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Ok, so I did it again. Found a pristine, perfectly straight 6' x 13" x 4/4 board tagged as koa, for $18 a bd/ft. It was rough sawn and had a very dark patina on it, so I couldn't really tell much about the surface, but of course had visions of super-curl potentially lying underneath. After some quick mental resawing, I figured I could easily get four back and side sets, plus several fingerboards, headplates, etc. out of it, sell one set and cover the $117 price tag. Even it it was fairly plain stuff, it would still make some great sounding guitars.

The thing is, I'm not convinced it's koa. It's very heavy/dense, and planed beautifully, leaving a very smooth, waxy-feeling surface with lots of salmon-pinks and orange tones. No curl (of course), and lots of unsightly birdseye-like spots. Side-by-side comparison with a piece of what I know is koa, the two seem like different woods -- different densities, surface texture, pore size, color. Now I know koa varies a ton regarding color, but the differences here go way beyond that. Any ideas on what I might have wound up with here?

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Mountain Song Guitars www.mountainsongguitars.com

What did it smell like?

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

How heavy is it?

I've got some wood that is similar to that which I also believe is Koa (even though it appears to be very different than the curly stuff) - although I'll defer to others with lots of experience with Koa.

Don't look like koa to me. I have been somewhere, I think maybe a flooring place, and they were selling something and calling it koa, but I believe it was coming from south america- the flooring people seem to be good at giving incorrect names for wood.

oak view meadows is next subdivision over. No oak , no meadow, no view, just another suburrban subdivision.. Caveat emptor.( flooring)

It really has little distinguishing smell, and is very heavy and dense. The pores are tiny, almost indetectable to the touch, like ebony. It's got what I would call (in my somewhat limited experience) a medium-to-high Q -- pretty nice ring to it when rapped with a knuckle. Because of its waxiness, I'm wondering how well it would take finish.

I'm going to plane some more down to see if it all has those "age spots."

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Mountain Song Guitars www.mountainsongguitars.com

I would say that is koa.
I've got a piece of scrap from a build in my hand right now,
it's figured, but it's got the same tiny pores,
and exactly the same color,
on the more light side of the piece.
I think if you use a varnish or f.p. over that,
it will look beautiful.
Those orange and pink colors will really come out at ya.

Ken,
Can you plane the end grain and take a picture of that ?
It looks a lot like Doussie also know as Afzella. Is it as orange in real life as it is in the picture.
L.

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Cut to size.....Beat to fit.....Paint to match.

Looks like Luan.

Perhaps Iroko / Kambala, no Koa

I looked up Afzelia and Iroko in Real Wood Bible, and I have to conclude its not either one. Iroko is described as having a coarse grain and being moderately dense (40 lb/cu ft). This is very fine grained, and comes in at almost 60 lb/cu ft. Afzelia is also described as "coarse in texture" with very open pores.

Let's keep thinking...

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Mountain Song Guitars www.mountainsongguitars.com

No way it is luaun.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Here's a shot of it next to a piece of rather brownish curly koa (upper left) to illustrate the difference in grain.

If it is koa, it's very different in most respects to the stuff I've worked with, but that's not to say it couldn't be.

Ken

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Mountain Song Guitars www.mountainsongguitars.com

Just a wild guess, but could it be some kind of Cherry?

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Jim Hansen

since hours I am thinking what kind of wood this could be and that I have seen this before, and now it dropped off my eyes:

I have a big board which really really looks exactly like yours, I have no pictures on hand, but i will post some.

Mine is Austrailian Blackwood, Acacia Melanoxylon, but a bit differnt from what I know as Aussi BlackW, because it has growen not in Austrailia or New Zealand, but in Chile....perhaps here we go?

cheers, alex

If first impressions are correct, you have a piece of Koa. I have pieces that look like that with the sapwood on the edge. I think it is what the seller says it is. The color looks right.

Ken

Goncalo alves without much "tiger" figure?

I have some goncalo alves that looks a lot like that.

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Chris

I have some goncalo alves that looks a lot like that.

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Chris

Ya know, I keep thinking cherry, but it's so much denser than any I've ever worked with.

Herr D, I think you may be onto something! I look forward to your pics.

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Mountain Song Guitars www.mountainsongguitars.com

Did they specify Hawaiian Koa when you bought it? Hawiian Koa is Acacia Koa, As Herr Dalbergia points out Austrailian Blackwood is Acacia Melanoxylon. I could easily see someone labling the Australian blackwood as Koa.

And Goncalo Alves is sometimes referred to as Brazilian Koa even though it is not an Acacia. Another one I can easily see getting marked simply as Koa.

You just can't tell in a photo. It's certainly not cherry if it has an open grain and it looks like it does in
your photo.

It could be any number of various woods (koa, goncalo, luan, tsorba, machich, etc.) but it appears
to me to some type of tropical hardwood. There are hundreds.

Honestly, that's the most precise answer you should expect from a photo
when it come to imported woods.

Hey,
wet it down and take a pic.
I still say koa.
I built a chambered elec out of stuff like that.

I have seen lots of jatoba boards that looked like that. And jatoba is quite dense.

Here's some info about it: http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/ ... jatoba.htm

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Alain Moisan
Former full time builder of Acoustics, Classicals and Flamencos.
(Now building just for fun!)