Korina = Finish, NOT Wood....

[Hardrock69]

Found out something interesting the other day.

I always thought Korina Flying V's, etc. were made out of Korina WOOD. I was informed by a friend at my local amp shop that the original 50s Vs and Explorers were made of WHITE LIMBA WOOD, and the FINISH was called Korina.

Learn something new every day. Korina is the name Gibson gave to the finish.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminalia_superba

According to the above, it is not rare or endangered.

I do like the color. And my Epi Korina V has a distinct mid-rangey sort of "bark" to it.

Something I have been meaning to do for years, but have never got around to it, is get Seymour Duncan PAF clones to put in it, along with actual Gibson electronics.

[jhale667]

Actually, I'd always heard "Limba" and "Korina" were interchangeable terms...same wood/species...? That, or like cousins or something, similar to Mahogany and Koa. And no, last I checked you can still buy solid bodies made of it (white or black limba), unlike Koa...knew I should've built another one of those...


A lot of "korina" bodies were ash dyed to look like korina/limba too...like the Shark..

[Nitro Express]

We lived on Maui for awhile when I was a kid. Fortunately a lot that was in Maui when I was a kid is still there. It has changed less than lets say Florida which is totally different now. Anyways one thing you saw in Hawaii in the early 70's that you don't so much now is outrigger canoes. There were still guys building them the traditional way and me and my friends would watch them. I remember they were making one out of solid koa wood and man was it beautiful. I always liked the polynesians because they were friendly to kids and I had a lot of friends there. We used to run around all over the place. Where a lot of people would say hey you kids get the hell out of here! the people in Hawaii would let you check out what they were doing and even take the time to show you how to do it.

[jhale667]

Imagining if you can't buy a 1-piece guitar body made of Koa (unless it's from a tree-fall), carving a huge canoe out of it is now frowned upon there too...and a canoe made out of a (dead) tree-fall might not float so well...

[Hardrock69]

I surely am glad Korina (Limba, whatever) is available. For 300 bucks new I have a Korina V. Can't afford 200 grand for an original '58.

[Hardrock69]

Last night I got my Korina V out for the first time in probably 2 years to play on it for a bit. And I got to inspecting it. From the front and back it looks like 2 pieces of wood. But then I looked at the edges. Front and back have grain. Edges do not. Hmmmmm....

So I turned it around to look at it from the butt end (what else?) as if sighting down the neck. That was when I discovered the real deal. It is a 3-piece body, with 2 bookmatched pieces of veneer on the front, and 2 on the back.

My Korina Explorer was a 3 piece body, but the very top of the butt end was a different color....perhaps the veneer was not wide enough to go from center to top of the guitar.

Well anyway. Got to playing the guitar. Really great mid-rangey sound, unlike any other guitar I have. Though the pickup squeals, and I found the 4th string (D) would fret out on the 14th fret. Found the neck was just a little bit convex, so I did a slighty trussrod adjustment, and raised the action just a bit. All good now.

Best 300 bucks I ever spent.

[lesfunk]

I agree that Limba = Korina and there are white and black varities.
I built a Warmoth Parts bass out of Black Limba and the tone was very rich and full but articulate. (In fact, Last time I checked it was on Warmoths site) A real nice tonewood

[lesfunk]

Yes it's still there.. ]

http://www.warmoth.com/Gallery/GalleryEntry.aspx?id=1883

[Hardrock69]

Dude that is sweet!

[jhale667]

Nice!