my toes sewn onto my hands in an attempt to reach his "level" :p
 
Michael - I'm right handed, and missing the top of my right middle finger myself. I'm no guitar god, but I can play a bit and still do some fingerstyle...

Where abouts are you based?
 
AlanN said:
I'm no guitar god, but I can play a bit and still do some fingerstyle...

He can indeed. Check out the vids from the convention in Leeds last weekend to see Alan play.

I never even noticed any shortcoming in the digit dept. :eek:
 
AlanN said:
Michael - I'm right handed, and missing the top of my right middle finger myself. I'm no guitar god, but I can play a bit and still do some fingerstyle...

Where abouts are you based?

You are far too modest Alan, you can do a whole lot more than 'play a bit'
 
I'm not going to look at the pic, but I do remember now that you reported the injury on here. I don't need to ask if it healed ok!
 
It's ok, though it does try to pull the whole of my right hand into a claw shape from time to time (something to do with the nerve being shortened). Ah well, I'll keep fighting it :)
 
AlanN said:
Michael - I'm right handed, and missing the top of my right middle finger myself. I'm no guitar god, but I can play a bit and still do some fingerstyle...

Where abouts are you based?

I'm in the Palm Springs area (in California, USA). I actually live in a smaller town about 7 miles north called Desert Hot Springs, but no one's heard of it (even though it has some of the best tasting water in the world).

I clicked on the pic and saw that beauty of a finger, Alan. Looks like I lost a bit more, as I don't have any fingernail part. Looks great when I fake picking my nose (when you got a finger in up to the joint, THAT'S a nose picking!).

But I'm glad to hear I can work around it.

Wanted to say you guys are alright, especially those of you who know what you're doing around a guitar, but are willing to waste time with wannabes like me.

Well, it sounds like I've got a good solid instrument to work with. One reason to buy a cheap guitar to learn on is that I would be able to blame my crappy tones on the cheap guitar ("If I had a decent guitar, I'd sound a whole lot better than this, you know...").

I'd like to learn to get involved in church worship. I've also always loved music, and it would be nice to get off the sidelines (and the shower, where of course I sing awesome), as it were.

I'm really eclectic in my tastes. I would like to say I like good music - period. I mean, I like a lot of big band songs (especially stuff by Glenn Miller). I like quite a bit of jazz, especially performed live (I've listened to John Coltrane's "Love Supreme" album a thousand times). I like Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Christian, Benny Goodman, and trumpeter Stan Getz. I like a lot of church hymns and contemporary worship music. But my favorite music is the rock I grew up listening to as a kid: Rush, Pink Floyd, Yes, the Alan Parsons Project, have to admit it - Black Sabbath, AC/DC, the Eagles, Boston, Kansas, the Grateful Dead, Styx, Blue Oyster Cult, Led Zeppelin, Queen. I'm all over the board, and don't mind one bit. I like to listen to Sarah Brightman. Heck, I liked the Go Go's song "our lips are sealed" and Wham's "wake me up before you go go." What can I say? If me likey, me likey.

When I was going to a community college in Eugene, Or, I took a music appreciation course taught by a guy who played cello for the Eugene Symphony and played in a quartet called "the Oregon Mozart Players." He gave students tickets to the Eugene Symphony dress rehearsals. It was awesome watching all the violin bows moving in perfect harmony, and hearing the synchronized music from so many different instruments. One of my favorite classes, ever.

I suppose what I'll do is start with what I've already got, learn to change to a few chords (what are the best chord transitions to practice?), and look for a class or a teacher.

There's a DVD program called "Learn & Master Guitar" I was looking at, but I was wondering if I'd do better with a teacher.

I'd like to learn such that I can play whatever I want.
 
Btw,

A couple folk said it my guitar is an LS-80. What is it that IDs it for you as an LS80 versus all the OTHER "LS" guitars?

Just curious.

It's frankly kind of amazing to me that Tokai made guitars that are so visually similar to one another in so many different 'iterations.'
 
Looks like a 60 to me based on the headstock angle and what looks like a two piece back. I have the mate to it s/n 4022879 with flame top and 2 piece back and always thought it was an LS60.
 
So would my guitar be an LS80 as well, with the two piece back??
This has always confused me regarding the 60/80's
The 80 should have a one piece back shouldn't it?
 
beerslinger said:
Looks like a 60 to me based on the headstock angle and what looks like a two piece back. I have the mate to it s/n 4022879 with flame top and 2 piece back and always thought it was an LS60.

That leads to another interesting discussion (at least for me).

I noted that the 60 model has a headstock angle of 14, and the 80 and higher models are 18 degree.

Using the pic I supplied of the neck and headstock, I traced a pair of lines from the bottom of the headstock and the bottom of the neck. Then I pulled out Mr. Protractor and got an angle of 20 degrees (too much, obviously, but I figured it was a lot closer to 18 than 14).

But I may be using the wrong aspects of the guitar to come up with my measurement of the headstock angle?

When I look at my guitar back, however, it DOES look like it MIGHT be a 2 piece (it is a VERY good job if it is, and the seam is hard to identify for certain even with with the guitar in your hand). The fact that it appears that there might be a seam makes it more likely that there is one than not.

If one can measure the angle from the bottom/back of the neck to the bottom/back of the headstock, then it is almost certainly an 18 degree neck.

An 18 degree neck with a 2 piece back would seem to amount to conflicting data.

Is it possible that the 1984's LS80s were two piece backs (assuming it has a 2 piece back)? Based on the model number (4022555), I noted that it would have been a late '84 run. I saw something that a '1' would be an early year run, and a '2' a late year run.
 
No conflict at all...its a ls 80.....like i said earlier the specs for these guitars changed in the early eighties, your guitar is almost the same as Ozeshin's guitar and it should also have 57 PAF pickups.

Mick
 
An 18 degree neck with a 2 piece back would seem to amount to conflicting data.

Is it possible that the 1984's LS80s were two piece backs (assuming it has a 2 piece back)? Based on the model number (4022555), I noted that it would have been a late '84 run. I saw something that a '1' would be an early year run, and a '2' a late year run.
My 1985 LS80 has an 18 degree pitch and a two piece back...and like yours,it's almost impossible to locate the join.
1985 was the year that the LS80 changed to two piece backs and lost the fret edge binding(meaning that the binding actually covers the ends of the fret wire) as part of the catalogue.
I would safely bet that during 1984 Tokai were testing the production changes...so yes..you'll find quite a few LS80 from 1984 with two piece backs and the lack of fret edge binding.
Also...LS50 and LS60 didn't have a one piece neck....only the LS80 and up had that feature.
That might be another way to distinguish but if it's anything like the backs it'll probably be a hard task to find a seam.
 
It's an amazing seal job, if it's a 2 piece (I'll look more carefully in the sunlight). I didn't even notice until Beerslinger said he thought he saw the seam in one of the pics.

I looked at the pics and couldn't tell, so I looked at the guitar - and STILL couldn't tell. In some angles you can kind of see what may be a seam, and then you turn it only slightly, and it's gone - and ANOTHER area has the same "seam" look.

In a weird way, if it's a 2 piece back, I've actually got more respect for the builders than I would if it's a single piece. It took some substantial craftsmanship and attention to detail to fade a joint like that.

Tomorrow I'll tune her up (or, if I have trouble tuning it, take it to have it tuned and possibly restrung) and start practicing some chord changes.

I had it restrung about 4 or 5 years ago, but it's sat in its case since then.
 
Tokai has extremely good joins and yes, they can be almost impossible to see. The build quality of these guitars is as good as almost anything else around, that is the main reason i am attracted to these wonderful guitars.

Mick
 
leadguitar_323 said:
Tokai has extremely good joins and yes, they can be almost impossible to see. The build quality of these guitars is as good as almost anything else around, that is the main reason i am attracted to these wonderful guitars.

Mick

After giving it a good look, it does appear to have a seam, like Beerslinger thought. But even in sunlight, it's STILL pretty hard to detect. Frankly, it doesn't look very different from other grain patterns, and if it wasn't located in the center (where you'd expect a one piece join to be), and if Mick hadn't said his was virtually invisible also, I would've just assumed it was a grain.

I don't know one whit about guitars, and I'm not even very expert about woodwork. I'll be interested to go to some music stores and look at other guitars to compare quality of build and materials.

But it appears to be a much nicer guitar than I deserve, and I hope I can ultimately do it justice by finally learning how to play it.
 
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