1983 Tokai TLS-200 — Fine Tiger Maple from the Transitional Era

Beginning in 1983, Tokai changed its Les Paul model designation from LS to TLS.

This particular guitar shows a few scars of use and can best be described as in player’s condition.
The “200” grade decal on the back of the headstock is long gone,
but the gold Tokai logo and the flawlessly patterned tiger maple top unmistakably mark it as a flagship instrument.

Some of the components and circuitry appear to have been modified over time:
the tuners are now Gibson-branded,
the neck pickup is a DiMarzio PAF,
and the bridge pickup is a Seymour Duncan ’59.
Since the catalog for this model year lists the Duncan ’59 as standard,
it’s likely that the DiMarzio was a later replacement.

The neck had previously been repaired,
which allowed me to purchase the guitar for less than half of its typical market price.
Because the small scars on the back of the neck bothered me,
I sent it to Tokai Gakki Mfg. Co., the original maker, for restoration.

A guitar with a repaired neck is often dismissed as “damaged goods.”
That’s understandable — yet I personally don’t believe
that an accidentally broken and professionally repaired neck diminishes the true musical value of a guitar.
Many world-class players have used instruments with neck repairs.
Even Gary Moore’s legendary “Greeny”, which sold for over one hundred million yen,
bears such a repair.

To my knowledge, aside from some 1980–81 LS-50 and LS-60 models made at the Nagano factory,
this is the only Tokai Les Paul I’ve seen with a stamped serial number.
Perhaps this guitar too was built there.

Its narrow, refined tiger-stripe figuring is now familiar from modern “Historic Collection” models,
but such maple was exceptionally rare on Japanese guitars of the early 1980s.

Weight: 4.06 kg (including strings)
(Updated August 26, 2016)