Is this made by Hawaiian Koa or Asian Acacia?

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chenx2

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Recently a Chinese netizen purchased a uke at around USD800. The seller claimed it is made by Hawaiian Koa.

This sparkled (VERY) heated controversy among the Chinese ukers as they believe the Hawaiian Koa's grain should be less intense, the hue should be more gold-ish instead of the reddish color as shown below.

This tonewood issue has bugged quite a number of Chinese ukers, so I 've asked the permission of the buyer to post the photos here. We believe the experienced luthiers from this forum can kindly give us unperceived opinions.

I have deliberately removed the brand label to avoid any biases. Does this uke looks like Hawaiian Koa or Asian Acacia to you?





 
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Could be either type of wood. Koa is an acacia so it's pretty hard to tell. Like trying to identify different maple species just by the wood grain
It really depends on how much you trust the builder
 
I have a lot of both Koa and Australian Blackwood (Acacia melanoxylon). While some pieces are easy to identify as each, others I wouldn't want to get mixed up because it would be darn near impossible to tell them apart.

So the short answer is, I wouldn't want to bet the farm as to one or the other on that instrument.
 
I have everything from pink to deep chocolate brown, stuff with that grain pattern and pore structure. Does it really matter? Does the instrument sound good? It certainly looks OK.
 
Yes I mean figure. No effect on sound what so ever. Comment not meat to degrade instrument in any way but rather to inform.
 
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Low grade or not, I love the curvy grain! The bookend matches are about perfect! I wonder how it plays....
 
Pete Howlett said:
I have everything from pink to deep chocolate brown, stuff with that grain pattern and pore structure. Does it really matter? Does the instrument sound good? It certainly looks OK.
Click to expand...

Nickie said:
Low grade or not, I love the curvy grain! The bookend matches are about perfect! I wonder how it plays....
Click to expand...

The owner is actually quite happy with the sound. Here're 2 sound samples of it against Kamaka HF3:

http://soundcloud.com/hi000231846597/my1
http://soundcloud.com/hi000231846597/kamaka1

http://soundcloud.com/hi000231846597/my2
http://soundcloud.com/hi000231846597/kamaka2
 
It is near impossible to say this wood is going to sound good or bad before the instrument is built. Given that, a luthier can only judge by other factors such as looks, age, stiffness and grain pattern. The grain pattern is not ideal because of the curvy nature of the wood down the center seam (hence the term, lower grade), where straight would be better for gluing and less likely to come apart. Gluing end grain into end grain is weak and could be problemtaic down the road. I personally would try to avoid wood like this for those reasons.

PhilUSAFRet said:
"they believe the Hawaiian Koa's grain should be less intense, the hue should be more gold-ish instead of the reddish color as shown below."

No basis for this belief. As other's have pointed out, color and patterns vary widely. While many like a less intense pattern and/or color, fancier colors and patterns command hundreds of dollars just for the tonewood. I don't see how anyone could label this "low grade koa" without a detailed explanation why.
Click to expand...
 
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