Members RushinDman Posted November 17, 2011 Members Share Posted November 17, 2011 What's the difference?? Besides the grain? What's worth more? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Neal Posted November 17, 2011 Members Share Posted November 17, 2011 Where do you want it? Back/sides? Top? What do you want it on? Dreadnaught, ukulele? Are you going for flash or sound? Your question makes as much sense as someone asking "How much is a house?" No offense. Generally the more figured the wood, the more expensive. This has no bearing on the sound. When thinking of Koa as a tonewood, think more mahogany-like. It is more expensive on a guitar, usually in every case with the exception of Brazilian Rosewood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gitnoob Posted November 17, 2011 Members Share Posted November 17, 2011 Highly figured Koa can get expensive. Koa with less figure costs about the same as Rosewood. (In terms of buying the sets from someplace like LMI.) Good guitars can be made with either. So can bad guitars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RushinDman Posted November 17, 2011 Author Members Share Posted November 17, 2011 Haha it's on a guitar back and sides. Actually the ones I were looking at are on eBay there's a garrison with koa back and sides really beautiful stylish wood they sent me more pics which make it even nicer and there's the g50-ce which has a rosewood back and sides. I have the g50 garrison dread and love it. But it has no electronics so I was considering purchasing one of these. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RushinDman Posted November 17, 2011 Author Members Share Posted November 17, 2011 So rosewood is a better tonewood then? I have never played a guitar with koa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gitnoob Posted November 17, 2011 Members Share Posted November 17, 2011 Garrison is the guitar with the funky plastic bracing, right? Never played one, but I'd be surprised if the back/side wood made much difference with that design. Rosewood is more traditional. Koa is mostly used for looks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Neal Posted November 17, 2011 Members Share Posted November 17, 2011 So rosewood is a better tonewood then? I have never played a guitar with koa No, it's ANOTHER tone wood. That's all. It's a great tone wood. As is rosewood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RushinDman Posted November 17, 2011 Author Members Share Posted November 17, 2011 Ya that's the one! Believe it or not great sound for $560 dollars Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members katopp Posted November 17, 2011 Members Share Posted November 17, 2011 Koa is a great tonewood. Soundwise it is between Hog and Rosewood, the plainer the more like Rosewood, at least in my experience Highly figured Koa is often used more because of the looks, than b es cause of the sound. The figure means a lot of open ends and a less stable piece of wood, so you have to make it thicker and brace it heavier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarcapo Posted November 17, 2011 Members Share Posted November 17, 2011 In my opinion koa varies a HUGE amount compared to other species of woods. Not just in figure...but in density and tap tone. It can be really porous a soft, more like mahogany....and the color is all over the place. I would even postulate that the working and tonal properties between Brazilian and Indian rosewood are smaller than the entire spectrum of how koa presents itself. A few years ago, really figured koa sets were actually rarer than Brazilian rosewood back and side sets. I've always been of the impression that the back and sides really don't contribute much to tone anyway....But very figured koa has GOT to be the most beautiful wood on earth. I usually lump koa in with mahogany in working properties and deal with it more in terms of looks than anythng else Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members masterbuilt Posted November 17, 2011 Members Share Posted November 17, 2011 figured koa has GOT to be the most beautiful wood on earth. I usually lump koa in with mahogany in working properties and deal with it more in terms of looks than anythng else Beautiful, no doubt. Straight grain produces great volume. Have you seen book-matched Myrtle? It's another highly figured wood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fixintogo Posted November 17, 2011 Members Share Posted November 17, 2011 Is the koa on that Garrison solid or a laminate? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarcapo Posted November 17, 2011 Members Share Posted November 17, 2011 There are some exotics out there that are gorgeous for sure. Snakewood is one, but it's hard to find big pieces. I have a back and side set of "mysterywood" that looks kind of like lacewood. It came from South America and I can't figure out what species it is. I really need to take pics. Maybe someone here knows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members masterbuilt Posted November 18, 2011 Members Share Posted November 18, 2011 There are some exotics out there that are gorgeous for sure. Snakewood is one, but it's hard to find big pieces. I have a back and side set of "mysterywood" that looks kind of like lacewood. It came from South America and I can't figure out what species it is. I really need to take pics. Maybe someone here knows. I had a lacewood ukulele from Kala Ukes that we gave away in a prize drawing for Ukulele Player Magazine. The lacewood was from the Far East. The uke had a solid spruce top, too. It made for a good acoustic combination. The lacewood, in this case, was a dappled grain. In a piece like that, it is hard to see the heartwood, there was so much dappling. Here's a picture... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarcapo Posted November 18, 2011 Members Share Posted November 18, 2011 What I meant is that it had the "flecks" that you see in Lacewood...but it was more orage in color and the flecks were a lot larger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members masterbuilt Posted November 18, 2011 Members Share Posted November 18, 2011 What I meant is that it had the "flecks" that you see in Lacewood...but it was more orage in color and the flecks were a lot larger. The lower piece is more typical of what we see from Asian suppliers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sixgunner455 Posted November 19, 2011 Members Share Posted November 19, 2011 I've played a couple of all-koa bodied guitars. They were beautiful, but I didn't really fall in love with them. The wood, yes. Tone, not so much. I'd like to try one with a Sitka or Adirondack top. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Billy Boy 1968 Posted April 25, 2021 Members Share Posted April 25, 2021 Guess I was lucky. My Martin Spruce top with Koa back and sides is gorgeous and is the best sounding guitar I've ever had the privilege to play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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