OffsetGuitars.com

I posted a similar inquiry with my introduction, but who reads those anyway?

This Koa grain looks very different to me from what I'm used to seeing. Not straight, not flame, not figured... almost plain flat sawn. I've spent hours over several days on the internet looking for any piece of similar Koa on a guitar, with no luck.

Does anybody have any opinion on it?

Looks like a bookmatched piece of low-grade flatsawn koa to me. Or, one of the other acacias. Nobody can definitively identify a wood species from a photo.

Why do you ask? On an electric guitar, it serves no purpose other than aesthetics, so the only question is, "do you like how it looks?"

mbene085 wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 14, 2021 5:38 pm

Looks like a bookmatched piece of low-grade flatsawn koa to me. Or, one of the other acacias. Nobody can definitively identify a wood species from a photo.

Why do you ask? On an electric guitar, it serves no purpose other than aesthetics, so the only question is, "do you like how it looks?"

Aesthetically speaking, low grade would be disappointing on a somewhat pricey custom order, I would think.

Depends what you paid for it. Koa is among the priciest woods you could stick on an electric guitar.

For example, retail prices start around $350 per bookmatched set for low grade koa that is straight-grained enough to use on an acoustic guitar, and those are only 3mm thick. You need a much thicker piece of wood for a guitar top with contours. 3-piece body blanks for electric guitars retail around the same price, and 3-piece blanks are cheaper than thick bookmatched sets.

Who built the body and what was the upcharge for the wood? Was any grade specified? Koa is in extremely short supply and large chunks of high grade wood can cost a whole lot of money.

Edit: just realized it's a Warmoth based on bridge and pickguard. Looked it up. Their koa top upcharge is currently $75 with no grade specified. That'd be why. The retail price of a high-grade blank big enough for the top would be more expensive than what they charge for the whole body. Just the state of koa supply in 2021. I'm actually impressed that they can source koa for that price at all.

I think with the right finish on it, it could look pretty damn good, and not like typical koa, either.

I've seen plenty of old koa Carvins, and that definitely looks like it could be that -- not particularly exciting grain on its own without a finish, but like said above, give it some oil or a high-gloss finish and it'll pop.

If Warmoth says it's Koa, I'm sure it's Koa. As far an opinion, how about this: That is a beautiful body and will be stunning with a natural finish!

The body looks figured, the pickups look suspect.

Scout wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 15, 2021 4:56 pm

The body looks figured, the pickups look suspect.

Lol, thank you?

Well we've only received one pickup in the mail so far and it still has its protective film on it. It's just there to make sure the pickguard mounting screw holes lined up

It's from guitar madness... the only 5 lead humbucker we could find. We wanted to be able to have series, parallel, and split to either single coil separately.

I think the top would look nice with a finish that shows the grain, not necessarily clear.
I hope the pickups work out for you, it wouldn’t be my preference, that’s all.

there's something that's either camera trickery or part of a knot that i'm not a huge fan of (just off the end of the f-hole), but otherwise i think that's pretty attractive figuring, even if it is a lower grade cut.

...that guard on the other hand... twelve or so years of staring at warmoth builds and i still can't get over how wrong the section around the bridge looks.

Looks like it's going to be a tonal Swiss-Army-type of geet- a little of everything, no?

The koa looks fine in this raw state- a nice finish will bring that grain to life!

I've been drooling over Taylor T5's layely- some of the koa tops on those are driving me crazy. (I have a spruce-top one that's just not doing it for me)

Excited to see how this turns out- keep posting pics!