RGGR Posted December 24, 2004 Report Share Posted December 24, 2004 (edited) As I have completed my Limba Les Paul body, I'm in bit of limbo, what top wood to use on the body blank. I was first thinking of doing an all Limba Les Paul (neck/body/top). But reading about some of the tonal capacities of some of the other woods out there....I was thinking getting more brightness out of the Limba body by combining it with some other kinda top/neck woods. The limba stock I bought has some life in it......nothing to worry about, when doing solid color LP.....but Limba neck would be a challenge as I don't want a neck with worm holes in it. (I don't like painted necks, otherwise it wouldn't be an issue) I like the feel of maple necks and this will off set the warmth/lows of Limba body bit. But now about the top. What about some Koa as top wood. I know it's a b*tch getting hold off........and Hawaii is running out of Koa trees......I read that a good surrogate may be Australian Black wood. (Also not easy getting hold off, and shipping from down-under might be $$$$$) They say Koa and Limba might be great combo...even better as Maple and Mahogany. Then I hear people rave about Cocobolo. But hearing Drak's posts about this wood is not for novice builders......;-( I'm kinda nerveous just thinking about this option. Also saw that Cocobolo comes in relatively small logs. A nice piece of Cocobolo would also be bit of useless choice if I cover guitar with solid black paint anyway??? Same as covering nice Curly Maple piece....... I've bought some SD JB (br) and '59 (n) to go with this. Guitar will be set-through design so neck wood will have more of an effect than regular tenon or bold on version. Go for original idea of all Korina LP. Do all Korina LP with Maple neck? Do Korina body with Maple/Koa/Cocobolo top and Maple neck? Darn choices..... Easiest to get hold off for me are Limba and Maple. Cheap and in abundance. Other will be harder getting hold off. And read:$$$$$ Thanks Edited December 24, 2004 by RGGR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darren wilson Posted December 24, 2004 Report Share Posted December 24, 2004 Why not some nice figured walnut? It's relatively easy to carve and quite forgiving, and has a bit of that maple "snap" to it, but also has some warmth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maiden69 Posted December 24, 2004 Report Share Posted December 24, 2004 wrong forum! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGGR Posted December 24, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 24, 2004 Why? It's my in-progress LP, isn't it??? And I'm asking a question about how to complete it. So why is it in the wrong forum???? Maiden69 again....always causing trouble......;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Carl Posted December 24, 2004 Report Share Posted December 24, 2004 A friend of mine built an all-korina LP Custom that was insane. He also did a maple top, limba neck & body LP Std that was super sweet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wyldbil Posted December 25, 2004 Report Share Posted December 25, 2004 First, is it white limba or black limba? White, I might go with a yellowed korina look like the old Gibson Vs and Explorers. Black limba, I might think about a nice figured maple top. I have seen some beautiful Gibson LPs and some killer Hamers made with blacklimba and figured maple tops. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGGR Posted December 25, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 25, 2004 It's white Korina......but leaving it unfinished is not an option as there were some quite some worm holes in the wood blank. Got the wood blank already planned, filled and primed. The Gibson customshop made some nice Korina/white Oak LPs.....and if the Korina would have been free of worm holes I might would have taken that route. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aeli Posted December 25, 2004 Report Share Posted December 25, 2004 I'm doing a padouk on limba LP currently, I'll inform you on how it turns out. I am expecting the padouk to add some treble to it. Aslo, I wouldn't go with an all-limba neck, as I had done so first, but it turned out to be too soft and I had to change it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGGR Posted December 25, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 25, 2004 Thanks for the advice......I was thinking using maple body through neck.......that will off set the limba a bit..........haven't decide on top yet. Limba, Maple, Bubinga, Walnut....and Koa, Cocobola, Australian Black wood being more exotic options. Interested how that padouk top will turn out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tanglewood15dlx Posted December 25, 2004 Report Share Posted December 25, 2004 i'd say maple would be beautifull, and it will bring a bit of highs on the korina body... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maiden69 Posted December 25, 2004 Report Share Posted December 25, 2004 Why? It's my in-progress LP, isn't it??? And I'm asking a question about how to complete it. So why is it in the wrong forum???? Maiden69 again....always causing trouble......;-) yeap that's me. SSOOOOOOORRRRYYYYYYY. I usualy just ask questions, not place it on a poll. And the green color o nthis forum kinda look out of palce. And to answer your ? I will have to say any thing that you will like. I hate always seeing limba on it's natural color, is just plain and ugly. A nice top, any top will accentuate it better and will be a nice change to the regular brown mahogany backs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGGR Posted December 26, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 26, 2004 Hey Maiden69,....we're cool. Don't worry. Just wanted to use that poll option once. ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGGR Posted December 28, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 28, 2004 (edited) Why not some nice figured walnut? It's relatively easy to carve and quite forgiving, and has a bit of that maple "snap" to it, but also has some warmth. I hadn't considered Walnut before......but after reading Darren's comments I have done little reseach into Walnut... Dear ol' Ed Roman says about Walnut: Walnut is another one of my favorite tone woods, Bass Guitarists have long known about Walnut's tonal qualities, Just to be clear, I probably think Korina is one of the best tone woods for the back of a guitar and isn't necessarily overwhelming as a top. Walnut makes a great tone wood for the top or front of the guitar. It's dense like Maple but it's usually more stable and Walnut grows slower so the grain will be tighter and the sound richer than Maple. Or Wingsguitars.com: American Walnut, also known as Black Walnut, is a beautiful, dense tonewood. It has a little "warmer" sound to my ears, then Claro Walnut. It usually has more even grain patterns, and is usually not "figured" so much as Claro. For electric guitars, it covers both the high and low ends of the tonal spectrum very well. The first guitar we ever made was from American Walnut, and it was beautiful, sounding warm and crisp. I often wonder who has that guitar now. Rampartguitars: Tonal Signature: Similar properties to Pau Ferro. This dense, good velocity of sound, and hard wood, when used as a top will attenuate the upper-mids, and top octaves. Fantastic Super-Hard Maple alternative. Some others: Walnut produces an exceptionally warm tone with deep bass and resonant mids and highs, and has excellent projection. Ovangkol or Shedua comes from the same family as Bubinga and as such shares the same tonal qualities; it has the depth of rosewood but has the livelier snap associated with medium density woods such as koa and walnut. So I think a Korina LP copy with Walnut top and Maple set-through neck will be great choice. Edited December 28, 2004 by RGGR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xebryusguitars Posted December 28, 2004 Report Share Posted December 28, 2004 maybe some spalted maple, i always love seeing some of that on any guitar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RGGR Posted December 28, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 28, 2004 Yep, seen some great spalted Maple guitar tops.......but mostly figure they take spalted for it's looks and not so much for it's tonal capacities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xebryusguitars Posted December 28, 2004 Report Share Posted December 28, 2004 heh yeah, i wish i knew, but ive never played one or heard about how they play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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