1980 Tokai LS-80 — The Beauty of Honest Use

This 1980 LS-80 remains in excellent overall condition, though it bears the mounting marks of a Bigsby tremolo unit once installed.

Many collectors place great importance on guitars being completely unmodified and all-original.
I’m not one of them.
Personally, I find untouched guitars—those that have never been played or sweated on—to be lacking in charm.
To me, a guitar that shows signs of long and loving use is far more appealing.
For that reason, I tend to be tolerant of modifications, within reason.

Of course, not all modifications are equal.
Some are what I’d call “authentic” alterations, consistent with the instrument’s heritage; others are not.
In the case of the Les Paul, I consider the addition—or the trace—of a Bigsby tremolo unit to fall firmly in the authentic category.

My reasoning comes from the book Beauty of the ’Burst: Gibson Sunburst Les Pauls from ’58 to ’60.
Of the 87 Bursts documented in that volume, 11 guitars (roughly 13%) either have a Bigsby installed or show evidence that one was once there.
That’s a surprisingly high proportion—
and, I believe, ample justification for treating Bigsby installations as legitimate and historically grounded modifications.

Weight: 4.07 kg (including strings)
(Updated August 26, 2016)