Members buddyboy Posted June 18, 2004 Members Posted June 18, 2004 What do you think of all Koa guitars? I was told this morning that koa is in the Mahogany family. I played a (Mahonany) D-15 recently that was very nice. What would you expect from all koa on an OOO bodystyle? Can anyone compare it to spruce/mahogany in general terms? Thank you!
Members Greg Bogoshian Posted June 18, 2004 Members Posted June 18, 2004 Koa is my absolute favorite tonewood. It definitely has more sparkle than mahogany. To me, it falls somewhere between mahogany and rosewood and has the best of both... Boggs
Members Quake17 Posted June 18, 2004 Members Posted June 18, 2004 BuddyBoy, If you'd like to get a good idea of all koa, try to find a Tacoma dealer that has a EKK-9 or EKK-19 in stock. These are small jumbo (deeped than 000 size) but probably the most likely solid koa you can find.As to sound, koa tops are stiffer than spruce and not as responsive. In my experience, it will take a year or so of steady playing for them to open up and become somewhat responsive.Koa tops do give gobs of sustain though. It gives a real chimey quality to the sound, but it will probably not be as loud as mahogany/spruce. Best of luck, Grant
Members buddyboy Posted June 18, 2004 Author Members Posted June 18, 2004 Koa is my absolute favorite tonewood. It definitely has more sparkle than mahogany. To me, it falls somewhere between mahogany and rosewood and has the best of both... Boggs Thank you, Greg and Grant. Greg, is it spruce-topped koa bodied guitars that you like or all-koa guitars? I am shopping an EKK19C by mail order (all koa). I have never mail-ordered a guitar before, but it is so good looking... I can't find any local Koa to fiddle with... Thanks
Members Mike Crixell Posted June 18, 2004 Members Posted June 18, 2004 Originally posted by buddyboy What do you think of all Koa guitars? I was told this morning that koa is in the Mahogany family. Whoever told you that Koa is in the Mahogany family is sorely mistaken. These are two distinct species of trees and tonewoods. The general rule of thumb is that, tonally, Koa falls somewhere between Rosewood and Mahogany. Actually, a Koa guitar's tone depends most on the specific wood set used, the size of the body, and the builder's intended target tonal envelope. Lots of variables. Koa is largely inconsistent in tone as compared to Rosewood and Mahogany, whose tones are very dependable annd predictable. There are some folks who swear by Koa and others who swear at it. As always, your mileage WILL vary, but Koa gives new life to an old tonewood debate, every time. Mike
Members SurrealMcCoy Posted June 18, 2004 Members Posted June 18, 2004 Originally posted by buddyboy Thank you, Greg and Grant. Greg, is it spruce-topped koa bodied guitars that you like or all-koa guitars? I am shopping an EKK19C by mail order (all koa). I have never mail-ordered a guitar before, but it is so good looking... I can't find any local Koa to fiddle with... Thanks That is a beautiful guitar. I've played 3 different EKK19C's. For the most part, I felt the tone was fairly well balanced........yet very compressed..........as the wood needs a period of time to open up. For a mini jumbo; I wish that it would project more........ I tend to favor Mahogany...........but really love my all Koa Larrivee parlor. The Koa has more complex harmonic tendencies with nice bell-like sustain.
Members LittleBrother Posted June 18, 2004 Members Posted June 18, 2004 I've heard many fine luthiers state Koa is between mahog and rosewood and although technically I think Boggs statement can be dead on the money it could be very misleading when you hear it. To someone that has never heard Koa they might think it's a fantastic choice if you cant decide between Mahog and Rosewood. I think this can trick you. Koa sounds different than both. Sure it has alot of the sparkling highs of mahogany and perhaps even more high end trebles but it's also more sharp and clear sounding that mahogany. I am not sure if it's truly stronger in those high ends or if it really just LACKS the bottom end whoomp and warm bass of mahogany and causes the highs to stand out. Of course this opinion is coming from a warped mind so take that into account! In any case my opinion is that you better play one before forking out money or at least have the option to exchange it because it might be pretty but it's different. If Koa was a cola it would be Dr. Pepper.
Members Gribs Posted June 20, 2004 Members Posted June 20, 2004 I have heard that Koa is becoming harder to get these days; I do not know how true this is. I have the all-koa version of the Martin SPD-16K2 (there is also a version with a spruce top). I fell in love with this guitar last September when I tried it out during my search for my first new guitar in 20 years. For me, it was just a personal choice of the right tones, looks, feel, playability, etc. It was just the "right" guitar. I compared it with new and used D-35's, a used D-18, new HD-28, new D-15, and several other brands like a guild F-50, various high-end Yairi's, etc. I would describe my all-koa guitar as very warm sounding. It has a nice woodiness to it. It is not as loud and projecting as a D-35 when strummed aggressively, but has the sweetest sound for figerstyle, which is what I do mostly. I have also heard that koa can be highly variable in terms of its physical properties and that one should be very careful to try before one buys a koa guitar.
Members bsman Posted June 20, 2004 Members Posted June 20, 2004 FYI - in terms of taxonomy, koa is in the acacia family, not the mahogany family. Of course, the term mahogany seems to apply to almost any reddish-colored wood these days, so...
Members Greg Bogoshian Posted June 20, 2004 Members Posted June 20, 2004 I especially liked an all Koa Taylor Grand Concert... My second favorite guitar of all time... Spectacular tone and projection, warmth and sparkle, dynamically sensitive and articulate... Damned near perfect! Boggs
Members buddyboy Posted June 20, 2004 Author Members Posted June 20, 2004 Thanks, much. I found an EKK19 in Nashvile on the web. I'll check it out when I pass through next week.
Members Cams Posted June 20, 2004 Members Posted June 20, 2004 I've never tried a koa guitar, but my Heiner is all blackwood, another subset of the acacia species. I spent some time with it and my cedar/mahog Lakewood today and they are such different guitars. The Lakewood sounds great for Candyman style picking, whereas the Heiner excels at arpeggiated Celtic styles in altered tunings (low C at the moment) as one can make full advantage of the sustain. I would imagine an all koa guitar would be in the same ballpark in terms of tone. Try one, that's all. BTW, I will be making the best of a loss in the family by taking a day to go to Brighton with Lorraine and visit the best guitar shop in England, The Acoustic Music Co where I'm sure I'll get to try out a koa Goodall or two! Man, I love that shop. Have a browse through the inventory to see the sorts of delights they have - there's even an all-koa parlour. Now that, I need to hear!
Members guitarcapo Posted June 22, 2004 Members Posted June 22, 2004 And to further confuse things, there are two kinds of blackwood. Australian blackwood is related to koa/acacia and African blackwood is related to rosewood (dalbergia genus) African blackwood is used in bagpipes, clarinets, oboes etc. Really expensive in pieces big enough for a guitar.... Koa varies a lot. The flamey pretty stuff is acoustically kind of dead and probably horrible as a soundboard material... but that gets used a lot for visual appeal over tone. As with all tonewoods: the prettier it looks, the worse it sounds. The sound of koa can vary as much as how it looks which is why descriptions are inconsistant. My take is that in general (and like I said: there's a wide variation) it's sort of midrangey and punchy like mahogany and walnut.
Members Mike Crixell Posted June 22, 2004 Members Posted June 22, 2004 Hi All, Here's a video clip of an exceptional Ed Claxton EM guitar made of Master Grade Flamed Koa played by classical virtuoso Mesut Ozgen. Claxton Koa EM Mr. Ozgen had just played a great Claxton classical for the video feature I produced on Ed, and I asked him to try the steel-string EM. This was the first time he had seen this instrument, but he graciously agreed to play it for the camera. Mr. Ozgen seamlessly shifted gears from the 2" nut-width of the classical he had been playing to the 1 3/4" low-profile neck and steel strings of the EM. He is playing this piece with his nails, too, which most classical players would avoid. At any rate, this is an example of a great Koa guitar and an equally great player. Enjoy, Mike
Members LittleBrother Posted June 22, 2004 Members Posted June 22, 2004 That set of videos blows me away everytime Claxton rules!
Members Mike Crixell Posted June 23, 2004 Members Posted June 23, 2004 Originally posted by LittleBrother That set of videos blows me away everytime Claxton rules!
Members Cams Posted June 23, 2004 Members Posted June 23, 2004 Originally posted by Mike Crixell Hi All,Here's a video clip of an exceptional Ed Claxton EM guitar made of Master Grade Flamed Koa played by classical virtuoso Mesut Ozgen.Claxton Koa EM In a word, WOW! That was really moving and the first time I'd heard that piece. What a pleasure it was to be able to watch the fingering - how dexterous is that guy! I'll no longer sigh when the simple stretches I'm working on seem impossible, now that I've seen once again what can be done. Thanks for posting Mike!
Members Mike Crixell Posted June 23, 2004 Members Posted June 23, 2004 Hey Cams, You're welcome. There are so many great players in the world that deserve recognition for their talent! Stay tuned for a lot more. Mike
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