A few shots taken a week ago, out in the sun for some fading.

Well it is nearing completion, finally.
Still need to add the stamped serial, lacquer over it, and dull/age the finish a little bit but otherwise good to go.
Been a tough but fun journey as since my spontaneous pneumothorax in January life just has not been the same.
Chest has moments of tightness, back is still sore and can be quite intense pain wise at times, and just overall life is good but...different however life is impermanent and each moment never the same as the next so just take it a second at a time and live.
I need to do a little more work on the knobs to get them where I want them but that is minor.

So I did 3 different stages of bursting today.
The 1st was a faded browned cherry with a brighter yellow amber center.
I dug this but since I did a nice top clear coat this gives me the ability to wet sand this all off and start over if need be.

Then I decided to see what a slightly wider burst with a still more yellowed center would be like.

I dug this too.

Then finally I decided, since I have always been a Brock Burst fan, to do it up that style with a wider burst but more browned cherry and a more aged amber center.

Here under sunlight:

Here in the shade:

That is all for now folks...or folk if anyone is reading this =P

So managed to get 3 coats of yellow along with 3 light coats of clear on top today to seal it.
Tomorrow I will be getting the tea burst on top then coating with some amber to orange the overall finish.
Sad to see some of those lovely big mineral streaks have shrunk in size due to the sanding but that is really hard to avoid however I exposed some new ones throughout the top so that is cool with me. =)
This will always be my keeper so this is both fun & educational for me.

After playing a few friends LS80's & LS100's etc I always dug these old Tokai's.
The lacquer finish just feels old and worn in like a favourite t-shirt or shoes.
I ended up buying this 1980 LS80 last summer but finally had it shipped this past week.
Weighs in at 9 lbs 7 ounces (not one of the lighter Tokai's that seem to be more common) & the stock Gotoh pickups were nothing special on this one however.
Not sure why Tokai, if modelled after a true 1958 Les Paul, squared off their neck heels?
Not a huge fan of them vs a true well rounded heel but it is a minor gripe I suppose.

Appears the previous owner played this a lot and it showed but it was quite a bummer to see he had it on a shitty rubber stand that melted the lacquer on the lower body and little rubber flecks have randomly melted into the finish throughout. Ah well, adds to the overall mojo I suppose. :D

Decided to swap the pups for some old double cream Tokai X stamped pups I had. Same font as the Z's and they sounded great but I really wanted the new set of A3 Mojotones in there.

While it was unstrung I did a quick re-crown and fret end dressing as these frets, while at about 60%, were a bit worn.

So back on the bench it went for the double cream A3 Mojo's and they shall stay for now, such awesome best bang for your buck pickups! I think I have 4 sets thus far and when they go on sale I jump at em.

That is all for now folks, off to work...

A few shots of the Mojo Machine...