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Korina or mahogany, which sounds the best to you?


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  • 10 years later...

For those of you who have played both. Which sounds the best to your ears?

 

I played them in a guitar Center, I could not tell the difference since it was two different styles of guitar, but it is just slightly higher grade of mahogany, necks and fret boards and pickups, make more difference.

I do think the difference would show up as you got to know the guitar.

Google is your friend Gibson talks about it:

 

http://www.gibson.com/News-Lifestyle/Features/en-us/korinawoodmakesgreatguitar.aspx

 

The mere mention of Korina wood in the same breath with a guitar makes many guitarists and collectors drool. It is, after all, the wood used to build some of the most legendary Gibsons of all time—the original Flying V and the Explorer. Guitar builders, however, usually have a totally different reaction; Korina tends to make them reach for the nearest bottle of aspirin in order to ward off the headaches working with it causes.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(22, 22, 22); font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(22, 22, 22); font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Considered by most experts to be a “super mahogany” or “mahogany deluxe,” Korina wood bears a strong resemblance to mahogany in both tone and grain characteristics. Those same experts also agree that Korina has a sweeter midrange, with enhanced responsiveness, which would seemingly make it more desirable as a guitar-making wood. So why isn’t Korina—more commonly known as Limba—used more extensively to make guitars?

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Its not the species but the individual piece of wood that counts the most.. And what sort of range the pickups pick the vibrations up. And the style of the guitar... and the sort of bridge it has... etc etc

 

Korina is known as a super mahogany, so with a lot of the warmth but a harder bright snap to it.. But that's a very generalised rule and is why every guitar is a bit different.

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I think Korina - or Limba - is less readily available because it is less extensively employed by industries other than guitar manifacturing. I am not so sure that boutique guitar builders would have trouble with finding and working on Korina, but possibly, it is just not a good choice for a big industry for the reason mentioned. Hence it could well be the better wood and we may be missing out because we play guitars from big brands. Me just thinking loud here.

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