jacco
Well-known member
Hi guys, this LP just arrived. I picked it up from YJ 2 weeks ago thinking this might be a really early LS80. Pictures were not that great and I noticed this guitar just 1 day before end of auction. Too late to get answers to questions. So I took a chance.
Don?t let my investigative and elaborate nature bother you or prevent you from input ?cause I really like some!
Facts:
Serialno: 8000219; ink stamped on the back of the headstock
Color: Goldtop with dark back
Finish: Medium thick poly (tested in the lower pu cavity)
Weight: 4.6 kg/ 10.1 pounds
Top: 2P 0.25 cm/0.1 inch off center seem solid maple
Back: 2P center seem mahogany
Neck: 2P center seem mahogany
Fingerboard: Brazilian (compared color, pores and smell to my 1979 LS80 & 1981 LS60 which are Indian, my 1993 PRS custom24 which is East Indian and my friend 1981 EGF1200 which is Brazilian. So I?m pretty sure)
FEB: No
Headstock angle: 18 degree
Neck thickness at 1st fret: 2.20 cm/0.87 inch
Neck thickness at 11th fret: 2.40 cm/0.94 inch
Thoughts:
As you can see in the pictures the routing is Tokai and the ink stamped serial is Tokai.
There?s no 1979 Burny/Fernandes catalog and from observations it?s widely accepted that all 1979 Burny?s were made by Tokai. And that the only 1979 Burny model made by Tokai was the FLG60, aka the LS60. All known Burny?s made by Tokai bear a serial number starting with 800, thus made in 1978.
Now something interesting happens; in the 1978 Tokai catalog there?s no goldtop. The Tokai goldtop was first introduced in 1979 and only as a LS80. This is certainly not a LS80 for it has a 2 piece back, no FEB and a poly finish.
Strangely enough it has a 2 piece neck, a very high weight for a Tokai from that period which partly can be explained from the body being a little thicker. Also the routing and neck joint looks a little deeper than normal. It has an 18 degree headstock angle, not 14 degree like the LS60 should have. And then there?s the off center top seem. It all has an experimental feel to it.
From these observations and also looking at the serial number, my provisional conclusion is that this is a very early and rare transitional Tokai made LS60 Goldtop.
Other observations:
-The Burny logo is pearloid but doesn?t feel like the Tokai logo from that period; it has no relief, it?s completely smooth.
-I think these are the original 2 ring tuners but they don?t say Fernandes on the back? The tuner buttons are really shiny pearloid, unlike the more matte greenish ones on my 1979 LS80. Looking at the back of the tuners; these and the LS80 are exactly the same except for one thing (look at the pictures). But they both have the dots in one circle, so seem to come from the same plant; Gotoh?
-The back of the selector switch is capped, never seen that before.
-Bridge and aluminium tailpiece are the same as the ones on my 1979 LS80 and 1981 LS60.
-The PCB board is a little different from the 1979 LS80 and 1981 LS60 (which are the same); this one has LS marked on it and the dark lines are thinner in some places.
Also; these caps say .022K50 where the caps on the Tokai?s say 1H223K.
-The soldering between pots and pcb board seems to be untouched but the pots are not likely to be original; 250K pots on a LP? Volume pots are marked B250K Ω and the tone pots A250K Ω.
-The pups are not original but look like old DiMarzio Superdistorsions. They sure have much more output than standard PAF?s.
-I think the pickguard is non original (too loose around the upper pickup ring and has rounded off edges).
-Original TRC, volume/tone knobs and HSC.
Apart from the weight the guitar plays really great and is acoustically in the same ballpark as my LS80; warm lows, deep & airy mids and smooth sparkling highs. So it must be good woods!
!!ANY INPUT IS WELCOME!!
But what I especially want to know is:
-Do you think this a refinish?
-What pups are this?
-Any thoughts on the pcb board, pots, caps and selector switch
-Do you have a different opinion on model, make?
Thanks is advance,
Jacco
Here are the pics:
'LS' on the top of the PCB board
on the left side you can see the center seem of the neck starting on the heel
left: Burny tuner, right: 1979 LS80 tuner
Don?t let my investigative and elaborate nature bother you or prevent you from input ?cause I really like some!
Facts:
Serialno: 8000219; ink stamped on the back of the headstock
Color: Goldtop with dark back
Finish: Medium thick poly (tested in the lower pu cavity)
Weight: 4.6 kg/ 10.1 pounds
Top: 2P 0.25 cm/0.1 inch off center seem solid maple
Back: 2P center seem mahogany
Neck: 2P center seem mahogany
Fingerboard: Brazilian (compared color, pores and smell to my 1979 LS80 & 1981 LS60 which are Indian, my 1993 PRS custom24 which is East Indian and my friend 1981 EGF1200 which is Brazilian. So I?m pretty sure)
FEB: No
Headstock angle: 18 degree
Neck thickness at 1st fret: 2.20 cm/0.87 inch
Neck thickness at 11th fret: 2.40 cm/0.94 inch
Thoughts:
As you can see in the pictures the routing is Tokai and the ink stamped serial is Tokai.
There?s no 1979 Burny/Fernandes catalog and from observations it?s widely accepted that all 1979 Burny?s were made by Tokai. And that the only 1979 Burny model made by Tokai was the FLG60, aka the LS60. All known Burny?s made by Tokai bear a serial number starting with 800, thus made in 1978.
Now something interesting happens; in the 1978 Tokai catalog there?s no goldtop. The Tokai goldtop was first introduced in 1979 and only as a LS80. This is certainly not a LS80 for it has a 2 piece back, no FEB and a poly finish.
Strangely enough it has a 2 piece neck, a very high weight for a Tokai from that period which partly can be explained from the body being a little thicker. Also the routing and neck joint looks a little deeper than normal. It has an 18 degree headstock angle, not 14 degree like the LS60 should have. And then there?s the off center top seem. It all has an experimental feel to it.
From these observations and also looking at the serial number, my provisional conclusion is that this is a very early and rare transitional Tokai made LS60 Goldtop.
Other observations:
-The Burny logo is pearloid but doesn?t feel like the Tokai logo from that period; it has no relief, it?s completely smooth.
-I think these are the original 2 ring tuners but they don?t say Fernandes on the back? The tuner buttons are really shiny pearloid, unlike the more matte greenish ones on my 1979 LS80. Looking at the back of the tuners; these and the LS80 are exactly the same except for one thing (look at the pictures). But they both have the dots in one circle, so seem to come from the same plant; Gotoh?
-The back of the selector switch is capped, never seen that before.
-Bridge and aluminium tailpiece are the same as the ones on my 1979 LS80 and 1981 LS60.
-The PCB board is a little different from the 1979 LS80 and 1981 LS60 (which are the same); this one has LS marked on it and the dark lines are thinner in some places.
Also; these caps say .022K50 where the caps on the Tokai?s say 1H223K.
-The soldering between pots and pcb board seems to be untouched but the pots are not likely to be original; 250K pots on a LP? Volume pots are marked B250K Ω and the tone pots A250K Ω.
-The pups are not original but look like old DiMarzio Superdistorsions. They sure have much more output than standard PAF?s.
-I think the pickguard is non original (too loose around the upper pickup ring and has rounded off edges).
-Original TRC, volume/tone knobs and HSC.
Apart from the weight the guitar plays really great and is acoustically in the same ballpark as my LS80; warm lows, deep & airy mids and smooth sparkling highs. So it must be good woods!
!!ANY INPUT IS WELCOME!!
But what I especially want to know is:
-Do you think this a refinish?
-What pups are this?
-Any thoughts on the pcb board, pots, caps and selector switch
-Do you have a different opinion on model, make?
Thanks is advance,
Jacco
Here are the pics:
'LS' on the top of the PCB board
on the left side you can see the center seem of the neck starting on the heel
left: Burny tuner, right: 1979 LS80 tuner