considering a new ls-120...what do i need to know

Hi everyone. I've been in the market for a les paul for about a year now and I still haven't gotten one. I've messed around with superstrats and have had alot of problems with the trems so I'm getting a simple high quality guitar.

Anyway I think I'm going to get a ls-120. ls-200's are cool but the ebony fretboard just isn't standard les paul style. the ls-320 is too much money

so a few questions

1. Is the ls-120 really finished in nitro?
2. is the neck tenon longer then the ls-80s and under
3. Is the build quality much higher then ls-80s and below
4. where is the best place to buy one from japan and have it sent to the United States. I've never seen one on ebay yet and I don't want to wait forever.
5. how much do you think i'll have to pay for the whole megillah...guitar, case and shipping.
6. about where would you put it against gibson les pauls. i've played a few of them so i would have an idea of what i'm getting. i've heard ls-80s are on par with gibson lp standards so I'm assuming this is like a les paul custom quality...kind of fits under question 3

i've had alot of trouble finding info on the ls-120. only mike's site has any pics or info on new ones but it's vague.

If anyone can give reviews, specs, or anything else important to share with me it would be greatly appreciated.

from the 2003-2004 catalog the LS120F has a flame maple laminated top, maple top (under the veneer) and mahogany back. deep joint
rosewood fretboard. brass saddle and aluminum tailpiece made by Gotoh, PAF vintage mk2 gotoh pickups. Available in cherry sunburst and violin finish.

The LS 320 and LS 200 have "all lacquer finish" in the catalog, wheras the 120 has "lacquer finish". I think maybe the 120 is not completely nitro, or is a different type of lacquer.

I am also interested in this particular model. I have emailed Guitar Universe but they didn't reply. If you find out where to buy it let me know.

doublepost

May find something of interest here
http://www.digimart.net/shop_detail.do?shop_no=50
Don't know if they export :-? ,must be worth a try!!!

pb

About the tenon thing... is there a cross section pic for the standard MIJ 'interrmediate' and traditional long tenons? I'm curious how the fit compares on both of them.

Why rag on the ls-200's ebony? Everyone likes a dark fretboard, lots of people stain rosewood to make it look more black. And lots of people look for tight, smooth grain in their rosewood, which ebony has by default. It doesn't seem to bother Les Paul Custom owners.

Heck, I bought the 200 over the 320 because of the fretboard...

In answer to q4, you are almost definately going to have to get one from japan direct. There are links to the best international shops in the registry. The '120' is the list price in 000's yen so work that out, knock 20% off for retail price, add case (a lot - list price 80k yen), shipping and any domestic tax for your total.

many makers in japan call a veneer a " graphic " top... so if they call it a laminate, it may mean it is not a veneer but a maple top applied to a mahogany body. Contact Guitar Universe and ask them to be certain.

many makers in japan call a veneer a " graphic " top... so if they call it a laminate, it may mean it is not a veneer but a maple top applied to a mahogany body. Contact Guitar Universe and ask them to be certain.

I am sure it is a thin maple flame top on top of more pieces of maple, then mahogany. The pictures I have seen of LS120 doesn't have a nice regular flame top like on the higher end models. It is sort of patchy looking.
btw this model comes with the brown lifton-esque case.

Af for the long neck tenon, the intermediate one ends at the end of the fretboard. It's only a 1/2" or so length difference between the long and intermediate tenon, but not as thick as the rest of the neck joint. I think in the deep tenon, they glue in the neck first and then do the pickup routing, which cuts out some of the tenon wood.

Was there a Love rock model where nitro was applied on top of poly?

Argh... I keep running into an error posting here and end up making double posts. What's with the debug mode.......??????

This will sound like a stupid question but why are the LS120+ models so expensive compared to the normal love rocks ? aren't they both made in japan? if so, how are they different apart from costing ALOT more?

Stormeh said:

This will sound like a stupid question but why are the LS120+ models so expensive compared to the normal love rocks ? aren't they both made in japan? if so, how are they different apart from costing ALOT more?

Click to expand...

They're better. Better wood, better hardware, better electronics, better finishes. Approaching Gibson Historic spec in fact.

Boggle - the ls200 and possibly ls120 were described as having 'lacquer' finishes. I think those are the ones with the thin poly undercoat.

Also with the tenon, we've all seen the infamous Gibson long/short pic. I was wondering how good the fit was on the MIJ tenons - if it was closer to the long or had lots of air space like the short. Size doesn't matter (here at least... 8) ) but fit is what I'm interested in.