L10 Koa

[unclrob]

Played a beautiful used lefty L10koa at the only store worth going into in Tallahassee.Though my lefty skills are not great the thing played like butter.

[fongie]

Hear so much about Koa guitars, never played one. I hope to find one in the near future and try it out. I have played/own ukulele Koa.

[ducktrapper]

Played a beautiful used lefty L10koa at the only store worth going into in Tallahassee.Though my lefty skills are not great the thing played like butter.

Do you play it left handed or upside down, right handed? Good trick.   

[Rockysdad]

How'd it sound ? I keep reading & hearing about KOA as well, but, I have no idea what it might compare to sound wise.

[headsup]

Koa, from my perspective, has the warmth of Mahogany, but with more high end definition.
Doesn't project as rosewood, but has similar attack transience.
Depending on the Grade, it can be a very beautiful & highly figured tone wood.
here's my old C-20. It also has ebony binding and purfling around the fingerboard extension.
unfortunate about the strap pin placement.....

[fongie]

Man Headsup that is one lovely looking Koa C model.

[247hoopsfan]

Man Headsup that is one lovely looking Koa C model.

It sure is.    Reminds me of the C19's that Randy Rick had.  You guys remember him?  He had like 25 Larrivees in his collection.  For some reason he just left the forum 10 years ago or so.
You can still see his collection on a web page.  http://randyrick.us/guitars/index.htm
He's got an amazing collection.  He has 4 C cutaways, Koa, Walnut and Brazilian.

[unclrob]

 

Koa, from my perspective, has the warmth of Mahogany, but with more high end definition.
Doesn't project as rosewood, but has similar attack transience.
Depending on the Grade, it can be a very beautiful & highly figured tone wood.
here's my old C-20.

Not a fancy flamey koa but nice strait grain.

Do you play it left handed or upside down, right handed? Good trick.   

played it lefty i can play chords both cowboy and bar chords take's a second or two to finger the chords but I'm getting better.

[headsup]

Played a beautiful used lefty L10koa at the only store worth going into in Tallahassee.Though my lefty skills are not great the thing played like butter.

I see this quote a lot...."Plays like butter"
I know it's not from the famous Marlon Brando movie line.
As a rule, I don't play with butter, but a bass player I work with has been known to say on occasion, around a musical passage "Smooove".
Is that sort of like "plays like butter? 

[fongie]

It sure is.    Reminds me of the C19's that Randy Rick had.  You guys remember him?  He had like 25 Larrivees in his collection.  For some reason he just left the forum 10 years ago or so.
You can still see his collection on a web page.  http://randyrick.us/guitars/index.htm
He's got an amazing collection.  He has 4 C cutaways, Koa, Walnut and Brazilian.

Of course I remember Randy R who could forget. I too wondered if he is okay and what has happened to him. Yes I remember his collection well, in fact it was around that time when he was departing, he offered to sell me his C-09 Koa.

[Queequeg]

Do you play it left handed or upside down, right handed? Good trick.   

I'm picturing unclrob playing upside down.

[fongie]

Do you play it left handed or upside down, right handed? Good trick.   

That would make it interesting if he played at the land 'DownUnder'. 

[B0WIE]

How'd it sound ? I keep reading & hearing about KOA as well, but, I have no idea what it might compare to sound wise.

Koa can behave differently, depending on the cuts. There's a lot of mediocre sounding, but beautiful looking, koa out there.
The koa I like has a strong fundamental with overtones higher up. This gives it a unique dryness in the lower regions with a "sparkle" in the upper mids and highs. You can really hear this behavior in koa tops. Some describe it as being in between rosewood and mahogany but I don't think it sounds anything like them. The only similar I've played is walnut, which also has that dry fundamental with a 'zing' up top.

[jrdavies]

From what I have been able to find out the density of Koa wood can vary quite a bit.  This might contribute to some guitars being ordinary.  I've only been able to play two all Koa guitars one was a Tacoma PKK40.  The wood was beautiful but it didn't sound special enough to overlook its other issues.   About 18 months ago I found this Larrivee OMV-09.  It isn't particularly loud but I am happy with the way it sounds.

[Mr_LV19E]

 
Thats some pretty Koa!!

[gtrplayer]

Koa, dry like mahogany, good on the fundamentals, sweet highs and and harmonics but could be a little subdued with the volume and tendency to lack strong bass.