Reborn? Love Rock? Looking for advice from those who know.

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purplep

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Greetings all -

I am celebrating my 40th birthday by getting the Les Paul style guitar I've lusted after since I saw Jimmy swaggering about with his. I will not take a chance on Gibson's quality or their silly prices. I was set to go with a Heritage, but they've shuttered their doors (supposedly temporarily).

Anyway, Tokai Les Pauls look to be the best thing available. I am confused, tho, as to what to look for. Here are the features I am looking for:

Cherry Sunburst
made in japan
original tuners or Grovers
no veneer on the top
*some* flame would be a real plus
as long a neck tenon as possible

pickups don't matter to me since I intend to replace them sometime with Lollars, Fralins, or something.

I see the Les Paul Reborns and Love Rocks from various eras and get completely baffled. I also see that many of the Reborns don't have figured tops.

Would an early '90's Love Rock fit my bill? Or should I hold out for a Reborn? Or an early Love Rock? Yikes!

Any and all guidance is appreciated...thanks in advance!
 
If Flame is what you're after you're looking at an LS120 or up-over, big money for an early reborn or love rock.

If you can live without the flame a reborn LS80 can be had for reasonable money and the only difference between an 80 & 120 is the pickups (dimarzio's on a 120 and V nice Goto's on an 80) and the flame.

None of the early Tokais have a long tennon though, if that's a high priority go for a new one.

For overall quality I would go for either a pre 1983 guitar of a very recent one, late 80's early '90's are not as good IMO.

Other considerations are an Orviille by Gibson, 2-piece back on most but tick all the other boxes, or a high-end Greco Super-Real or Mint Collection. If you're thinking of a Greco play it first as you get great and not so great ones.

Also some lovely Navigator's, check www.japanguitars.co.uk for some nice examples, I dont think you would find one anywhere else.

Or even a Gibson Historic, big money, but some lovely ones around.

I got 2 LS80 reborns for my 40th last year, a goldtop & a plain top sunburst, havent put the goldtop down since :D

All of this is just my opinion, feel free to ignore me :wink:
 
Hi, a lot depends on how much money you want to spend ?. The general consensus is that the 78-82 period is the best to go for.

Tokai Les Paul models during this period were known as Reborn, Reborn Old and then Love Rock. Models LS80 and above are considered the best ones to go for (have more "correct" features such as headstock angle and fret binding). LS80 are plaintops (like the majority of the originals). The models with higher model numbers (ls100, ls120, ls150, ls200) generally have nicer tops, better pickups and higher prices.

There are newer models which are high spec such as the ls320 and ls1000. Its worth checking out villagers web site www.japanguitars.co.uk which has probably the best selection of vintage Tokai les Pauls.
 

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