torodurham
Tele-Holic
Came across some black limba, which I like with as many character lines as I can get..I find it much more interesting visually than plain white limba...just my opinion.
Black Limba (korina) Tele & Strat builds
- Thread starter torodurham
- Start date
skipjackrc4
Tele-Meister
Beautiful! I just picked up some black limba for a strat as well. This is good motivation 
Hodgo88
Tele-Meister
Limba is such a nice wood to work with. You got some really choice pieces.
Moldy Oldy
Tele-Holic
Wow! These are off the chart. Is that a maple top on the tele?
torodurham
Tele-Holic
Yes..quilt maple.
On both.
torodurham
Tele-Holic
straightlbues
Tele-Meister
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2006
- Posts
- 106
Looks great.
What pickups are you planning on using? I have found that my Kornia guitars like more powerful pickups then normal.
What pickups are you planning on using? I have found that my Kornia guitars like more powerful pickups then normal.
My chambered black limba Tele by Tampa Bay Luthier James LeClair.
Attachments
That black limba body is some nice looking wood! If you haven't decided on a neck yet, look into white limba. I got a white limba neck on a Carvin and it feels and looks great. No figured grain or anything, but on a neck it doesn't really matter.
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Southboundsuarez
TDPRI Member
I recently received a guitar made of black limba and I am unsure if it's the wood or the build, but it is about as toneful as wet cardboard.
Is this wood usually dark and dull sounding. My guitar is all black limba neck and body with the top wood being Ziracote . It looks beautiful but quite dead sounding. Big expensive disappointment.
Is this wood usually dark and dull sounding. My guitar is all black limba neck and body with the top wood being Ziracote . It looks beautiful but quite dead sounding. Big expensive disappointment.
torodurham
Tele-Holic
I picked up a used set of tone specific bloomcasters on reverb and saved about 150 bucks...don't think I would have got them new..pretty sure they're vintage voiced...so I guess it's wait and see..I'll keep it in mind.
torodurham
Tele-Holic
I got 2 sweet neck blanks of limba that will match the body pretty close...and they are dead straight quartersawn!.. with figure believe it or not..smokers.
Was also thinking of a high grade BE neck too.
torodurham
Tele-Holic
oh man..sorry that sounds like a huge disappointment..hope mine comes out better 
Limba is very dense and heavy and can take a long time to fully dry out. I have 6 body blanks that have been in my dehumidified workshop for more than 2 years and are still at 11%. I will probably lightly roast them before using them.
torodurham
Tele-Holic
Gorgeous stuff. For some other really nice examples take a look at Roger Giffin's T1/T2 models on his website (giffinguitars.com). Drool-worthy!
straightlbues
Tele-Meister
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2006
- Posts
- 106
Looks great. How does it sound?
Double Stop
Tele-Holic
Ah, I was just about to mention Roger Giffin, as well. You beat me to it! I'll add some more pics of Giffin's then.
Roger is actually doing a custom build for me that's due to start shortly and hopefully will be ready by year's end. He's well into his 70s and still building beautiful guitars himself. No apprentices or anything. Just him. It was these Limba guitars that first caught my eye. It's a beautiful wood.
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Southboundsuarez
TDPRI Member
I kinda sense that this could be part of the issue in my case. Probably needs to age. The finish is a probably a satin poly and probably doesn't help out alot on my guitar. Also the fact it's an acoustasonic and just isn't going to project a huge toneful acoustic sound anyways.... It is designed as a electronic guitar wearing artistic lumber around it's sound engine. But it sure is pretty and collectable guitar and hopefully is good long term investment. I traded a hand wired amp build for it.
I just can't help but wonder what the Cocobolo wood, would sound like in comparison? Lol!
Hope that time will age this would well!
One trait I have in fact notice that in just the last six months or so of owning this guitar brand new, is that the Black Limba wood has definately darkened in color appearance.
To me....... Korina / Limba ...... the wood Gibson used for some of it's "modern" series of guitars in the late '50's and early '60's although why Gibson chose white over black Korina / Limba I'll never understand. I've worked with many Boutique Guitar builders over the years and would say that out of all the tone woods available for use in electric guitar builds at least 4 out of 10 builders, for guitar tone, would chose Korina / Limba. They say it's harder to work with in the shop and that's part of it's premium pricing, but, the tone it produces is more than worth the up charge. One of the most favored guitar bodies is a mahogany back with a maple top. Mahogany by itself is a little loose in note definition. It's loved by many but often contributes to more lows, less highs and "neck" pickups needing to be built to avoid "muddiness". Of all of Mahogany's tonal qualities this lack of string definition and overall "looseness" is considered the downside to either be accepted or engineered out. Thus ... the mahogany body with a maple cap. Perfection. The maple cap addresses all of the downsides of mahogany and brings the guitars tone much closer to perfection. Now we come to Korina / Limba. It's tonality is virtually the same as a mahogany body with a maple cap. It's tighter than mahogany. It has more string definition. Neck pickups love Korina / Limba. It may be the only tone wood that replicates a mahogany body with a maple cap that removes the extra body pieces and gluing involved. Most of the builders I've worked with consider 1 or 2 piece guitar bodies to be the best. When asked why they answer that way they say "By far one piece body builds are the best for tonality". Then, they follow up with ....... some species of wood are from tree's that don't often reach a growth stage where they produce a trunk capable of providing wood planks of a size necessary to build a one piece guitar body. And then they say "2 piece book matching most often provides the best looking guitars and a near enough tonality that most won't notice a difference".
If you like the tonality of a Mahogany body with a Maple cap you'll like Korina / Limba. It'll usually include and up charge but the up charge is worth it. Both White and Black sound much the same but Black Korina is the only way to go for a clear coat finish. Clear coated White Korina provides a nice "backside" but only clear coated Black Korina can deliver a face to die for.
If you like the tonality of a Mahogany body with a Maple cap you'll like Korina / Limba. It'll usually include and up charge but the up charge is worth it. Both White and Black sound much the same but Black Korina is the only way to go for a clear coat finish. Clear coated White Korina provides a nice "backside" but only clear coated Black Korina can deliver a face to die for.
