Our search for the world's finest tonewoods is a chance to explore a universe of tonal possibilities. Responsible procurement, careful preparation, and skilled craftsmanship are required ingredients in the guitar building process. Like guitars themselves, wood is our passion.
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A tropical hardwood, koa’s tone blends the midrange of mahogany with the top end of maple. Due to its density, a new koa guitar tends to start out sounding a little bright and tight, somewhat like maple. But the more a koa guitar is played, the more the sound opens up, expanding the midrange and rewarding the player with a richer, sweeter, more resonant tone. A common mistake is when a bright player buys a koa guitar in part for its visual beauty, finds it to be too bright, and doesn’t play it enough to allow the wood to warm up.
Goes Well With
Fingerstylists who play more with the pads of their fingers and tend to have a meatier touch. Bright players need to be careful because of koa’s existing brightness (one might try experimenting with different pick materials).
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| What about Brazilian? |
| Over the last few decades, Brazilian rosewood has maintained its reputation as a prized tonewood for several reasons: Its heritage traces back to the much celebrated pre-war era of guitar-building; it often has a striking visual appeal and a clear, full tone with complex overtones and ample dynamic range; and the supply remains scarce due to an export embargo imposed in the late 1960s as a result of overharvesting. “Brazilian is just kind of over, even though, ironically, there’s lots of it in Brazil,” says Bob Taylor. “You just can’t get it out. It’s difficult to obtain the proper legal certification. Even if you pull out fence posts or stumps from long-ago-harvested trees, obtaining them in a perfectly legal, above-board fashion, you’re probably not going to be able to get the legal paperwork to export it.” It’s gotten to the point where guitar companies in other countries, who own legally obtained Brazilian but don’t have adequate paperwork, have found their wood impounded indefinitely by government officials. On top of that, much of what is legally accounted for isn’t of the highest grade, yet its rarity has made it prohibitively expensive. Is it a great tonewood? Yes. Is it worth the current headaches associated with trying to legally obtain it? Probably not.
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