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1980 Tokai Reborn Old LS120 Vintage Flame Top Guitar, Collector-Grade w/ Case & Hangtags, Love Rock

$4,499.99

+ shipping

Up for sale, a 1980 Tokai LS120 Reborn Old in collector-grade, 100% original condition, complete with the original brown tolex Lifton-style hardshell case and hangtags. Crafted with the utmost care and considered among the finest vintage Japanese LPs ever produced, this early Tokai Reborn Old predates the rebrand to the better-known Love Rock moniker. This Reborn Old features a nitro lacquer Cherry Sunburst gloss finish over a figured, carved curly maple top, loaded with the original pair of DiMarzio PAF humbuckers with double cream bobbins.

Tonewoods include a mahogany body and carved two-piece curly maple top, and a mahogany neck capped with a bound rosewood fretboard. This guitar has plenty of natural acoustic projection and sustain, on the lighter side for an LP-style instrument at 9lbs 4oz. The DiMarzio pickups meter at the higher end of the typical PAF range at ~7.8k ohms, resulting in lots of top-end clarity and overtone-rich harmonic complexity. The neck pickup is full and round-sounding while retaining clarity and bite, and the bridge pickup has great cut with an aggressive growl. This Tokai has been professionally setup here at Mike & Mike’s Guitar Bar with 10-46 strings, low action and spot-on intonation.

The one-piece mahogany neck has a very chunky C-shaped profile carve with substantial shoulder in all registers, representative of a 1959 shape and worthy of the “baseball bat” moniker, measuring .895” deep at the 1st fret and .990” at the 12th. The bound rosewood fretboard features fret-edge binding, pearloid trapezoid inlays and original practically perfect medium jumbo fretwire. In-line with traditional Gibson spec, the scale length is 24 3/4” and the nut measures 1 11/16” in width, carved from bone for optimal note clarity and sustain. The headstock features the iconic “open book” design, Tokai inlay, and Reborn Old gold silkscreen script. The Tokai-branded Kluson-style single line tuners with greened keystone buttons turn smoothly and hold accurate pitch, with consistent patina across their nickel-plated gear housings.

All the electronics work as intended, with dedicated Volume and Tone knobs for each of the DiMarzio humbuckers and the distinctive circuit board wiring harness used in this era. Hardware includes an ABR-1-style Tune-o-Matic bridge and corresponding stopbar, with uniform patina across the nickel plating.  Plastics comprise the original one-ply pickguard, cream pickups rings, amber switch tip, and quartet of amber bonnet knobs, a few of which have splits adjacent to the pot shafts but still mount reliably.

The gloss Cherry Sunburst is bold and vibrant, highlighting consistent curly figuring across the two-piece carved maple cap, notable as this top is not a veneer like lesser Tokai iterations. Cosmetic wear is limited to a few exceedingly faint finish scratches and microscopic marks on the body as a whole. The gloss finish on the neck profile is immaculate.

The original Lifton-style hardshell case is included with a brown mottled exterior and pink form-fit interior. All of the original latches are intact, as is the stock handle and the small Tokai badge. All original hangtags are also included.