Korina, Korina

Amazing guitars. With my penchant for natural backed guitars, I was recently bitten by the black limba bug when I was getting inspiration for my PS build. I did not know Korina and black limba were from the same tree family. And here I thought these forums were mainly focused on depleting my bank account. Now I am learning things. :cool:
 
after 40 years as a Luthier , I feel it's always best to share the knowledge . I suspect as good becomes increasingly rare , sustainable woods with great tones will survive
I was reading a thread on the gear page last night all about various tone woods and some of the new upcoming woods but feel most of the "new" woods may well be driven by cost and availability and not the "tone" as such.
But that could and should be a whole new thread.....
 
Korina is a very nice wood in my book, easy to work with and great to look at!

As far as I remember, "Korina" was a marketing term that I think Gibson came up with in the 50's when they were looking for a cheaper alternative to get the bleached/limed mahogany look.

Maybe a funny sidenote: in Germany Limba was frequently used for window and door frames and considered a very cheap wood. You can still find logs here at dealers for very reasonable money. I could actually ask a commercial wood dealer here and still could get Limba for less money than ash, even in bigger pieces suitable for one piece bodies (maybe not Explorer :)).
We also had a trend from the 60s-80s here to use Mahogany/Meranti/Khaya for solid stairsteps. You sometimes stumple upon an old set of stairsteps which can be sometimes consist of only 1 or 2 pieces, and also solid handrails which all can be perfectly used for necks and bodies.
 
Solid price! I had one as well, heavily influenced by Hans.

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I have always been a little afraid of Korina. I have never had the chance to compare it to the woods I like and I don't want to buy an expensive guitar to find out I don't like it. I watched that happen to someone on a forum once. They received a custom built guitar and didn't like it because of the Korina body. He still has the guitar, to my knowledge, but doesn't play it. There was some special deal in him getting it so he can't bring himself to sell it for the fear of ticking off the builder. I can only imagine how difficult that situation is to be in and don't want to end up there.

I asked some questions about a Studio that had Korina body and neck before I bought the one I purchased. I was just afraid I would lose some of the traits that mahogany brings to the mix. I would still like to check a Korina guitar out but not when it could cost me a ton to sell something I ended up not liking.
 
I have always been a little afraid of Korina. I have never had the chance to compare it to the woods I like and I don't want to buy an expensive guitar to find out I don't like it. I watched that happen to someone on a forum once. They received a custom built guitar and didn't like it because of the Korina body. He still has the guitar, to my knowledge, but doesn't play it. There was some special deal in him getting it so he can't bring himself to sell it for the fear of ticking off the builder. I can only imagine how difficult that situation is to be in and don't want to end up there.

I asked some questions about a Studio that had Korina body and neck before I bought the one I purchased. I was just afraid I would lose some of the traits that mahogany brings to the mix. I would still like to check a Korina guitar out but not when it could cost me a ton to sell something I ended up not liking.
I get that. All my korina guitars are bright. Discription on websites like warmoth are a little off, if you ask me, focus is rather on the mids and higher mids.

I do subsribe to the opinion that wood is not the main ingredient in the tone (electronics are), however i do think that korina makes for clear/bright guitars.
 
I get that. All my korina guitars are bright. Discription on websites like warmoth are a little off, if you ask me, focus is rather on the mids and higher mids.

I do subsribe to the opinion that wood is not the main ingredient in the tone (electronics are), however i do think that korina makes for clear/bright guitars.
I will definitely not buy a guitar that is made of Kornia until I can thoroughly check one out. I am from the camp that the wood sets the base tone that the electronics then pick up and amplify. There will be a resonant peak in the vibration of the instrument that will always be there. I look at it like a fingerprint. You can change pickups all day long but that resonant peak is still going to be there. It is kind of the soul of the guitar.

My Wife Wants Me To Get A PS Orianthi...
I showed a picture of one of those to my wife and she loved it. She didn't love the price. :)
 
For now ... all I can do is dream and drool and put them on the watch list until after the holidays
It’s definitely hard to resist with all of this Korina porn on display.
My saving grace atm is having already had a Korina bodied guitar I can say I have at least scratched that itch…for now.
 
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