Up for sale, a 1983 Tokai Love Rock LS100 in excellent condition and perfect working order, complete with a hardshell case. Introduced in 1977, the Love Rock (originally sold under the Reborn moniker until '80) was Tokai’s spin on the Les Paul platform during the “lawsuit” era of Japanese guitar production. Crafted with the utmost quality, the early Love Rocks are widely regarded to be among the finest vintage Japanese LPs ever produced.

Featuring a two-piece mahogany body with a solid carved maple cap topped with a heavily figured two-piece maple veneer, these tonewoods are paired with a mahogany set neck capped with a bound rosewood fretboard. This Love Rock dishes out plenty of natural sustain and authoritative note attack, notably lightweight for an LP-style instrument at 8lbs 13oz. It features a pair of USA-made DiMarzio pickups, with a PAF in the neck position which meters at 7.7k ohms, while the bridge pickup has been substituted for a DiMarzio Super Distortion that meters at 13.6k ohms. The PAF neck pickup is sensitive to pick attack, with a sweet treble character  and tight lows. The more tailored midrange of the PAF ensures a high degree of note clarity too. The Super Distortion bridge pickup is overwound and powerful, offering ample midrange and growl. As the name suggests, it also handles distortion exceedingly well; opening up with plenty of rich, creamy breakup. This Love Rock has been professionally setup here at Mike & MIke’s Guitar Bar with fresh 10-46 strings, low action and spot-on intonation.

The one-piece mahogany neck has a medium C-shaped profile carve with round shoulders in every register, measuring .835” deep at the 1st fret and .985” at the 12th. The rosewood fretboard features pearloid trapezoid inlay and fret-edge binding. The original medium jumbo frets still have plenty of meat, with light wear and minor flattening of the crowns on the treble side of the board from frets 1-8. True to Gibson spec, the scale length is 24 3/4” and the brand-new carved bone nut is 1 11/16” in width. This Love Rock plays cleanly up the fretboard with a straight neck and responsive, optimally-adjusted truss rod. The headstock sports the iconic “open book” shape, Tokai inlay, and Love Rock gold silkscreened script. The original Kluson-style single line tuners with greened keystone buttons turn smoothly and hold accurate pitch. The high E tuner arm has a slight bend, but is entirely functional.

On the body, all the electronics work as intended, with the DiMarzio pickups wired to a brand-new harness featuring 500k CTS pots and ceramic disc tone caps. Hardware includes the original ABR-1-style bridge and corresponding nickel plated stopbar which is a modern replacement, mounted with chrome studs. The strap buttons, input jack and pickup selector switch have also been replaced. Plastics include a replacement quartet of amber bonnet knobs and cream pickup rings.

The Cherry Sunburst finish is deep and vibrant, highlighting the rich, bookmatched flame figuring across the top. This guitar displays honest playwear, largely relegated to the back, including a patch of buckle rash at the bass-side waist and some deep scuffing central to the lower bout. There are also a number of minor nicks and dings across the back and body perimeter. Wear on the top is much more restrained, limited to some minor dings and faint finish scratches. The gloss finish on the neck profile is clean and smooth.

A black tolex Burny-branded hardshell case with red plush interior is included.