Epi SG Korina - resonant unplugged..!

[poodlesrule]

At my local GAS station yesterday, decided to casually check some Epi SGs on the wall (before I looked at the Hag Swede... another story!).
I picked the attractive-looking Korina, and found it to be quite resonant unplugged. I then tried other epi SG styles, unplugged. None were showing the kind of body vibe and sound level as that Korina model did.

Is there a valid explanation for this?

 

[marnold]

I'm not a wood expert, so I won't try to offer an explanation. I will say that korina Vs are awesome.

 

[FrankenFretter]

From what I've read, Korina (which is actually not the real name of the wood, Gibson made it up. I think the actual name of the wood is Limba) is akin to a more expensive mahogany. Supposedly they are similar tonewoods.

 

[progrmr]

The Epi Korina Explorer I have is very resonant unplugged - must be the wood.

 

[poodlesrule]

The Epi Korina Explorer I have is very resonant unplugged - must be the wood.

How does it sound amplified, compared to your LP stable, then?

 

[progrmr]

Man that's tough to quantify. The Agile has GFS Pickups, while the Epi has the stock pickups. The Electra is from 1976, so the pickups in that are very different from today's pickups.

I A/B'd the Agile and the Korina Explorer this morning. There is no doubt that the Korina has a smoother tone overall. The agile is very "bitey" while the korina is sharp but smoother overall.

Not sure if that can be attributed more to the pickup difference between the two, the wood, or the size of the body though.

 

[wingsdad]

... I picked the attractive-looking Korina, and found it to be quite resonant unplugged....

I'm not alone in believing that if one has the luxury of choosing between 2 otherwise identical guitars, you take the one that's more resonant unplugged before you even bother to plug the sucker in. I've only bought 2 guitars in my lifetime without actually trying them "live" to pass this litmus test.

...Is there a valid explanation for this?

While the type of wood and solid vs. hollow or semi-hollow/chambered body construction are at root of the equation, it's not a simple as 'just' the body wood. It's a symbiotic relationship formed by the density of the particular piece or pieces of body wood or how the pieces are bonded together, coupled with how the neck is joined to the body (bolt-on, glued at the heel, or neck-thru-body), and the bridge/tailpiece system (affecting how the string vibrations transfer to the body), which means anything from a typical bridge/stop tp system to a harp tailpiece to string-thru body instead of a tp. Even the neck wood and fingerboard wood can play a part.

Generally, the more resonant guitar is then one that's the 'tightest', best assembled combo of tose factors.

The easiest example to spot is with a bolt on neck type. If you can slip more than a piece of paper (e.g., loosleaf, not a business card) between the neck and the wall of the neck pocket, no mater how stunning its looks may attract you to it, like a hot bimbo or dumb hunk, put the guitar back where it came from.

 

[deeaa]

I my experience it's always luck of the draw which happens to resonate well and which not. You can find a guitar made of plywood that resonates like crazy and sounds just awesome unamplified, in fact many guitars I've had or played have proved that it's nothing to do with tonewoods how the guitar resonates etc. that's all simply marketing hype etc. that guitarists believe without any prejudice. Hands down the best resonating and acoustically powerful electric guitars I've played were made of spruce and paper/wood pulp resin-hardened material called flexwood, or cheap basswood.

The Epi Korina SG, like the V and the Explorer is made of 'industrial mahogany' a.k.a. 'mystery wood' in some circles, i.e. they're made of several pieces of some leftover wood and laminated with a thin veneer of African mahogany or 'korina' to make them look two-piece...so the body wood certainly isn't what gives them a nice acoustic tone. The neck wood is also rather soft mahogany compared to what Gibson uses, so it's not there either.

That said, they ARE exceptionally well made and it really requires pretty much a microscope or tearing the guitar apart to notice all the seams and how it's constructed - for instance most SG's of the line also have a bound neck but few users even realize that, it's so seamlessly made and the binding is rosewood as well. And they are very nice guitars, I had a '58 Korina Explorer and it was better made than the Gibson equivalent, but the Gibson had more stable woods and, real solid woods and no laminates. That didn't affect the sound any, though. I myself didn't realize they're laminated until I ripped it apart when modding it and drilled a few holes into it....and then I read up on the subject a little more from Wikipedia etc. but they're so well put together I think not a lot of people ever realize they are made that way.

I'd love to get one of those Korina SG's myself...the Explo was a real nice axe.

 

[deeaa]

BTW I read somewhere that inside the 'korina' line is actually basswood which is cheap, BUT it would explain some of the resonance. Basswood is rather resonant compared to 'traditional' tone woods like mahogany and ash and alder, which were - and I think every guitarist well knows this but chooses to ignore when talking 'tone woods' - originally selected just because those are the LEAST resonant and reverberating woods available and physically strong. Leo and buddies wanted to reduce feedback and minimize any effect of wood on the sound so the sound would be generated 100% from the pickups and there would be no feedback etc. THAT was the original idea. If you want a very lively electric body, use spruce like almost all stringed acoustic instrument tops use. Mahogany etc. are used for rigid yet light backs and such because they're dead and the parts that matter for sound are spruce or maple, which also conducts soundwaves rather OK.