Up for sale, a 1970s Lyle 5102-T vintage hollowbody electric guitar in excellent condition and in perfect working order. Crafted in Japan at the Matsumoku factory, the 5102-T model was produced under a range of guises including Lyle, Aria, Diamond, and Epiphone brands. Inspired by Gibson's thinline ES models, particularly the ES-330, the 5102-T features a double cutaway fully hollow body and pair of hotly wound single coils. The pickups offer bold clarity with a rich, open-sounding neck pickup and a woody, barky bridge. Featherweight at 6lbs 7oz, this Lyle has been professionally setup here at Mike & Mike’s Guitar Bar with 10-46 strings, accurate intonation, and comfortable action.
The maple neck has a medium C-shaped profile carve with prominent shoulder, measuring .840” deep at the 1st fret and .910” at the 12th. The bound rosewood fretboard features block inlay and pristine slender fretwire. The guitar plays cleanly in every register up the straight neck with an optimally adjusted truss rod and 9.5” fretboard radius. The scale length is 24 3/4“, and the nut measures 1 9/16“ in width. The six-on-a-side headstock evokes Gibson's Trini Lopez model, and the sealed chrome-plated tuners with oval buttons turn smoothly.
On the body, the electronics work as they should, with a three-way pickup selector switch and individual Volume and Tone controls for each pickup. The two-tone cream and black pickup covers have a few small chips in the plastic which are purely cosmetic, and the guitar is fitted with a modern set of witch hat knobs. Hardware includes the floating roller bridge with nylon saddles, offering a particularly smooth response for the vibrato tailpiece, itself a unique combination of Fender and Bigsby design parameters. The vibrato has extremely clean chrome plating and a very long arm, with a small diameter spring that actuates easily for dynamic warbles and dives. Cosmetically, the dark burgundy gloss finish exhibits some minor finish scratches and nicks consistent with light, careful use, with light buckle rash on the back. The gloss finish on the neck profile shows only a few faint marks that are not distracting to the palm while fretting.
