Braz boards on early Reborns.

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villager

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since no-one seems to know for sure if Tokai used Braz in the early years, I want to try to find out, so if you have a reborn with what you think could be a braz board, could we all post pics please.. my thinking on this is that if Fuji-gen were using braz as the norm on 80000yen guitars and higher, in 1980/81, which was the case, then I think its pretty likely that tokai were also sourcing Braz at approx the same time.

I have found nothing documented to point either way, so would like to collect as much data as possible..

I have quite a bit of experience with what I know 100% to be Braz, and what I know 100% to be Indian boards, I know its not simply a case of one character defining the board as Braz, eg ''its got small pores'', or ''its got a great striation dark/light pattern'' these can be pointers, but are not defining ones..

I keep seeing early tokai's with what I think are braz boards. But I also see many more which I think are Indian....
 
I've got a circa 1980 LP Navigator which I think looks like Braz. Not a Tokai obviously but I'd like to know. Should I post a picture of this?

Dave
 
what about smell? my reborn ls50 fretboard smells fantastic, I find similar smell only on one Hamer guitar. Is it possibile brazilian?
 
What about Springys & Breezys from the same time - surely they used the same sort of rosewood on the Fender clones too?

Mike
 
I have often wondered why Greco had Brazilian boards on the 1980 EGF-850, 1000 & 1200 since IMO Braz' is an indicator of high end yet a veneer top is an indicator of costs savings for lumber use; the two concepts just seem to be opposites that are quite an odd couple :-? .......

I want to believe that there are some solid top MIJs from the same era with Braz' boards :D that were in the same price range as the veneer tops
 
Dont know how to tell :oops: ...have several late 70's-83 ls 80's but honestly don't know how to determine brazillian vs Indian
 
hunter said:
Dont know how to tell :oops: ...have several late 70's-83 ls 80's but honestly don't know how to determine brazillian vs Indian

Me neither!

I don't believe it is possible to identify all braz boards just by looking at them, like any wood they vary a great deal.

I've got a picture somewhere of a very nice looking braz board which I'll post up when I find it.
 
DSCF6760.jpg


ls 80 1980

DSCF4578.jpg


ls 120 1979

DSCF4897.jpg


LS-80 1979

TokaiRebornOLDLS-1201980CHSB010.jpg


LS-120 1980
 
Admitedly I haven't seen as many Tokais as some, but Brazillian Rosewood is really easy to tell from Indian rosewood, and I've never seen an old Tokai with a Braz board.
 
JohnA said:
Admitedly I haven't seen as many Tokais as some, but Brazillian Rosewood is really easy to tell from Indian rosewood, and I've never seen an old Tokai with a Braz board.

no its not easy at all.. why do you think that?

for example I know for sure my Greco 1800's and 1200's are brazillian, as they are specced as such from a few written sources, but just by the appearance its not possible to distinguish them from indian, I agree that some brazillian is obvious to the eye but some looks extremely like indian.. thats the point..

for example with stratmans above, the striation suggests brazillian, but how can you know for sure?
 
villager said:
for example with stratmans above, the striation suggests brazillian, but how can you know for sure?

Just for the record, that's from a 1984 Goldstar ST50. In my experience, the rosewood is more likely to look like that on a mid 80s Tokai Strat or Tele than on a 1980 model. I have no idea why though.
 
i would think that the factory ordered the wood as and when needed to replenish stock, so different batches, different suppliers, etc etc , maybe each time a different source for the best price, thats why i think there are certain periods with different characters of wood, all rosewood, but from different places. Maybe at that time Indian rosewood was not so widely used, and Brazillian was the norm!! we just don't know enough...

but, we can try to find out heh..
 
I agree it would be nice to know, though I wonder if we ever will know for sure. If someone asks me what sort of rosewood my 80s Tokais have for fingerboards, I'll just reply that it's bloody nice rosewood!
 
villager said:
JohnA said:
Admitedly I haven't seen as many Tokais as some, but Brazillian Rosewood is really easy to tell from Indian rosewood, and I've never seen an old Tokai with a Braz board.

no its not easy at all.. why do you think that?

quote]

It's probably just from the guitars I've seen that I knew were Braz, all had a lovely orangy flame running through them, and that goes for newer stuff like Van Zandt or high-end PRS that use Braz look like that too.

So all the stuff I've seen that I knew was Braz, lokked like Braz, can't see Mikes pic through the firewall at work (I suppose I should be working) will have a look this evening.
 
yes thats what I thought before, but I have guitars with Braz boards which are uniformly coloured too.. no real streaks of difference..

heres a couple of EGF-1800's 1980..

DSCF6577.jpg


DSCF5424.jpg


it is Brazillian, but no real defining feature..
 
Found a couple of pics of a confirmed Braz Gibson 57 Historic:

lpgtbrazboardbt9.jpg


lpgtbrazboard2.jpg


Doesn't really get us anywhere, except to say that Braz varies just as much as any rosewood, and this board has Braz that is very wavy. :)
Bloody nice looking though, isn't it?
 

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