Local CL ad offers a Tokai Love Rock. Problem is that seller claims previous owner changed headstock to read "Gibson" and "Les Paul Model". Good on him for not passing on counterfeit goods, exactly, but if I wanted to snag a potentially good guitar at a potentially good price, what are my options? Refin the headstock face to add Tokai stickers, if available? All I have to go on is what this guy says. I'm checking out the Tokai forums to try to verify that it's actually Tokai, and Japanese (I wouldn't bother with Korean or Chinese ones due to resale value), and so far pretty good: correct-looking serial number and two-screw TRC. I'd try to meet in person to verify no additional TRC holes and that the bridge is screwed directly into the top, which is supposed to indicate Japanese manufacture, instead of screwed into sleeves, which is supposed to indicate Korean and then Chinese origin.
Otherwise it looks clean in the pics he sent, not much evidence of playing. He doesn't know which particular model it is from 1999, and I'm not finding easy ways to tell either from pics or in person, if I can arrange to meet. It seems to have to do with the Japanese pickups installed, or the number of pieces of the top, which can be underneath a veneer on the lower-end models, and binding would make it hard to tell, wouldn't it?
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mrjamiam
Local CL ad offers a Tokai Love Rock. Problem is that seller claims previous owner changed headstock to read "Gibson" and "Les Paul Model". Good on him for not passing on counterfeit goods, exactly, but if I wanted to snag a potentially good guitar at a potentially good price, what are my options? Refin the headstock face to add Tokai stickers, if available? All I have to go on is what this guy says. I'm checking out the Tokai forums to try to verify that it's actually Tokai, and Japanese (I wouldn't bother with Korean or Chinese ones due to resale value), and so far pretty good: correct-looking serial number and two-screw TRC. I'd try to meet in person to verify no additional TRC holes and that the bridge is screwed directly into the top, which is supposed to indicate Japanese manufacture, instead of screwed into sleeves, which is supposed to indicate Korean and then Chinese origin.
Otherwise it looks clean in the pics he sent, not much evidence of playing. He doesn't know which particular model it is from 1999, and I'm not finding easy ways to tell either from pics or in person, if I can arrange to meet. It seems to have to do with the Japanese pickups installed, or the number of pieces of the top, which can be underneath a veneer on the lower-end models, and binding would make it hard to tell, wouldn't it?
Thoughts?
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