Quote of the week!

In conversation with well known koa supplier: "There's more Brazilian rosewood available than mastergrade koa..." We really are in trouble now

That sucks. I've been trying to get one supplier to contact me back for over a week, and they won't return my calls or emails. I have to figure they have wood listed, but have nothing in stock. From my understanding, Taylor Guitars has been buying it all up on this side of the pond.

Heck, I'd be happy to get some decent Koa...can't seem to find any.

I just cut up some amazing crushed/ curl pink Koa yesterday, very much mastergrade. It has been a bit like pulling teeth getting into this new stash, but slowly, it is yielding..

Pete Howlett said:

In conversation with well known koa supplier: "There's more Brazilian rosewood available than mastergrade koa..." We really are in trouble now

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Is he also a well known Brazilian Rosewood supplier?

No he is not and it would not be fair to name him. Just thought it was sad... anddddddddddddd you have been keeping secrets Chris

Sounds like a bogus rumor to me. If this is true then there must be a shirtload of BR somewhere. I'm happy enough though to go along with the rumor and raise my koa prices!

Hey Chuck if the rumors are true you better build a vault in your house...and make sure you don't have termites

Maybe enough builders locally so don't need to ship too far.

Don't get me wrong. Koa is not plentiful. It's not like it grows on trees. And those who have good koa are hanging on to it. I just didn't know there was that much BR around.

Moore Bettah Ukuleles said:

Don't get me wrong. Koa is not plentiful. It's not like it grows on trees. And those who have good koa are hanging on to it. I just didn't know there was that much BR around.

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Haha That's a good one Chuck..
yeah me too..maybe it is not master grade BR..but I thought it would be harder to find..

no Pete, no secrets... There is a huge pile of Koa close by, and some nice stuff in it. Gaining access to it has been challenging. The first boards came into my shop a couple days ago.

Why can't folks see black acacia as being as good as koa. I have a pile that looks more like koa than koa. I guess your only as pretty as you feel.

Michael Smith said:

Why can't folks see black acacia as being as good as koa. I have a pile that looks more like koa than koa. I guess your only as pretty as you feel.

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I am not an expert or a builder but I am pretty sure there is a difference..but I did see some beautiful super curly Black Acacia on a ukulele from Taipei

To me, the working and tonal properties of Black Acacia are miles apart from koa...

The two trees are completely different. Some of the wood may look similar, but they are apples and oranges. To some people it might not matter, but there will always be people who know, and notice. Thee are many similar examples.. Dalbergia genus for one, many different species of Dalbergias, only one nigra Some may have similar characteristics, but close, is not close enough.

I know how a piece of good BRW rings like, but what's so special about Koa's tonal quality? I mean, is Koa(Acacia koa) to other Acacias like D. latifolia to D. sisso, or is it like D. nigra to D. latifolia?

My experience is limited with Koa compared to my experience with Black Acacia, but to me the BA seems a little more dense than Koa does. It's not as beautiful, either. You see a lot of low and mid grade curl, but not as much intense curl as you do in Koa. If I were to talk "technical" talk I would look like an idiot, so I won't venture there, but suffice it to say I think it rings a little brighter than Koa, and therefore you would have to thickness it and brace it differently in order to get similar results.

Chuck, I know a guy out my way who has the equivalent of three BRW tree trunks in his basement, and a couple pallets full of beautiful Madagascar RW bass fingerboards like what Gilmer and LMI had a number of years ago. Killer stuff. He has literally hundreds of high grade BRW B&S sets down there, a lot of it still in billets that would make your salivary glands kick in. I ran into a few planks of the stuff myself a number of years ago (7, all 2" thick) that were sitting in someone's garage since the early 1960's. The stuff is out there. Finding it is the issue. Out on this coast, Koa is pretty difficult to come by. Would love a source to get a small amount to build some ukes with, and if anyone is willing to share a decent source, please PM me. (I'm pretty good at returning favors, btw.) I see some stuff on eBay, but the prices seem a tad out of reach. I mean, seriously out of reach for me. There's some pretty stuff on there, but at those prices, I'm out of luck. I've paid upward of $100/bf for some woods, but I was seeing prices more than double that for Koa on eBay. can't afford that.

DewGuitars said:

Chuck, I know a guy out my way who has the equivalent of three BRW tree trunks in his basement, and a couple pallets full of beautiful Madagascar RW bass fingerboards like what Gilmer and LMI had a number of years ago. Killer stuff. He has literally hundreds of high grade BRW B&S sets down there, a lot of it still in billets that would make your salivary glands kick in. I ran into a few planks of the stuff myself a number of years ago (7, all 2" thick) that were sitting in someone's garage since the early 1960's. The stuff is out there. Finding it is the issue. Out on this coast, Koa is pretty difficult to come by. Would love a source to get a small amount to build some ukes with, and if anyone is willing to share a decent source, please PM me. (I'm pretty good at returning favors, btw.) I see some stuff on eBay, but the prices seem a tad out of reach. I mean, seriously out of reach for me. There's some pretty stuff on there, but at those prices, I'm out of luck. I've paid upward of $100/bf for some woods, but I was seeing prices more than double that for Koa on eBay. can't afford that.

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Well, that's an impressive amount of Brazilian rosewood. I'll keep that in mind the next time I drive through the koa forests here. One of my former suppliers has several hundred foot green houses stacked to the gills with koa. He's one on many. Granted, the majority of this wood is select grade and the nicest grade for instrument building is but a very small fraction of all the koa milled. If you can buy 5A master grade curly koa for $100 a board foot, buy it. It's a deal! The best koa sets here go for between $200 and $300 when someone is willing to sell them.
BTW, there's a church up the coast from me that is built entirely from koa. (It's nicknamed the koa church, of all things.) If koa starts getting real tight they may get a new parishioner!

Moore Bettah Ukuleles said:

BTW, there's a church up the coast from me that is built entirely from koa. (It's nicknamed the koa church, of all things.) If koa starts getting real tight they may get a new parishioner!

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Gonna have to call you Jean Valjean...You better hope the priest is just as forgiving!