Help me identify this Les Paul?

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Also, in reseaching the headstock material thread, it looks like 1982 through at least 1985 had wood headstock veneers. Of these, a few seem to have fading paint for the Love Rock script.
 
I did a bunch of research to figure out the model of my mystery 1982 Love Rock. One big clue is if you have a circuit board (PCB) in your control cavity?
 
Very interesting reading!

I mean… it could be a sycamore top. But I gotta say it looks a hell of a lot like maple to me. The back is definitely not one piece. Maybe three in actual fact… at least two. That would not make it one of the higher end models I am thinking. Headstock is definitely a wood veneer. And looking at the PCB board. The dimarzio is original as is the non dimarzio bridge pickup. No sign of resoldering etc.

Very mysterious.
 
I somehow missed the multi piece body.

That rules out anything above an LS80 I believe?

And I agree that the sycamore thing is weird. It’s not known as a tone wood I don’t believe. So sycamore veneer over a maple cap I can see. But solid flamed sycamore seems harder to understand.

Maybe someone will come along and can document the use of that in Tokais. Maybe in catalogs?

But until then I’m just passing along what I’ve heard and try to document the source.

Grain of salt.
 
the top looks like sycamore & there looks to be hints of flame feature in the wall of the pickup route, thus it would seem the top is solid.
This, just going off what I have seen in the photos.
Since the example looks to have a 1984 serial # then it's not far fetched to think the top may actually be sycamore.
Tokai was supposedly going through some very tough financial issues in that time frame, and sycamore was quite a bit cheaper than hard maple.
Food for thought.
 
I was doing some reading re sycamore and guitars.

The incredibly confusing issue is that Europeans call a type of maple a sycamore whereas in the states a sycamore is platanus occidentalis.

That’s the problem with using common names rather than the scientific name.

So that’s a different deal from my perspective. And still very confusing because I’m not sure which wood people are talking about in forums when they say sycamore.

Sorry to add to the confusion.
 
https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=ALeKk02pvyhhwQzIuN371NSlv8qZx2FHJw:1619482540791&source=univ&tbm=isch&q=flamed+sycamore&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiV5cDMkp3wAhU7FzQIHU_BB04QjJkEegQIBBAB&biw=1366&bih=654
 
So false sycamore is actually a member of the maple family… I love wood. Presumably it’s still a hard tone wood but just a cheaper alternative. Like pau ferro which is a member of the rosewood family.

Either way. It’s bloody lovely looking and ripples and moves in the light just like proper flamed maple.

The other thing I was wondering about, is the whole cashew finish? I see in those early/mid 80s catalogues that some models use a cashew finish. And researching it, it seems like it’s a really interesting option. As it can look like brand new after years and years like a poly, but has the character of nitro.
 
Some close up pics. The more I look closely. The more I am confident this is indeed a 1984. Definitely old!

https://imgur.com/gallery/KZR97m5
 
Thanks Guitar Hiro…

Here I am giving it a blast.

https://www.reddit.com/r/RedditSessions/comments/mxm294/tokai/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
 
Nice video! A strat man... I was too. Tokai Love Rocks kind of changed that for me. :wink: Springys are amazing too by the way.

Beautiful guitar whatever it is and nice playing. I like the "walk arounds". I like playing that sort of thing myself, sort of Texas swing or 50s style guitar work.

Thanks for posting and cheers!
 

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