Saw my 1st GS Mini Koa today

[joemcg]

Well the GAS is now even worse! I got to see and touch and feel an honest to goodness GS Mini Koa today. It was a lefty so I didn't try to play it, but the looks are definitely there. The most striking feature, which I guess will become pretty normal over the next few years, was the fretboard. It's variegated ebony, and this particular example had a beautiful pattern.

I'm hoping for my very own Koa Mini to be in my hands next week.

[Txmiller]

Was the saddle variegated ebony as well?

[joemcg]

Originally Posted by Txmiller

Was the saddle variegated ebony as well?

Interesting, you know I didn't look. I guess I was too fascinated with the fretboard.

[rz1]

Still waiting on my 324 to ship. Local Sam Ash's have the 326. I played one last week and thought it was nice. Went to the other Sam Ash today and played the one they had.... WOW! Much nicer sound, and looked better too. Wife was curious why I didn't buy it.

[hakotaco]

Where did you play the lefty? I kinda want to buy it right now

[joemcg]

Originally Posted by hakotaco

Where did you play the lefty? I kinda want to buy it right now

Blue Guitar in San Diego. Didn't play it, just saw it. I can barely play the righty!

[hakotaco]

oh man I might trek down there on sunday, I'm from LA and I'm GASing

[Villamarzia]

Blue Guitar has a blackwood (back and sides) lefty.. Where did you see the koa? Curious to know how it sounds.. It looks great, of course...

[joemcg]

Originally Posted by Villamarzia

Blue Guitar has a blackwood (back and sides) lefty.. Where did you see the koa? Curious to know how it sounds.. It looks great, of course...

Shop owner had it, not sure of his name. He said he. It was the first Koa that came in, and since he was a lefty he was keeping it.

BTW I don't think they're open Sunday, better check.

[GBartelli]

SamAsh on 34th street in NYC had one when I was in last week. I didn't buy it, because I already have one!

[angel13]

As soon as someone has a strum, please post what you think! I'd love to hear hoe the new koa sounds in comparison to a standard spruce.

[Guitarsan]

Interesting - I bought one online to try yesterday. Didn't notice any variegation on the fretboard in the photos, but the back is quite flamy! Will report on it here when I get it, likely next weekend.

[joemcg]

Well the color of the ebony could vary all over the place. Bob Taylor's commitment to sustainable wood means they're using trees that would have been rejected a couple of years ago, so I guess it will be the luck of the draw on the variegation.

[Guitarsan]

Originally Posted by joemcg

Well the color of the ebony could vary all over the place. Bob Taylor's commitment to sustainable wood means they're using trees that would have been rejected a couple of years ago, so I guess it will be the luck of the draw on the variegation.

I got to wondering about your comment and figured I would Google to learn more.

Saving others the effort, here's another reason you gotta love Bob Taylor:

"The cutters said another issue was the wide discrepancy in value between highly desirable black ebony and the more marbled wood (featuring lightstreaked variegation), also referred to as “déclassé” (lower class or grade) wood. Crelicam previously only paid a fourth of the black ebony price for the déclassé wood (about 8 cents a pound) because it was less desirable among their instrument-making clients. At that rate, the cutters said, it wasn’t worth all the labor to haul the déclassé wood out.

Bob asked them how they determined which trees were black and which were déclassé. They said they cut down an ebony tree and looked at the wood. If it was marbled, they simply left the tree and moved on. Bob asked how many trees on average they would have to cut to find a black one. They said about 10. Bob was shocked. Bob says. “Not even the previous owner of Crelicam knew. The cutters don’t tell anybody that. I just started asking questions and went down that rabbit hole and they told me.”

Bob told the cutters on the spot that he would buy the déclassé ebony from them and pay the same price as the black wood. They were taken aback. But no one will want it, they said. “Well, now they will,” Bob told them. It was a decision he says he and Vidal felt compelled to make to be responsible stewards of the forest resources.

“Now that we know this, we can’t un-know the realities here in Africa,” he says. “We live in a different world, a world where we have to respect that environment. Decisions had to be made, and Vidal and I have proudly made them. Our ebony reflects the reality of the forest. This is what ebony looks like. Here’s the good news based on what we learned: There’s 10 times as much usable ebony in Cameroon as we thought there was.”

The rest is here:

http://www.taylorguitars.com/sites/d...2012_Ebony.pdf

[Guitarsan]

Originally Posted by Guitarsan

Interesting - I bought one online to try yesterday. Didn't notice any variegation on the fretboard in the photos, but the back is quite flamy! Will report on it here when I get it, likely next weekend.

Here's part of the back, hope to have it by next weekend.....