Official Luthiers Forum!

Can anyone suggest a good source for hi-flamed koa guitar sets? I used Volcano in the past but they have recently stopped selling on their website. I have also had several failed attempts to reach James at Koa Guitar Wood. The few sources that I can find either have no sets to sell or have only low-figured sets available.

Mike Franks
http://www.mjfranksguitars.com

Bruce Creps of Notable Tonewoodsout on Lopez Island in Washington usually has some incredible Koa sets available.

http://www.notablewoods.com/

Some nice sets here, but they are in UK http://www.koaguitarsets.com/guitar-sets.html

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

+1 for Bruce @ Notable

Forum Sponsor Allied Lutherie has some nice curly Koa
https://alliedlutherie.com/collections/ ... 3928416853

Bruce!

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

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Pat

I saw a seller on e- vil bay selling beautiful uke sets , forgot his name , but you might want to check for flamed KOA there as well.

I stopped at Wilnkler when I was in Honolulu last year.
They have great sets at reasnable prices.
Woukd recommend them in a heartbeat.


http://www.winklerwoods.com/ww/hawaiianwoods.html

dl

Sponsor

https://alliedlutherie.com/collections/ ... -curly-koa

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Ken Cierp

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/

I love the stuff Bruce sells. Please let me know if get a different reaction from him. He always tells me he is oversold.

Thank you for the other contacts however!!!!

I've gotten nice sets from curlykoa.com

Pegasusguitars.com seems to have a excellent reputation and gorgeous sets pictured on the web site, but sales are limited to the US (and I failed to change his mind about that).


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Thanks for each of your replies. I have contacted a couple of the suggested suppliers and have been promised pictures & prices.

Best,
Mike
www.mjfranksguitars.com

Some amazing sets there but amazingly expensive. I guess that's the price you have to pay for that mix of rarity and bling. Oh, why am I so cheap?...

Sorry for not adding anything useful.

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member of the guild of professional dilettantes

I was in Ohio last weekend and saw a couple of Koa sets at Keim Lumber. They were really nice sets

They were pretty cheap compared to a lot of other places

http://www.keimlumber.com/backsideslides

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John Ressler

If anyone is still looking for koa guitar sets, I'm a koa supplier from Hawaii. My company is Koality Woods and my website is http://www.koalitywoods.com

Let me know if you need anything! Aloha, Michael

When I try to look at the pages to browse guitar sets, the pages are password protected.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

Let's see here, this joker resurrects and ancient dead thread to break the rules and advertise...then has his page password protected...nice karma there!

Have probably bought over 20 sets (tenor uke) over the past 6 years from Bob Gleason at Pegasus guitars....highly recommend.....he knows koa, living on Hawai'i Island and processing his own wood... 30-40? yrs building and repair....mahalo to you Bob!

lots of good koa sources on this thread, too...thanks!

Check out Brand new OLF Sponsor www.volcanoguitarworks.com !
They were sponsors in the past and have now returned to help our community!

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

Hearne woods were at the Artisan show and have some excellent Koa, I almost brought some home but decided to wait until I saw Notable woods at LaConner show.
https://www.hearnehardwoods.com/

Fred

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

That is GREAT news!

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sweat the small stuff.

Looking at some of the koa I see on the web, I can easily tell it's not guitar wood. Just because the wood looks pretty, that does not mean it's cut right and is as defect free as you'll want. I've sold koa sets for at least 30 years and that's coming to an end because I have not been able to get good wood for the last couple of years. I know both Notable Woods and Volcano Guitar Works. Prices might be a little higher than some others, but they both know what they're doing when they cut sets. Between them, they probably have more sets than anyone out there.Trying to save $ by buying from a source that is not truly experienced at cutting luthierie wood is a shot in the dark. Usually not a good shot!

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“ The meaning of life is to find your gift and the purpose of life is to give it away” Pablo Picasso

Hearne Hardwoods is not too far from me and they have a great selection of violin and mandolin tops and backs, a bin of $5 ebony scraps that is as big as a kitchen island, and some of the best koa I have seen - they cut it for the big names. The only problem is that they are a bit on the expensive side - the top/back/ sides that stole my heart was $1200.

They have all sorts of other woods too, and the owner takes some of the best and has small luthiers build instruments for himself.

No affiliation, yada, yada, yada

Ed

Bob, got a set of koa from you around 10 years ago. Really nice stable wood, I got the back joined and sides thinned then couldn't make up my mind what to build with it. It's so pretty I don't want to waste it - ha.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"