8) hello tokai joe here again.....
since i left those infos about LS120 the other day
i felt sometimes it was not maybe good enough
to get close to the truth yet. dont think i could or
we could coz this is a kinda tough one to prove
perfectly. the original spec LS120 was only available
for a few years and so not much official proofs seem
available today anywhere very clearly. i did more
research and tried to recall what the tokaiman told me
a few years ago. i even emailed him again this time
but no reply coming back. he has been no available
lately for some unknown reasons so the last few emails
of mine to him were all not coming back. mick heard
a rumor somewhere that he could be deeply ill lately
or something. maybe so. too bad but anyways we try
here about the LS120 as much as we could w/o
the ugly fights. i did my small best here but couldnt
proove it absolutelly really so hope someday the truth
will be shown to the world officially. LS120 good luck!
@ the tokaiman very clearly said that the original LS120s
are the laminated top guitars. this was really clear.
many times.
@ he said that tokai had/used the press machine back then
that press the thin canadian sycamore maple laminates
so hard to super thin like by a few tons of the pressure.
in the end the laminate will be really thin like 1mm or 2mm
or that thin thickness its like just really a hard paper sheet
than a thin sheet of wood. i personaly couldnt believe this
story when he told me coz it just sounded so thin.
what 1mm? 2mm? i was thinking that the laminated top
is always/usually like an inch thickness or so. and i guess
this is how everyone is assuming it, right? not true.
the good laminate reality was, actually skin deep.
@ i bought a greco egf850 for "micdal" here a few years ago and
this gtr was originally in very ^&*( condition. too many scratchs
and many cracks and in some part of the upper body the laminate
was peeled off. i clearly saw it like 5cm long along the body binding
and it was only really 1mm or so thickness. i was super suprised
then but the truth was the truth and there i was seeing it really.
the tokaiman said that in those days japanese company already
had this kind of skill at their factory and it was really one of
japanese secret weapon things to them. using the lazer cutter
or something super high tech and cutting it, pressed to 1mm or 2mm.
then glued it on the body by the super press machine giving
tons of the pressures onto the guitar body woods. sounded
so unreal but its true and if you ever actually see the peeled off
body laminates you just will/have to be agreed. so this was it
never "photoflame" on them. about the golden era japanese gtrs.
@ so first they cut the sheet of wood to pretty thin i guess.
then they press it so hard so heavy then the final wood sheet
is only 1mm or so. this super hardened canadian sycamore wood
sheet will be the laminates for all the laminated top models.
not only tokai but all the other companies were doing this way
most likely already back in the early 80s. and if we seriouslly
remember, gibson es335 have the maple 3 layer laminated body.
i had gibson 335s twice before so i saw them super sure then.
the body laminate is only maybe 3-4mm? and it consists of 3 layers?
each layer is only about 1mm or 1.5mm? so this is how thin
the laminate wood sheet world is. so after all, if we couldnt see
any laminate wood glued lines really on your laminated gtrs
isnt it normal? its there boys. in between the top finish and
the bottom solid wood! who are we really talking and insisting
and fighting all the time who knows better and so who wins?
we are just all the hobby guitarists whom dont know much.
and its our stupid ugly man behavior that fighting after
showing off the mini guitar knowledge of ours everytime?
we should know better how stupid and ugly we become here
sometimes. anyways the laminates are only skin deep so
it shocks you when you find out about it.
"unreal can be only skin deep?"
maybe thats so true.... a message from god?............................
@ so no strange if your vintage ls120 seems to have no laminate on it.
@ the ls120 seems to be born in 1980 then for the first 2 years they had
the laminated top. when tokai began to make some spec changes on
som of the good models in 1982. ls120 then finally got the solid figured
top. the flame tops were becoming very popular among the guitarists
around that time and tokai was selling a lot of gtrs then. from 1982
many models got new changes like the laminated figured top for ls80
in 1983 and in 1984, ls80 got 2 piece back and ls60 got 3 piece back....
is it 1982/3 that tokai introduced their 57 PAF pickups?.....................
it was the changing time for tokai both for good and bad. around 1983.
@ ask "hunter" bob here about this laminate matter. he has the 1983 ls80
that we first thought it was ls150. coz no matter how many million times
bob checked it he couldnt see it. but later he found it and then he says
its just a good old beautiful 1983 ls80 w/laminate top. really i tried to
see his pics many times lookin so close when there isnt actually a very
clear visible line. i still remember that between i and him. many emails
between philadelphia and japan.
@ a little history here.....from the catalogs. som wrong possibly.
1977....only ls50/60/80/100
1979....ls150/200/120 added.
1981....ls50/60/80/100/120/150/200.
8) tokai joe.
since i left those infos about LS120 the other day
i felt sometimes it was not maybe good enough
to get close to the truth yet. dont think i could or
we could coz this is a kinda tough one to prove
perfectly. the original spec LS120 was only available
for a few years and so not much official proofs seem
available today anywhere very clearly. i did more
research and tried to recall what the tokaiman told me
a few years ago. i even emailed him again this time
but no reply coming back. he has been no available
lately for some unknown reasons so the last few emails
of mine to him were all not coming back. mick heard
a rumor somewhere that he could be deeply ill lately
or something. maybe so. too bad but anyways we try
here about the LS120 as much as we could w/o
the ugly fights. i did my small best here but couldnt
proove it absolutelly really so hope someday the truth
will be shown to the world officially. LS120 good luck!
@ the tokaiman very clearly said that the original LS120s
are the laminated top guitars. this was really clear.
many times.
@ he said that tokai had/used the press machine back then
that press the thin canadian sycamore maple laminates
so hard to super thin like by a few tons of the pressure.
in the end the laminate will be really thin like 1mm or 2mm
or that thin thickness its like just really a hard paper sheet
than a thin sheet of wood. i personaly couldnt believe this
story when he told me coz it just sounded so thin.
what 1mm? 2mm? i was thinking that the laminated top
is always/usually like an inch thickness or so. and i guess
this is how everyone is assuming it, right? not true.
the good laminate reality was, actually skin deep.
@ i bought a greco egf850 for "micdal" here a few years ago and
this gtr was originally in very ^&*( condition. too many scratchs
and many cracks and in some part of the upper body the laminate
was peeled off. i clearly saw it like 5cm long along the body binding
and it was only really 1mm or so thickness. i was super suprised
then but the truth was the truth and there i was seeing it really.
the tokaiman said that in those days japanese company already
had this kind of skill at their factory and it was really one of
japanese secret weapon things to them. using the lazer cutter
or something super high tech and cutting it, pressed to 1mm or 2mm.
then glued it on the body by the super press machine giving
tons of the pressures onto the guitar body woods. sounded
so unreal but its true and if you ever actually see the peeled off
body laminates you just will/have to be agreed. so this was it
never "photoflame" on them. about the golden era japanese gtrs.
@ so first they cut the sheet of wood to pretty thin i guess.
then they press it so hard so heavy then the final wood sheet
is only 1mm or so. this super hardened canadian sycamore wood
sheet will be the laminates for all the laminated top models.
not only tokai but all the other companies were doing this way
most likely already back in the early 80s. and if we seriouslly
remember, gibson es335 have the maple 3 layer laminated body.
i had gibson 335s twice before so i saw them super sure then.
the body laminate is only maybe 3-4mm? and it consists of 3 layers?
each layer is only about 1mm or 1.5mm? so this is how thin
the laminate wood sheet world is. so after all, if we couldnt see
any laminate wood glued lines really on your laminated gtrs
isnt it normal? its there boys. in between the top finish and
the bottom solid wood! who are we really talking and insisting
and fighting all the time who knows better and so who wins?
we are just all the hobby guitarists whom dont know much.
and its our stupid ugly man behavior that fighting after
showing off the mini guitar knowledge of ours everytime?
we should know better how stupid and ugly we become here
sometimes. anyways the laminates are only skin deep so
it shocks you when you find out about it.
"unreal can be only skin deep?"
maybe thats so true.... a message from god?............................
@ so no strange if your vintage ls120 seems to have no laminate on it.
@ the ls120 seems to be born in 1980 then for the first 2 years they had
the laminated top. when tokai began to make some spec changes on
som of the good models in 1982. ls120 then finally got the solid figured
top. the flame tops were becoming very popular among the guitarists
around that time and tokai was selling a lot of gtrs then. from 1982
many models got new changes like the laminated figured top for ls80
in 1983 and in 1984, ls80 got 2 piece back and ls60 got 3 piece back....
is it 1982/3 that tokai introduced their 57 PAF pickups?.....................
it was the changing time for tokai both for good and bad. around 1983.
@ ask "hunter" bob here about this laminate matter. he has the 1983 ls80
that we first thought it was ls150. coz no matter how many million times
bob checked it he couldnt see it. but later he found it and then he says
its just a good old beautiful 1983 ls80 w/laminate top. really i tried to
see his pics many times lookin so close when there isnt actually a very
clear visible line. i still remember that between i and him. many emails
between philadelphia and japan.
@ a little history here.....from the catalogs. som wrong possibly.
1977....only ls50/60/80/100
1979....ls150/200/120 added.
1981....ls50/60/80/100/120/150/200.
8) tokai joe.
