Quote:
Originally Posted by Mazrim
Korina is more like Mahogany. Ive been told that a Koa top on a Korina body is supposed to sound lush, like a better quality Mahogany/Maple combo so I'm having a custom guitar built in a few months with that in mind.
We'll see what happens.
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ahh, yes; the illustrious Korina pops up again.
I hope you realise that most stories around Korina (Black Limba) are false.
The legend started with the Gibson prototypes of the 1950s (Explorer, Flying V, Moderne) considering the numbers (24,24,1?) very few people would actually have played these. They were most likely not Korina but bleached Mahogany anyway.
This legend was resurrected by Ibanez, when they copied these three as part of their Rock-n-Roll series in the 1970s. They even copied the Moderne, which Gibson never produced, all supposedly in Korina. However these guitars were actually made out of Sen, Japanse Ash. Their claim to fame came when Eddie van Halen raved about his
Korina Destroyer.
The truth is, even later Korina guitars (Hamer, Epiphone) do not look like they are made out of Black Limba. They may have been bleached Mahogany as well, or White Limba or Ash. Not that it would matter since the sound everybody was looking for comes from:
1) the particular shape of the Destroyer (Explorer)
2) Japanse Ash
3) Eddie's gear (modded Marshalls etc.)
By all means have a guitar made in Black Limba, because it looks great, but don't cover that in Koa!
Alternatively, get a Basswood body and cap it with (flamed) Koa, again, it looks great, but it's sound is too inconsistent to bet on.
