|
|
Joined:
August 2003
Posts: 2246
Location: Yucaipa, California | wowie zowie what a guitar!
I've never see that top before!
Koa Top
check out the link at the bottom of that page for the Koa Top Elite
Somebody buy it for me.... puhleeeeeeze!
droolin tim |
|
| |
|
Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | I've always liked the look of koa. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
August 2003
Posts: 2246
Location: Yucaipa, California | ... I think I'm going to amend my "Dream Guitar" to a Koa Top!
wowie!
tim |
|
| |
|
Joined:
February 2002
Posts: 1817
Location: Minden, Nebraska | I know a few Koa top Ovations have been made. I have seen a couple on eBay.
Elias has been a long time Ovation/Adamas fan and some very fine and rare pieces have been part of his collection. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
December 2003
Posts: 13987
Location: Upper Left USA | Timster,
Make arrangements for you and your Bride to pick it up in Hawaii - how could she say no? |
|
| |
|
Joined:
August 2003
Posts: 2246
Location: Yucaipa, California | ...Hawaii.... hmmmmm now There's a very good idea!
Let me think about that one!... Koa Top Custom Elite Souvenir... yeah, that's it! :D
LaHaina Tim |
|
| |
|
Joined:
June 2002
Posts: 1614
Location: Converse, Texas | SAWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEt guitar! |
|
| |
|
Joined:
February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | The Koa Elites were Guitar Centre limited editions & used laminated tops. I've owned several instruments made entitrely from solid koa and I've come to the conclusion that as a hardwood, while it looks stunning and is great for back and sides, spruce or cedar is a much better top material. Koa is just way too dense. Laminated koa just sounds like plywood. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
August 2003
Posts: 2246
Location: Yucaipa, California | ... I bow the knee to our resident Sage....back to the Cedar top!
tim |
|
| |
|
Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | sage???
Don't let him kid you!
He's a WANK!!
It's that bloody accent that makes him sound so authorative. ;) |
|
| |
|
Joined:
December 2003
Posts: 13987
Location: Upper Left USA | I can remember John Cleese MC'ing an awards show during Clinton's regime stating that the British were superior because:
They spoke real english...
They only went down on one knee for their leader!
Koa is pretty, Carbon Fiber is stronger/brighter and Spruce is really, really decent. Cedar tops can mellow out the sound. Tim, talk to CWK about the 2 each 1/2 Cedar/Spruce guitars I saw in a previous post. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
December 2003
Posts: 43
| I have actually seen (long time ago) an Ovation Elite KOA KGC like elias' with SOLID top! There may be some with solid tops. I have also tried a few Taylors and the Martin D42K with koa tops and they sound fantastic! Tacoma makes a koa toped too. I guess it's a matter of taste. Most people are used to the spruce but I wouldn't mind a nice koa top. The ones I tried sounded fantastic! :) |
|
| |
|
Joined:
February 2002
Posts: 1817
Location: Minden, Nebraska | Even though a few Koa top guitars were made by big time acoustic guitar makers, they were never aggressively marketed nor made in large numbers. The reason is that they don't sound as good.
Kaman had the wood, and could have made a Koa top Collectors' but chose not to. Better that Guitar Center got the ones they made, eh? The rest of the Koa probably went for the Hamer Mirage model which had beautiful Koa caps on mahogany bodies. Carvin has done the same with Koa, because it works well in that application.
The Koa top Ovations are rare and exotic, but their demand and price seems based on those factors more than how good they sound. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
December 2003
Posts: 43
| .
Paul i agree. They are VERY rare, and they sound good! Guitar companies would never afford to build large numbers of them.
I recall a koa elite sold in ebay for $1800 or something like that?
Overseas (GB) the KGCs sold for over $2200-2300. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
August 2003
Posts: 4619
Location: SoCal | In 1982, I bought a Martin D-25K2 (Koa top, sides, and back). Absolutely beautiful and great sound. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | Solid Koa sounds great, but it sounds very different to spruce or cedar. Personally I like the sound of Koa, but I like the sound of spruce more. If you've heard a mahogany-topped guitar such as a Martin style 17 or a good early Guild D25 then that's kinda the ballpark you're in with a Koa top, except Koa has more lows & highs than mahogany to my ear. I'm pretty sure someone who knows confirmed that all the GC Elites were panel-masters. And while a laminated Koa top is VERY pretty, it wont sound any different to any of the other panel-master tops. Ply is ply, and it all pretty much sounds the same. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
August 2003
Posts: 4619
Location: SoCal | I totally agree - especially for this or a solid top Koa, you need to play before you buy...it is different. some like it, some don't. Don't buy without trying. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
December 2003
Posts: 43
| Paul, I vividly remember the one i had seen had SOLID top. We opened the back and we checked the wood grain and binding from inside. it was definitely a solid top. Maybe not all were laminates.... :confused:
I think that The OVATION!!! Koa looks way better
http://www.geocities.com/eliasargyris/KGC.html
than the Martin D-42K2 in the picture:
http://www.williesguitars.com/Pages/d42k2cl.htm |
|
| |
|
Joined:
August 2003
Posts: 2246
Location: Yucaipa, California | Cliff: sage???
Don't let him kid you!
He's a WANK!!
It's that bloody accent that makes him sound so authorative.
So, you noticed the Accent thing also! My wife is a Brit, so I have permission to say this: :rolleyes:
The accent usually falls into one of three categories:
1) Alistaire Cooke
2) Ringo Star
3) Eliza Doolittle
Where does PT fit???? ;)
tim |
|
| |
|
Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | Looking at the Group Photo, he fits into Al quite nicely . . . . . . |
|
| |
|
Joined:
February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | Originally posted by Tim Chapman:
The accent usually falls into one of three categories:
1) Alistaire Cooke
2) Ringo Star
3) Eliza Doolittle
Where does PT fit???? ;)
tim[/QB]
None of the above, try Mark Knopfler, Sting, Eric Burdon, Paul Rodgers. All from my neck of the woods. Oh yeah, you forgot Dick Van Dyke. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | Originally posted by shar:
[QB] We opened the back and we checked the wood grain and binding from inside. it was definitely a solid top. Maybe not all were laminates.... :confused:
This is hardly conclusive. I'm not saying that they you are wrong,, but the plys may all have been Koa. The only way to tell is by looking at end-grain which is exposed at the sound hole (or holes) where you can clearly see the alternating grain of the plys, and this is impossible to do without sanding away the black dye on the Elite soundholes. I've seen jap guitars with allegedly "solid" Rosewood backs & sides where the inner & outer plys match, but when I've pulled out the endpin to ream for a jack-socket the telltale plys have been there. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
December 2003
Posts: 43
| Paul, you may be right, i don't know. we could ask the guys at the factory i guess..if they know. The one i've seen was in for service at matt umanov guitars shop in NY, a long time ago. I was visiting a friend of mine who used to work in the store. The guys at the shop were very impressed with the elite koa, and they claimed that the top was solid. i guess they knew what they were talking about... :cool: |
|
| |
|
Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 10582
Location: NJ | run |
|
| |
|
Joined:
April 2003
Posts: 2503
Location: Fayetteville, NC | Al,
It's More like Run For your Life! :D |
|
| |
Hokey Smoke What A Guitar!!!!!!!!!!!!
