Old Tokai LS-150

Tokai Love Rock LS-150 (1981)

Last week I ran into this old piece of wood and metal at a great local store here in Tokyo called Nico Nico. It had just arrived at the store. I tried it out and was surprised at how thick the neck was. It is right around that '58 profile that I like. I would have probably bought it right there but there was no price and the boss has to have a look at everything for the price but he was off that day.  I left my number and waited for a call but had gone through this before at other places with other guitars and knew that often there is someone already ahead in line for things like this. A week later the boss called and let me know the price and that he would hang on to it for me. The next day I went down and picked it up.

It is by far the nicest Tokai and one of the nicest guitars *period* I have ever played. The lacquer finish is thin and has a great feel. I would say it feels and plays as well as the Greco EGF-1200 Super Real I used to have, but without the 3 piece back or 4.5 kg weight. For me the 1980-82 Japanese guitars have something special about them. Could just be my impression though. Here are a few pics. You can see the checking in the finish on the back.

1978 Greco Tele-gib?

Today this old Greco tele arrived. It looks like it was made by Fujigen and the neckplate has a 78*** serial number so it is around 34 years old. It was originally routed for humbuckers but the previous owner put a single "Screamin'" pickup in the bridge with the pole pieces facing away from the bridge. The neck and frets are in good shape and it sounds pretty good even with the old strings on. It has no selector switch as it only has the single pickup.The black paint actually doesn't look too bad but I wonder what the wood grain looks like underneath.









I've seen a few Tele-gibs from Greco that are modelled after the original tele that Seymour Duncan modified and gave to Jeff Beck.I don't see one listed in the 1978 catalog though so perhaps they were a little shy in advertising it as Jeff was a regular visitor to Japan in those days.

Below is a pristine example of one of those old Greco Tele-gibs from 1978 from guitarsjapan.com:

***I am not terribly concerned about using these photos as the fine folks over there currently have my Greco Eg59-85 (top right, mislabeled as EGF-850) listed for sale on their site for some reason...likely because most of their guitars are not "their guitars" but are simply reposts of guitars that are or were for sale in Japan at other stores. They use pictures from the owners of guitars without permission. I sent an email to the guy running the site but no response. In any case, thanks guitarsjapan.com!**