Korina vs Mahogany

[Doughboy]

I'm thinking of getting a chambered Korina strat instead of a mahogany one. I've heard that korina is a slightly brighter version of mahogany. Like a cross between alder & mahogany. Is this true?

My present chambered mahogany strat is fat, chunky & bassy with a not very much high end. I was hoping the Korina would give me the warmth & thickness of mahogany with a little more life, pop & brightness.

 

[dmraco]

i do not see much difference between the two.  Except Korina (black) is much better looking.  Using a maple neck help brighten things up a bit.

 

[Doughboy]

Isn't Korina a tad brighter & less bassy than Mahogany?

 

[dmraco]

here is what warmoth says///

Its true name is Limba from Africa. Black Korina is usually a medium weight wood, but we occasionally get light weight pieces. It features a very handsome olive color with black streaking. Korina has a naturally waxy feel to it. Oil finishes work well on this wood. The tone is very similar to Mahogany with added mids. An excellent tonal choice for hollow chambered bodies!


if it is...the difference is minimal.

A more neutral wood would be Alder or poplar...check out this link
http://www.warmoth.com/Guitar/Bodies/Options/BodyWoodOptions.aspx

 

[akmusicfreak]

i do not see much difference between the two.  Except Korina (black) is much better looking.  Using a maple neck help brighten things up a bit.

:confused4: :cool01:

Beauty is in the I off the beholder. I happen to like the look of mahogany a lot, maybe more so than Korina. Some like blondes, some like brunettes, some like red heads.

 

[Death by Uberschall]

I have a chambered mahogany Tele with a maple/ebony neck and I wouldn't change a thing.

 

[ROBERTKOA]

I don't know about Korina- I'm curious about it myself , but I've had 3 guitars made in Koa  and that's exactly the result I've gotten each time.

The fatness and warmth of Mahogany with the clarity and openness of Alder on the top end.

So with humbuckers you are in Classic Gibson humbucker territory and then you can still twang in single coil mode, with neither selection requiring much if any special Amp or Eq settings or  special speakers.

One thing I have learned is that you do not need ON A BOLT NECK guitar to use the warmer wood on the neck. Not necessarily maple fingerboard.

So Maple Neck/Korina Body    Maple Neck/Mahogany Body          Maple Neck/Koa Body


Set necks and neck thru's- got to use the warmer wood for the neck ,especially on neck thru's.

I had a passive BC rich Mockingbird ( neck thru Koa H-S-H ), and a neck thru 25.5" Carvin Koa H-S-H ( no longer made unfortunately )

and currently have a Bolt  Koa body Maple neck  Carvin.

With the H-S-H on the  neck thrus there were some very warm fat , almost 335 tones available  in the neck position , and tapped was still quite Strat- Like.

I've heard Korina is similar to Koa maybe even more resonant and ,  like more lively Mahogany and some people have said it's sometimes very bright like Ash ( ? )

But I have no experience with it, and I'm on here to find out more about Korina also.

I've asked on Forums at least 5 people so far about their Korina PRS guitars and they all said the Korina was a little brighter than their Mahogany PRS.

One person said Korina can be like Mahog. on the bottom end and ASH on the top- a real wide bandwidth, sort of - which would be Killer.

So if you're going H-S-S  or H-S-H with coil cut switches etc- you're on the right track- also I've heard that Korina tends to be loud unplugged- a good sign.

The unplugged tone of an electric is the general tone it leans toward plugged in, pickups can modify it BUT there are NO pickups to make a Strat Sound Exactly like a Les Paul and if you listen to the UNPLUGGED character of the 2 instruments- it's a large part of their plugged in tones.

I think the warmer ,fatter woods are more versatile especially on Super Strat types, 'cause you can always get the brightness with  single coils- and the most prized Strats tonewise are the resonant ones- and Alder and Ash are cool , but NOT the Kings of resonance, and may not have even been selected for TONE by Leo in the beginning, so I like the experimentation that goes on here.

 

[HiOctane]

here is what warmoth says///

Its true name is Limba from Africa. Black Korina is usually a medium weight wood, but we occasionally get light weight pieces. It features a very handsome olive color with black streaking. Korina has a naturally waxy feel to it. Oil finishes work well on this wood. The tone is very similar to Mahogany with added mids. An excellent tonal choice for hollow chambered bodies!

I have found this to be very true. Korina is, in my opinion, an EXCELLENT tone wood.
It is very similar - but not the same - as mahogany. It definitely has a fuller, less combed midrange than mahogany. This can also be perceived by some as "brighter."
The Warmoth wood tone chart demonstrates this. So it's in the ballpark of mahogany, but if you were to compare a mahogany PRS and a korina one, they are both great, but aren't a direct replacement for each other.

 

[dNA]

here is what warmoth says///

Its true name is Limba from Africa. Black Korina is usually a medium weight wood, but we occasionally get light weight pieces. It features a very handsome olive color with black streaking. Korina has a naturally waxy feel to it. Oil finishes work well on this wood. The tone is very similar to Mahogany with added mids. An excellent tonal choice for hollow chambered bodies!
[/quote

i never understood why something that's like mahogany but more midrangey would be good for hollow bodies. I thought generally hollow bodies do well with brighter woods. i thought a hollow body of an already warm wood would be inarticulate?