Anyone ever played or owned an all-Koa guitar?

ToneControl

artiebear said:

CloudNine said:

I have heard that of all the woods, Koa is the one to try before you buy.. Apparently some absolute duds, quite tight sounding and apparently does not change much from day one in terms of the top opening up in tone, which I suppose may be more expected as a hard wood. Not really sure that is true though. Also remember reading that the less figured stuff sounds significantly better. 

My own personal (very limited) experience with Koa was however, very good. Not the full Koa build, but I did have a Koa/Redwood Lowden F50, which was a lovely thing. Not really my style of guitar ultimately, but a very good one nonetheless. Played a Koa Martin which was also great in its own way, although would not want it as my only guitar.

I have had custom built acoustics and would personally not risk a Koa top, but hopefully it will be amazing. No guts, no glory!  Spruce is just so amazingly consistent as a top wood though, and definitely improves over time. I have found Adirondack to be amazing. All the very best guitars I have played, have been Adi, it can be warm, bright, whatever, depending on the builder, but it always has a sense of power available when required. Like driving a car with a big engine.

As far as Koa goes, you're right. As as Acacia, it is very variable in terms of the way it responds. The older stuff ( totally harvested out due to it's higher altitude growth ) tends to be more conducive to  good wide frequency resonance. A lot of wood is now being taken from lower trees ( different climatic conditions ). One weird thing with my Koa guitars is that it does seem that if I haven't used them for a while, they seem to take more warming up ( could just be my ear, but I have a Macassar Ebony Bourgeois that behaves in a similar way, nothing to do with new strings etc. ) . 

You sum up adirondack very well indeed. There is loads of power under the hood, but it still purrs nicely in first gear. 

I have this with my Adi top dread. Quite common with stiffer woods I believe

GTC

ToneControl said:

I've ordered a custom-made all-koa guitar, watch this space

Brave - but very interesting. Would be interested to hear how it goes but, from my own experiences, would have a lot of faith in the Avalon guys to pick out a great set for you.

earwighoney

ToneControl said:

Avalon
their most expert luthier has tap-tested and inspected the wood, so I am confident it's not going to be a dud

I stood with them whilst they tested the sinker redwood pieces, they definitely know how to pick out the best sounding wood

Cheers for the info. I've not tried one but they have a great reputation.

What body size are you going for?

ToneControl

earwighoney said:

ToneControl said:

Avalon
their most expert luthier has tap-tested and inspected the wood, so I am confident it's not going to be a dud

I stood with them whilst they tested the sinker redwood pieces, they definitely know how to pick out the best sounding wood

Cheers for the info. I've not tried one but they have a great reputation.

What body size are you going for?

Jumbo

shufflebeat

I went out to buy a left handed Takamine dreadnought and almost bought a right handed Takamine ef407 parlour. It was the most beautiful sounding and feeling guitar I've played in years, both acoustic and amplified.

Phil_C

No but I'd love an all Koa Taylor. 

Though I can't seem to prise myself away from my Takamine

GTC

I can't get the thought of something with a Koa top and Macassar Ebony back and sides out of my mind - a sort of pimped up redwood / bog oak.

WindmillGuitars

@ToneControl The Robin Thompson (Avalon/Lowden) I had listed ages ago on here was all Tasmanian Blackwood which is very Koa like - tone was incredible. 

ToneControl

WindmillGuitars said:

@ToneControl The Robin Thompson (Avalon/Lowden) I had listed ages ago on here was all Tasmanian Blackwood which is very Koa like - tone was incredible. 

looks great, Stevie mentioned that it was similar to Koa
Mine will be a 12 fret jumbo with a Florentine cutaway

WindmillGuitars

That'll be very nice @ToneControl - hoping to catch up with Stevie soon myself 

Pakhan

I've played and traded a lot of all Koa guitars and like Michael Watts, I favour the old 12 fret small bodied Martins. I haven't really seen anything other than those and their modern day equivalents which I have enjoyed as much (all koa guitars that is...)

I think it could be because those older martins had less figured/curly koa for the tops. On the whole figuring is a function of curly grain which tends to be weaker at thinner, er, thicknesses. 

I am sure someone will figure out a way to overcome that and then I'll be ordering a lot of all Koa guitars!