Official Luthiers Forum!

I’m approaching the end on my first guitar build and I’ve loved every second of it. Even fixing my mistakes, ha ha.

For my second act, I’m pretty sure I’m going to build an all Koa guitar. I like the visual appeal of it.

Having said that, I am not the most experienced guitarist and I don’t know what I don’t know. I’ve never owned or played an all Koa guitar. I have a few questions about what I should be considering for construction choices.

1. What is the best body shape/size for this wood? I prefer dreadnought and OM.
2. Scale length? Short scale vs standard?
3. Bracing? Thinner, thicker, placement, shape?
4. Soundboard thickness? Thinner, perhaps?
5. Finish? I prefer gloss nitro.
6. Neck, fretboard, bridge material? Perhaps a lighter wood for the bridge or something other than mahogany for the neck?


Here's #1 almost finished. Mahogany and Spruce.

Doesn’t look like the image attached. Here’s another try.

Some food for thought/pointers in this thread perhaps
http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=43138#p569628

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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.