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Korina "1958" Explorers - what are they made of?


MC87

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As I said' date=' you'll be hard pressed to find [i']any[/i] guitar constructed from just one piece of wood, so really the fact that it is made of multiple pieces is inconsequential. It's common practice, and really doesn't impact the overall outcome of the quality or tone of the instrument in my opinion.

 

And, like I said, I see no reason why the Gibson support team would deceive you in telling you it's made of multiple pieces of solid Korina. However Epiphone may say it's Korina, but technically speaking it may just be a closely related kind of wood, in the same way they say it's mahogany, but it really is a more abundant, closely related specied of wood with similar properties to mahogany, or mahogany from a different part of the world as is often the argument. In any case there's no reason to shun any guitar because of the kind of wood it is constructed of, although some are definitely better than others. As I said, so long as it's made right, made well, sounds and looks nice, then I see no issue.

 

The Korina veneer that is applied to the top of the core wood is most certainly going to look different to the rest of the wood. That's kind of the point. The core wood can be any old gaudy looking piece of wood, which means they can maximise the wood they have, they don't have to restrict themselves to using just the good looking wood, and waste the stuff that's not quite up to par in terms of aesthetics, when it it is otherwise perfectly fine. The veneer is a thin layer of much nicer wood, applied over top to give it the appearance of being constructed from the more aesthetically pleasing stuff.

 

I'm not claiming to be an expert, just calling it like I see it.

 

I don't mind that its made out of multiple pieces of wood, as long as its multiple pieces of Korina.

Ideally I wouldn't want just a Korina veneer over a core of whatever wood they have left at the factory. You can't really call that a Korina Explorer.

 

Now if you look at this pic, where the veneer has been sanded off:

9kmlva.jpg

 

You can see that the wood underneath doesn't look anything at all like the veneer, you can't see the pores and its not straight grained. Look at this Hamer Korina Flying V in comparision:

 

v5.jpg

 

(However I no nothing about woods, so I may be wrong)

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I'm really not sure either, what the core wood is, but I wouldn't expect it to look like the veneer because, as I said, the purpose of the veneer is to give it the appearance of a more aesthetically pleasing piece of wood, so not to waste wood that is perfectly good, but not particularly attractive.

 

I think you'll find the core wood is a closely related species to Korina, whilst not technically being 'Korina'. Just as the Mahogany isn't technically mahogany, but a closely related species, or a species from a different location. Doesn't make it any less of a quality instrument.

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  • 2 months later...

It's hard to tell from that kind of grain. I have seen pieces of Lauan and Korina that have a similar figure.

 

It's worth explaining why korina is seldom used. The explanation that Ed Roman gave that was quoted above is correct. Korina can retain moisture,and when it does can warp. So it must be dried out thoroughly, and does tend to split. So whiel the wood isn't necessarily expensive, ones that are suitable for guitar body building can be difficult to find. I would imagine that finding a reliable source of GOOD korina can be difficult, and with the standards that the guitar building community sets for wood, that can lead to a price increase (though check out Warmoth's korina builds. They really aren't anymore than mahogany).

 

So the reason for a 3-piece core + veneer is essentially affordability. If it is difficult to find good pieces that can be cut and grain-matched (at an angle, nonetheless), then an alternative would be to find one piece and make 20 veneers out if it, and get the not so nice looking wood in smaller pieces and glue them together as a 3-piece body, and then throw the veneers on top for aesthetics. So that would be the reasoning behind the construction.

 

Now I have done some research into this. I have read postings and talked to people about it, and read what several others who have sanded down their guitars have said.

 

Almost everyone that I have seen that stated that they sanded down the body and verified it's real korina, have stated that all of these were early models. Almost everyone that I have seen state that they sanded down the bodies and known that it was NOT korina, did so with much later models. There is always the possibility of people on either side of the arguement don't know what they are talking about, or are seeing a grain pattern that is not what they are USED to seeing in Korina and assume that it therefore must not be Korina, or vice-versa.

 

So I don't know of any definitive answer, but it seems at least that there is a possibility that the early models were indeed korina cores, and later models were not. Do I know if this is correct? No. Pure conjecture and trusing 2nd-hand evidence. If this *IS* correct, do I know when they might have switched? Nope.

 

Now Lauan and Korina are both species of Mahogany. They both can have very similar grain patterns. They can both exhibit patterns like those in the sanded pic above that resemble alder a bit (which is probably why some believe that the bodies are alder), and they can both exhibit grain that looks like more traditional mahogany (like what you see on the Epi Korina veneers). So does this mean that Epi can call something korin and it's really Lauan because they are both species of mahogany, and the Korina Vs and Exps and SGs still have a Korina veneer? IDK. I know that Gibson would receive a HUGE backlash if they stated that a guitar was made out of honduran mahogany and it was really african (species extinction/diminishing supplies/cost aside)! That also because people in the know for Les Pauls will shell out bigger bucks for Honduran vs African mahogany. So there is more money at stake. Whith the cheaply priced Korina Epis, maybe they figure that they can get away with it w/o any repercussions? Also, I wouldn't rely on Gibson customer service to know the real answer either.

 

I'm wondering... I know the early Epi Korina stuff was made at the Unsung factory. Are they still? If not when was the switch? Could it be that that was when they switched from Korina to Lauan (if that is the case)? IDK. Just food for thought.

 

Here is one thing that I can say... the Vs sound great! I'd love to see someone compare the sound/weight/grain between a 98 V and a 2008 V. Why *I* would like to know is, if they ARE made out of Lauan, and its cheap and plentiful, plus it is ecologically friendly, well maybe I'd like ANOTHER guitar made out of Lauan! Maybe Lauan is the "new" Korina? I'd like to know.

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