Black Korina Vs Mahogany

jalbertochavez

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I'm gonna put in an order for a hollow Les Paul w/ a 5 A Flame Maple top in about a month, but I'm undecided on the body wood. Which do y'all think is better between Black Korina and Mahogany? And why? I've seen a lot of talk for Black Korina on the boards, but back it up, why's it so good?

:help:
 
One thing I've discovered about korina... it's really freaking soft.  I can dent it with my fingernail.  Sounds and looks nice, though.
 
A couple questions I just thought up: Does one of these woods usually weight less than the other? Does one usually sustain longer than the other?

:help:
 
I don't know if the adjectives are going to help much more but...  Korina generally has more bite than Mahogany, and mahogany is generally warmer than Korina.  Somebody made a youtube vid of their Korina LP vs another guitar and hands down the Korina sounded better.  But, I don't remember if it had a Maple top to it, or if the other guitar was a LP.

Sustain?  Well, I am not sure you will be able to tell.  From what I gather, the stiffness of the neck will make more of a difference, but I am sure the body also has a measurable effect on the sustain.  There was a thread on the hardness of the various woods a while back, might be fun to read.  I thought that Mahogany and Korina were similar, but I could be wrong going on just memory.  And after looking through the showcase, there seems to be quite a variation in weights of the woods in the body.  If they are the same type of body I suppose that would be extrapolated into wood density.  But it is a natural product, so that is to be expected.

Because I am rambling, no reason to stop now...  The way I came across Korina was it was what was (a whole lotta was) used to make the original V's and Explorers.  There have been a couple of runs by Gibson of Korina SG's and I suppose a lot of Epiphones with korina, but I never really wanted an Epiphone.  So I did what normal people do, got a Tele made out of it.
Patrick

 
They weigh about the same, from what I've seen of them.  I'm sure you could look in the showcase and check me on this.
 
I have korina LP's, and mahogany les pauls.

the korina has a more solid bass, more growl, more upper-midrange grit, and smoother highs. mahogany feels more 'rounder' than korina. less pronounced bass. the mids are gritty and the highs are more present and more screaming. with maple top, they both sound great, and i'd take korina for a more 70ies style norlin LP, and mahogany for a more allround axe. oh well, its just so relative! I'd take korina, in practice, anyway, because those sounddifferences can be 'tweaked out'with pickups, and korina is imho just prettier.
 
Mahogany and korina (should be no tonal difference between white and black) are my two favorite body woods.
They both sound great, but the slight differences have been well described here. I would sum it up VERY simply by saying korina has a
bit more mids or more complex mids.
Both sound great with or without a maple top. Warm, full and resonant.

 
I would love to get your full opinions on a guitar im going to be doing soon. im thinking about doing a build which will be as follows:
my full specs would be...
body (CHAMBERED BODY??): black korina strat with quilted maple top (dyed blue) and black binding. top routed for HSS. (TB-4 JB, Vintage rails SVR-1, cool rails SCR-1) black wilkinson vn-100 tremolo and black jack, black control knobs, black pick guard with white trim, everything black except the pickups they're white.

neck: strat style, vintage modern 3a maple flame 1 piece, black dots, 22 frets Stainless steel, vintage tint satin nitro finish, 10-16" compound radius, 1 11/16" graph tech nut, staggered locking tuners (black)

will that neck/pickups/body go well together?  Thanks.
 
Listen to Orpheo ... he is the God of Warmoth Les Pauls
bow-down-together.gif
 
Hey guys just joined hello to all  :eek:ccasion14:, am wanting to build a 24 fret sg, swamp ash/flame top, but im wondering if a wood from the mahogany family wood produce better results, looking for a fat growl with a lot of clarity, my tele has the same body woods and with some 'Q'-ing i can get a nice warm, fat sound, i like a lot of styles but mostly play clean-to medium gain.

Any help is appreciated.
 
mahogany will get you more of a 'spikey' tone where korina feels more round to me.
about the korina-strat. The pickupcombination will work, but its not my thing, not my style. I suggest the alnico2pro singlecoils (I love m, I really do) and a pearly gates in the bridge.

Pearly is my one and only true love ;)
 
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