Mahogany and Koa Body Suhr Question

[robertkoa]

Does your Mahogany or Koa body Suhr have more bottom end and low mids than an Alder model ? Or not ?

Can you hear a difference unplugged between these woods and what are your impressions soundwise?

Thanks.

 

[thiswaythatway]

I owned a Koa standard a few years ago. I will never own a solid Koa guitar again unless i heard one first that proved me wrong. I compared it directly with my friends solid maple GMW superstrat and the Koa standard was brighter if you can believe that. It was very bright, edgy, and not sweet sounding at all. Not sure if it was just that model. I remember the guy i sold it to was emailing me about it wondering why it sounded the way it did, he sold it. It had nothing in common with Mahoganey which some people claimed it should have. I would think that Koa would make a good top wood over something else.

 

[espquade]

I owned a Koa standard a few years ago. I will never own a solid Koa guitar again unless i heard one first that proved me wrong. I compared it directly with my friends solid maple GMW superstrat and the Koa standard was brighter if you can believe that. It was very bright, edgy, and not sweet sounding at all. Not sure if it was just that model. I remember the guy i sold it to was emailing me about it wondering why it sounded the way it did, he sold it. It had nothing in common with Mahoganey which some people claimed it should have. I would think that Koa would make a good top wood over something else.

I have a Suhr Reb Beach model and a Modern and both are solid Koa body guitars with Pau ferro neck and fingerboard and while I would agree that they don't sound all that much like Mahogany they are not what I would consider bright guitars .

I think Koa has a very distintive upper mid bite with a punchy low end , but doen't have much in common with any other guitar I have ever played . Koa really has it's own voice and you either love it or hate it as I never hear anyone having mixed feelings on the subject.

I do tend to think that maybe the one you owned could have been a very bright guitar , but in my experience I have not had that issue . also I was a big Les Paul player for many years , so I am very familiar with that tone as compared to Koa and i'm not sure why there is a comparision , as they don't sound anything alike at all to my ears .

I love Koa , and Mahogany guitars , as they are just different tonal flavors , but the bottom line is you should try Koa out for yourself to see if it works for you

 

[parntz145]

I owned a Koa guitar back in the 80's I hated it. It was just a real dead sounding wood. I changed pickups, string brands, bridge. No matter what I did it just sounded like crap. I dont think I can blame it all on the wood. It was problaby just a shit sounding guitar. I played a few different Koa guitars and I think I just dont like the overall tone of it. Looks pretty though.

 

[espquade]

Hey if it's good enough for Reb Beach ...than it's good enough for me

Anyway , as I said before Koa has a very distinctive sound that you either love it or you don't .

I have several guitars , Koa , Mahogany , Alder , and love them all . The only guitar wood I have never been able to dig was Basswood and I know several people who swear by it.

Different stokes

 

[robertkoa]

I have had a BC Rich Mockingbird neck thru Koa, looked like a metal machine but was a(passive wired factory H-S-H) but was actually a warm, vintage sounding (with Duncan Pickups) guitar,warmer and fatter than an SG I had.

I've had two other guitars in Koa a neck thru 25.5" scale Carvin a current Carvin Bolt, both deep and fat, similar to Mahogany with a bit more top end.

So I believe your experiences, but wonder if it's the electronics on these instruments causing this dissimilarity.

 

[cyndicate]

Does your Mahogany or Koa body Suhr have more bottom end and low mids than an Alder model ? Or not ?

Can you hear a difference unplugged between these woods and what are your impressions soundwise?

Thanks.

I have a Modern Carve top in Mahogany. I picked the option to get a thicker maple top to try and balance the guitar out a bit and went for lower output pups (SSV / SSH+) vs the Aldrich's, I find the guitar to have more bottom end than other superstrats I have owned, sometimes too much on some amps but nothing some knob fiddling won't fix. Tone is a little warmer/darker/fatter than most super strats I have tried, and I paid a pretty penny for mine but for my preferences I don't think I can find a better "superstrat" to replace it, but who knows I am gassing for some kind of single hum charvel just for kicks .

 

[glip22]

Does your Mahogany or Koa body Suhr have more bottom end and low mids than an Alder model ? Or not ?

Can you hear a difference unplugged between these woods and what are your impressions soundwise?

Thanks.

I have a Modern Carve top in Mahogany. I picked the option to get a thicker maple top to try and balance the guitar out a bit and went for lower output pups (SSV / SSH+) vs the Aldrich's, I find the guitar to have more bottom end than other superstrats I have owned, sometimes too much on some amps but nothing some knob fiddling won't fix. Tone is a little warmer/darker/fatter than most super strats I have tried, and I paid a pretty penny for mine but for my preferences I don't think I can find a better "superstrat" to replace it, but who knows I am gassing for some kind of single hum charvel just for kicks .

I have A Guthrie Mahogany body and neck I am very pleased with. Hey Cyndicate, forget the Charvel, Go with a maple neck Vigier Excalibur. Killer neck and the Floyd ball bearing stays in tune better than any OFR I have used. Action is killer as well. I just sold a Charvel custom mahogany and the Vigier neck is much better thank any Charvel neck I have played.

 

[robertkoa]

great response cyndicate that's what I'd expect from a Mahogany Superstrat- cool that it has a little TOO much bottom end. As long as it's clear not a "problem' for me............

I often hear the "chime" quality people talk of and it's cool for some clean tones but the Strat tones people really love are the beefy, SRV, Hendrix ,Gilmour ,EJ , Blackmore tones and Mahogany or in my case Koa takes it a step further.

My three Koa guitars have all been warm , fat, sustainy with some bite but way fuller than Alder.

Let's hope I never run into that thin ,bright Koa - I'll have to change my name.