Ok so the guitar arrived safe and sound today from Japan. Took 5 days from seller. Very impressed. As for the guitar. I am baffled. It doesn't appear to be from the 70s or even 80s. It just seems newer to me. Although I am confused because there are no serials, no "made in Japan" anywhere and it has an open book headstock which doesn't make sense if it is indeed from the early 90s as advertised by seller. What do you all think? I uploaded some more pics to help.
The pickups seem very worn...no markings, they're tested at 8.0 resistance Neck and 8.31 resistance Bridge. The pots were cheap AF, looks like 1 meg pots so those def got to go. The tuners feel really high quality. Nut looks original, the headstock decal is misleading as well. it is different from 70s/80s diamond logo. it has one solid piece rather than being broken up in the diamond shape. The body doesn't seem to be a pancake style and the neck isn't a 3 piece from what I can tell. So maybe it is post 80s construction? It weighed in at 9 pounds. My 81 Aria Pro LC 900 weighed in at 10 pounds.
My theory is that perhaps this was a 90s LC 500 version (not as good quality as LC 900) and that it was only sold or available in Japan. The open book headstock violates the lawsuit era, no? All in all, I'm happy with it.
Now its off to MJT to get a refinish job!
https://flic.kr/ps/3W31H7