A Tale of two ES150's....

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Hi Luis...

I got around the pickguard issue. It's not the best way perhaps but it works!

The guitar already had two screwholes in the top and the sides where two different pickguards had been fitted so I had nothing to lose really.

I used an old Les Paul bracket that I had and a long 335 pickguard from Allparts.
The bracket fitted in one of the holes on the side of the guitar and I did a very small amount of filing in the corners of the pickguard to fit the pickup surrounds perfectly.
I then screwed the bracket to the guitar and used araldite on the bracket to glue it to the pickguard once I had pushed the pickguard in to place. The guard was a nice tight fit between the pickup surrounds and held its place.

It was easy then to screw the guard to the guitar.

Originally I intended to superglue the guard to the bracket, remove them and then drill a hole from the back of the guard using the bracket slot as a template but just thought "why have a screw showing?" .
It hasn't altered the guitar and I've only modified non original parts.




Bracket in place with protection from dripping glue!




Pickguard in place ready to screw once glue dried.
 
Thanks Brian!

One of old Tokai LS&ES details is upper pickguard hole is located on different place than new ones. SO you have to choice if drilling a new hole on the top either modifying pickguard with a new hole either crafting a new pickguard. Allparts are only a fit for new ones, sometimes tilting the screw a bit would do the ticket (LS&LC). I see first chance in yours and it is ok....

Regarding bracket I also thougth about using a LS I have lying around but I want to go as original as possible. I will try your idea and see if it fiits nice to me...

I also have a Shed Daddys set here *gold covers and I agree they are louder than any other PAF style I own. Really good pickups.

I also agrre with you regarding What to look in my ES. As far as I have rock guitars I wanted jazzy sweet tones this time. A great player friend of mine playes it at high volume with old Marshalls and cabs and love it, he thougth it was great for Larry Carlton& John Scoffield kind of, he was not able to stop playing it. to ask him to record some tunes as I did with my Reborn and Love Rocks, it is amazing how every one has its own voice all really good, after trying and trying I guess I have such an amazing small Tokai collection.
 
On ES guitars for rock stuff.....

Be Bop Deluxe recorded this tune back in the 70's with some blistering lead fills and solos by guitarist Bill Nelson - played on an ES345. No missing that tone.

Also check out the album art on this youtube link..... notice that guitar profile:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ncakDidsww
 
marcusnieman said:
On ES guitars for rock stuff.....

Be Bop Deluxe recorded this tune back in the 70's with some blistering lead fills and solos by guitarist Bill Nelson - played on an ES345. No missing that tone.

Also check out the album art on this youtube link..... notice that guitar profile:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ncakDidsww

That link doesn't work over here Marcus but I'm very familiar with Bill Nelsons work! Axe Victim is a great album. He manages to make far out albums that are listenable. Great player!!
 
The new guard is fitted and looks like it grew there to me!

As you mentioned Luis.....the new ES158 guard doesn't fit and didn't match either of the two holes already in the guitar. So I had a choice of using a new Tokai one and having 3 holes in the guitar or using the Allparts one.

I couldn't live with making another hole in the pickguard to suit the holes in the guitar....it would have looked awful to me. At least the hole is now hidden.

It's as original as I need it to be. I tend to like functional guitars above anything else and I'm at that point now with this guitar.

I can't put it down! :D




Bracket glued to pickguard. That won't come off!



Fitted to guitar using one of the holes already there.



New pickguard fitted. As far as I am concerned the guitar is now complete!
 
Congrats, that's a beauty. I love those old es-100/150's!
I always thought the difference between es-150 and es-100 was the cashew lacquer and pickups. They feel the same and the horns look the same to me..

My cherry one:
20306787322_9579d2bb92_h.jpg
 
Duff! That is SO like mine!

The fading of the cherry is identical. You have a beautiful guitar mate.

Tell us more about it and show us more pics! Please!
 
Great ES Duf, I do prefer natural an suburst but aged cherry fells vert nice!

I noticed you have original bracket, would you put some some neat pics for us? I am trying to find one fitting correct on mine.

Thank you!
 
Thanks Brian, here are more pics of my es-100's.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/124367246@N02/albums/72157656826915175/with/18915211632/
Should take some more but i prefer playing them. The cherry one is lighter then the other 2, also slightly thinner neck, but very close. All necks are a bit different. The sunburst and natural are closer to each other, weight and neck wise, but further apart in serial numbers.

Thanks Luis, I love all three colors :)
18915211632_db2b010de8_n.jpg


When i find the time i'll make some more pics of the bracket.

Jacco still owns the nicest one imho, a very faded cherry one which he doesn't want to sell :roll: :D
 
duff said:
Thanks Brian, here are more pics of my es-100's.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/124367246@N02/albums/72157656826915175/with/18915211632/
Should take some more but i prefer playing them. The cherry one is lighter then the other 2, also slightly thinner neck, but very close. All necks are a bit different. The sunburst and natural are closer to each other, weight and neck wise, but further apart in serial numbers.

Thanks Luis, I love all three colors :)
18915211632_db2b010de8_n.jpg


When i find the time i'll make some more pics of the bracket.

Jacco still owns the nicest one imho, a very faded cherry one which he doesn't want to sell :roll: :D

Ha! Now I remember I have seen those whilst searching the forum.

Absolutely stunning collection of beautiful guitars. I'm envious you have all three colours! :D

I'm like yourself in that they are there to be played. I have a 1983 Tokai Strat that is on it's third neck because over 30 years of gigging and playing it hard I've worn them out. It's not original anymore but it's a great guitar! :)

If I find the right sunburst either new/old I just might be tempted. I'm particular with sunbursts as I like the fading from colour to colour to look natural!
 
Luis...

The bracket on the new Tokai pickguard is the same as the old ones. It is the correct depth on the rim of the guitar but it is glued to the new pickguard in the wrong place to align up with the hole on the guitar.

I would simply separate the bracket from the guard, mount it to the guitar and re-glue the bracket to the guard.

Just a thought...good luck.
 
duff said:
Thanks Brian, here are more pics of my es-100's.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/124367246@N02/albums/72157656826915175/with/18915211632/
Should take some more but i prefer playing them. The cherry one is lighter then the other 2, also slightly thinner neck, but very close. All necks are a bit different. The sunburst and natural are closer to each other, weight and neck wise, but further apart in serial numbers.

Thanks Luis, I love all three colors :)
18915211632_db2b010de8_n.jpg


When i find the time i'll make some more pics of the bracket.

Jacco still owns the nicest one imho, a very faded cherry one which he doesn't want to sell :roll: :D

Duff,

Can you tell a bit about the rest of your collection? I see a very nice looking Custom and a Flying V amongst others... :wink:

My cherry '81 ES100 looks almost exactly the same as yours, bar the knobs. I think the knobs were changed at some point, they don't look original. They will go anyway, as I will be changing the pots for CTS TVT's (as on all my other guitars) and the black knobs don't fit on those...

Are the pickups on your ES's still the original ones?
 
Well I've finally got the ES150 set up almost to my liking.

The guitar came with a backbow on the neck as it had been stored with no string tension. Personally I don't think that is a good idea except for shipping.

I had to fit 11's to it to get some tension on the neck but I always use Gibson pure nickel 10's so I have had to wait until some relief came in to the neck. It's still too straight for my personal preference but it is slowly getting there!

It's a very low output guitar compared to all my others but it has a wonderful sound! With medium gain, which is as high as I go, it nails Tom Petty stuff and playing clean it has great compression in the notes for old style rock n roll. The solo to Haleys Rock around the Clock sounds wonderful and really pops out from the neck. It is addictive!
I'm really happy I bought it and it is staying until I leave this planet.

Having got it playing as I would like I have been going back and forth between it and the new ES158 and they are totally different soundwise.
The 158 plays like a dream, a bit more relief in the neck, so it doesn't feel as stiff with the same gauge of strings. It is so louder though!
It's a real rocker as opposed to the jazz of the 150 and I have to reduce the gain when I plug it in. It's different in a good way though and both guitars make me play differently which is a good thing.
The 158 turns down better than any guitar I have ever owned. It doesn't go muffled and playing it on 3 is still really satisfying. It retains clarity and unlike using a treble bleed circuit it doesn't go thin. It still has bite and body on any setting less than 10.

I love both guitars. I feel very fortunate to have two 335 type guitars that are great in their own way. It doesn't always happen but somehow the stars aligned this time.

Thanks for reading.





 
Beautiful couple! Maybe try top wrapping the es150 if you want to have it feel less stiff without changing string gauge?
My natural one is topwrapped with flatwounds. Love it.

Emiel, thanks. Don't want to hijack the thread. Really short, the custom is a 79/80's tokai lc 100 with a not so great neck repair (they actually used screws as well)
but to my surprise the repair has been stable and it's my best playing guitar.
The pickups are too high output to my liking so i might change them.

The flying v is a orville by gibson that arrived with a heel break,
so it was completely stripped and refinished in a very thin coat of nitro which started checking.
The repair is invisible. Had shed paf daddy's in it, but i rotated the magnet in the neck for an out of phase sound. Great guitar.

The es-100's all have their original pickups.
I quite like them altough i wanted to try the ox4's in one of them.

The te-150 is a rare bird and i love the guitar, but sometimes i feel the V neck isn't for me..
Been wanting to sell it but then changed my mind. Would love a smaller neck but am afraid another one won't feel and sound as good as this one.

Added a fender japan st71, tokai jb60 and pb60 since those photo's.
 
Hi Duff.........cough!......the ES150 is top wrapped in the pic at the bottom!

And you are not hi-jacking the thread! You have some great guitars and I am loving your 3 semi's! Discuss what you like.
 
ah sorry i was posting from my phone and ofcourse didnt see that you already top wrapped.. :lol:
Forgot to say, the sunburst is a bit softer then on the pictures..
And i like those black bell knobs on the cherry Emiel!
 
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