Koa and hardware choices.

[stratamania]

Koa, as most of you know is an exotic wood from Hawaii and fairly rare.

It has like any wood a variety of grain patterns and flames. But this question is about hardware.

The standard Koa configuration seems to be Gold Hardware and Black pickups.

But what about other hardware combinations such as chrome hardware and cream pickups or even zebra ?

Has anyone done this or have any Photoshop mockups ?

 

[Cagey]

The only Koa I have is a neck that I mated up with a curly Maple body...

But, I thought the gold/cream combination worked well with that. The neck has a vintage tint finish so as to match up to the body better.

 

[stratamania]

That's a nice guitar Cagey, post some more pics if you have any...

 

[Cagey]

I can't get into my server at the moment, but I found this shot elsewhere on the site here...

That's an old pic from when I originally put it together - the pickguard has since been replaced with a solid cream, and I'm on the third switch go-round. The original switches were replaced with gold, then I changed out the pickguard and went to a standard 5-position blade switch. The three-switch configuration seemed like a good idea at the time, but it turned out to be too much of a pain in the shorts.

 

[stratamania]

Thanks Cagey...

 

[line6man]

Zebra coils are something to be careful with. They look like trash on about 80% of guitars that have them, and look amazing on the other 20%. They can make or break your aesthetic. (IMO, of course. YMMW.)

An important question, before getting into hardware and pickup choices, is what you will be doing with the Koa. Will it be a laminate top under clear gloss? Any sunbursting? Dyes?

 

[stratamania]

Thanks Line6man, with the zebra HSH I think it would look good against black dye on a flame maple for example but against Koa I feel it probably would look less than great.

If I went for Koa, it probably would be a Koa top on Mahogany with perhaps a cream binding and clear finish. And a rear rout strat shape.