Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi everyone,
i just joined yesterday, i'm going to start a weissenborn project from that "how to build a weissenborn" book and plans (when i buy it at the end of feb) by Terry Buddell but i really want to use highly figured Koa to get that old bright sound.
I've had a look on google and it seems like you only really get it in large orders.
Would anyone happen to know a place i can get enough highly figured koa for my project?

Also i'm in England by the way.

Al

Hi Al and welcome to the OLF!

For Koa in your size try these guys - they are great: http://www.volcanoguitarworks.com/index.php?id=14

I'd certainly try and get your wood from a source in the UK first due to the high cost of buying and shipping stuff from the US now, there are three I would call and ask:

Joel at Tonewood Supplies, his site is linked above as he is a sponsor of this forum.

David Dyke at Luthiers Supplies his site is http://www.luthierssupplies.co.uk/

Chris at Timberline his site is http://www.exotichardwoods.co.uk/.

In each case I would call them up and see what they can do, most tonewood people only list a fraction of their wood on their websites, but would be happy to cut the wood for you if they have it in stock. There are a number of others you can try so check back later if these can't help you.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Hi Alexander, welcome to the OLF.
And let me congratulate you on your whereabouts...we vacationed in Yorkshire last year and simply loved it.
Why, one of these days, Colin, Dave and I are all going to relocate to Yorkshire and spend our retirement building guitars.
Till then, if you buy my plane ticket from Texas over to Yorkshire, I'll bring you a set of Koa for nada.

Again, welcome!

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

One other source is Bruce Crepps at http://www.notablewoods.com/. He is not a sponsor here but is non the less a great guy to deal with and is one of the Koa Kings!

Shane

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Canada

Shanes right - Notable woods is one of the best kept secrets in tonewood great guy too!
Cheers
Charlie

Hi Al,

I don't know how new you are to this either, and I don't know where to buy koa. What I do know is that you're getting advice from some of the people whose word I respect the most on this forum.

So, from one Yorkshireman to another, 'Tek 'eed lad!' ('Cos yer can allus tell a Yorkshireman, but yer can't tell 'im much!)

Oh, and there's valuable advice on the other Weissenborn thread.