LS-320 Arrives

The LS-320 arrived today, a day late after being mis-routed to Seattle :roll:

Just wanted to post a few pics & then it will be time for some evaluations over the course of the next week or two

The maple top is stunning; the photos do not do the top any justice at all.
Weight is 9 lb. - 3 oz., weighed on a digital scale, sans pick guard.

Here's the previous thread
http://www.tokaiforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=10204

Center is darker than the photos; color around the edges looks like rusted orange (no red at all) and is slightly lighter than the photos


Notice the tops of the pot knobs are all unlevel, knob tops leaning in different directions :roll:


Top color is closer to a 'teaburst' than anything that I can think of, or can reference


The (large) frets are perfect & the Brazilian feels like silk under the fingers


Inlay work is sloppy but the Brazilian 'board is Heavenly 8)


NO LS-320 stamp here on my example, as compared to next photo


Here's a cherry burst example WITH the LS-320 stamp in the neck pup route
Sorry, not mine...............

Stunning! Aren't they all though.

Plastic is still on the covers from appearance. Gorgeous color. More please. Thanks!

Well done Rich, anxiety attack over now...
Give us a review of the sound when you can.... :wink:

Mick

Bah...looks pretty damned ordinary
Swweet guitar...HAS to sounds as good as it looks 8)

8)

Volker

Absolute stunner 8)

We need a drooling smiley or perhaps an envious green one.

Enjoy

Dave

Please tell me you played it first before taking it to bits?

guitarslinger said:

Please tell me you played it first before taking it to bits?

Click to expand...

Exactly what I thought :roll:

guitarslinger said:

Please tell me you played it first before taking it to bits?

Click to expand...

As usual, and seemingly as with all guitars that I receive from Japan, this one also had some super small 9s, which also as usual were very old, and refused to stay in tune.

I played it just long enough to determine that the electronics were functioning properly.
Since the strings were unstable & it was a sunny day, I decided to take advantage of the sun for photos.

I restrung it with a 10-46 set; tuning stability is very good now.
I will be taking it to my local Gibson authorized warranty repair shop today for an estimate for replacing the pots, as all four of the split shafts are bent closed.
These can easily break when attempting to pry them apart.
Sad to say, I wasn't notified of this before the sell.

Notice the knobs in the second photo, above in my original post.
The knob tops are all unlevel, and when turned, the knobs 'wobbled' like all four shafts were bent :evil:

Here's a thread from TF member Roe, who also purchased a 2000 LS-320

Pot codes on his are the same as on mine; 9831 = 31st week of 1998

Serial numbers look to be only two digits different, although Roe stated his as 009.
The third digit on mine looked like a 9 too, but it is a 0.

http://www.tokaiforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=6293&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

be careful with replacing the pots, as if you dont tell them they will try to fit US pots, which are too big and need some hole enlarging..better if you can get some japanese 500k pots...

lovely graining on the board..

You should be able to straighten them out if you're careful. Villager's right about USA (CTS) pots the threaded part is slightly too big, to get them to fit you would need to file out the holes slightly, which you dont really want to do.

Alpha pots are just as good as CTS, cheaper and will fit!

yes i use them, they have a nice taper too..

thanks for the tips on the pot issue guys; very nice to know this stuff as I am totally ignorant :lol: ....

If this one turns out to be a keeper, and I specify IF, I would strongly consider having this one 'completely' wired as an original '58-'60 burst


This would of course also give me a great excuse to have the top refinished to my color choice


My local shop could do it with ease; they work magic & their s*** does not stink :lol:
http://www.hoffmanguitars.com/guitar.htm
These people are the total shizzle, bar none..............

if yer gonna do all that then change the seths and try some voodoo's or tom holmes ..

villager said:

be careful with replacing the pots, as if you dont tell them they will try to fit US pots, which are too big and need some hole enlarging..better if you can get some japanese 500k pots...

lovely graining on the board..

Click to expand...

.........even though the inlay work is sloppy, the frets & the Brazilian board are perfect; the nicest frets & board on any guitar that I have played or owned, bar none

Weird: I never saw an LS320 without Bumbles.

Is she "bright"? Where are those caps coming from?

Rup

I hope you don't mind me to explain my question. I still own 2 LS320s and one LS380 since a few weeks too. I also just replaced the DiMs in my player with Seths (79 LS80) and I experimented quite a lot with caps.

For some reason I was not able to get the Seths right without Spragues. They just sound "dull" without them.

I do not hear a diff with the old DiMs.

Any experience?


Cheers! Rup

nota bene: of course I know Cornell amp-wise. R

rgrafend said:

Weird: I never saw an LS320 without Bumbles.

Is she "bright"? Where are those caps coming from?

Rup

Click to expand...

Here's a link to TF member Roe's LS-320
http://www.tokaiforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=6293&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

Photo #5 shows the same caps
http://photos.yahoo.co.jp/ph/j_hisashi_st62/lst?.dir=/deb8&.src=ph&.order=&.view=t&.done=http%3a//photos.yahoo.co.jp/ph/j_hisashi_st62/lst%3f%26.dir=/deb8%26.src=ph%26.view=t