Les Paul w/ Koa Top

[Doughboy]

I'm in the process of looking into a carve top Les Paul build & I'm going for mahogany body & neck, ebony fingerboard & am torn between a flame maple top or a flame koa top.

I LOVE the flame koa top but I'm afraid the lack of maple cap will dull the guitar slightly & make the low end a little less tight.

Does anyone here own a Les Paul with a Koa top or have any idea how much a Koa top will alter the tone?

 

[pabloman]

Go with a Koa top and maple neck. ccasion14:

 

[Superlizard]

I'm in the process of looking into a carve top Les Paul build & I'm going for mahogany body & neck, ebony fingerboard & am torn between a flame maple top or a flame koa top.

I LOVE the flame koa top but I'm afraid the lack of maple cap will dull the guitar slightly & make the low end a little less tight.

Does anyone here own a Les Paul with a Koa top or have any idea how much a Koa top will alter the tone?

I think you'll be fine with a Koa top, mahog body+neck, ebony fretboard.  Couple that with a pair of vintage-output pickups (hotter pickups introduce more mids
and thicken up the tone).

Remember, the original Les Paul "black beauty" (c. 1954) was an all-mahog body (mahog "top" if you will), mahog neck and ebony fretboard... mahog and
koa are roughly equal in tone according to Warmoth's tone chart.  And you'll be getting your definition/clarity with the ebony fretboard.

 

[dNA]

considering the general consensus of people on the board is "body wood has the least affect on tone in a solid body electric guitar" i can't imagine anyone telling you the laminate top is going to make a big difference.
If you find the guitar's too warm and want your tone brighter, try pure steel-wound strings. I recently tried a set out on my Artist and it had a huge affect on the guitar's tone. Much clearer, more open lows, almost strat-like in quality- no mud at all. It actually has me thinking I'll never go for a naturally bright (aka Fender-esque) guitar again.

between that and pickups, I think you have absolutely nothing to worry about

 

[Orpheo]

I have 2 les pauls with a koa top. 1 has a walnut back with a ziricote neck, the other has a mahogany back with a purpleheart neck.

both sound open,clear,alive,with the first one being a bit brighter than the other. the second one is a bit fatter, like a regular (new) lp custom, the first one is like a norlin lp custom.

does that help?

ps. go with a purpleheart, wenge, rosewood or padouk as a neckback. that plays so much better than lacquered mahogany! rosewood is closest to mahogany, purpleheart and padouk are close to maple, but both with a chime, sparkle, bell like ring to them, which is just awesome. mahogany and maple seem dull and boring,compared with the others.

 

[pabloman]

The top has an effect on the tone. This is why an all mahagony Custom sounds darker than a maple capped Standard. It's not the ebony fretboard that darkens the tone.

 

[NonsenseTele]

Go mahogany body and neck....

 

[Paul-less]

Listen, the way it was described to me, is that the neck wood makes the most change in tone.
I would say go mahogany or rosewood. Some people prefer rosewood simply because you can go finishless. Some people like the think goop on the back of their neck.

Next comes your fretboard. Huge/small factor on tone, depending on who you talk to. I personally believe it affects percussion, so I have always prefered ebony here.

Third is body wood. It DOES make a difference. Some people say that it only affects acoustic tone, but since you can hear the guitar unplugged, technically it MUST affect your tone.

Last, and certainly least, is your body cap. If you can hear a difference between a maple cap and a koa cap at stage level of amplification on a solid body guitar, I am going to need to take your pills.


My personal opinion? Go with a mahogany body, rosewood neck, ebony fretboard, and the koa cap. Everybody has a maple cap. You're ordering custom for a reason, right?

 

[Doughboy]

I'm pretty dead set on getting a mahogany body & neck with an ebony fingerboard. I was just afraid that the Flame Koa top would make the lower register sound a tad muddy. The reason I say this is that I have a chambered strat that has a mahogany body/neck, flame Koa top & bloodwood fingerboard. The lower register is a tad muddy & lacks that bite. Perhaps the bloodwood is responsible for this. I have no idea. I do like the look of flame koa better than flame maple, but I don't want to risk tone for looks. Flame maple still looks pretty nice!!!

 

[Kaoskadosk]

I'm pretty dead set on getting a mahogany body & neck with an ebony fingerboard. I was just afraid that the Flame Koa top would make the lower register sound a tad muddy. The reason I say this is that I have a chambered strat that has a mahogany body/neck, flame Koa top & bloodwood fingerboard. The lower register is a tad muddy & lacks that bite. Perhaps the bloodwood is responsible for this. I have no idea. I do like the look of flame koa better than flame maple, but I don't want to risk tone for looks. Flame maple still looks pretty nice!!!

Or the pickups. Or the strings. Or the amp. There's so many variables when it comes to tone that it is insanely hard to say what does what. I've ordered a Mahogany/F-Koa + Mahogany/Pau Ferro mainly because I like the looks and as far as I've experienced mahogany is nice. I don't think it has a huge impact on tone and I'm sure it's fixable by experimenting with strings, pickups, EQ's etc if it's too bright or muddy or whatever.

Go with the Koa, don't try to overthink your tone too much, a top won't make that much of a difference. It's really just all in your head.

 

[dmraco]

1st off that beautiful KOA top you used was STUNNING
From what I have seen Koa has a more neutral tone...but you would be a better judge of that than me.

Maybe go with a maple neck with either a maple or ebony fingerboard, should help a little. 

 

[Paul-less]

1st off that beautiful KOA top you used was STUNNING
From what I have seen Koa has a more neutral tone...but you would be a better judge of that than me.

Maybe go with a maple neck with either a maple or ebony fingerboard, should help a little. 

I'm thinking he doesn't want a bright sounding instrument, the maple neck is too much.

I'm with Kaoskadosk, don't overthink it TOO much. The Mahogany/Koa mix will sound great.

 

[Doughboy]

1st off that beautiful KOA top you used was STUNNING
From what I have seen Koa has a more neutral tone...but you would be a better judge of that than me.

Maybe go with a maple neck with either a maple or ebony fingerboard, should help a little. 

I'm thinking he doesn't want a bright sounding instrument, the maple neck is too much.

I'm with Kaoskadosk, don't overthink it TOO much. The Mahogany/Koa mix will sound great.

I defintely do not want a bright guitar & I still want it to sound pretty Les Paul-ish, hence the mahogany body/neck combo.

The Koa does look sooo much better than the flame maple, but you never know what you're going to get from a build until it's done.

My main worry is my corrent mahogany/koa strat. The top strings sound bright & almost twangy. The lower strings sound somewhat muddy & lacking bite. When I EQ the bottom strings to sound good, the top ones sound unbearably shrill. I spoke to Spike about this & he said the chambers may be reacting & exciting too much on the high registers, hence the high end.

I also tried 3 sets of PUs on this guitar to make sure it wasn't an electronic problem & all 3 had the same low end muddines & high end shrill.

 

[Doughboy]

1st off that beautiful KOA top you used was STUNNING
From what I have seen Koa has a more neutral tone...but you would be a better judge of that than me.

Maybe go with a maple neck with either a maple or ebony fingerboard, should help a little. 

I'm definitely going with an ebony fingerboard, so hopefully that will add in some bite to the lower register.

Regarding my Flame Koa strat. I'd been wanting one for ages but couldn't find a super duper killer top. I'd look online 3-4x a week to see if one would come up & nothing....until one faithful night. As soon as I saw that top, I know it had to be mine. I called Spike at 9:01 & bought it the next day. I've yet to see anymore crazy flame koa tops online. I suppose they must be quite rare.

 

[Kaoskadosk]

Well, chambered guitars are more affected than solid-bodies. I'll give you my full evalutation on the combination Mahogany/F-Koa + Mahogany/Pau Ferro. All of those woods are warm.

 

[WindsurfMaui]

Hello Doughboy. I know it has been a while since you started this thread but wondered if you would post an update. I am considering a Mahogany body Strat with either a Koa or Maple cap and wondered how did your LP with a Koa top turn out? Was it the tone you were looking for? If not what did you do to change the tone toward your liking? Thanks

 

[stratamania]

Hello Doughboy. I know it has been a while since you started this thread but wondered if you would post an update. I am considering a Mahogany body Strat with either a Koa or Maple cap and wondered how did your LP with a Koa top turn out? Was it the tone you were looking for? If not what did you do to change the tone toward your liking? Thanks

You might wait a while for a response.

Doughboy has not been active on the forum since 2017 and this zombie thread has been inactive since 2010. It would be better to open a new thread than resurrect old threads.

 

[Rick]

I haven't seen doughboy in a while
  .  I found biggest influence are scale length pups pots and bridge.  I have alder guitars that are warm and mahogany guitars that are bright. The wood choice will accentuate your other choices.