NGD - Eastman AC822ce Koa LTD

[tomcstokes59]

Originally Posted by jrdavies

Do you trust Eastman to make a good sounding guitar that will be structurally sound? Do you trust the seller to sell you a good guitar? Could you arrange for a 1-2 day approval period?

I own(ed) a total of 8 Eastman guitars. I still have 4. Of the 8, 5 were purchased from LA Guitars. Ted & Helene at LA Guitars have been exceptional with whom to work. Ted is very good at feedback and descriptions of each guitar. The approval period I believe is either 3 or 5 days. I have only had to use it once with no questions asked. I purchased a $2K+ guitar without playing it based on the known quality of the manufacturer and past experiences with the dealer.

[GuitarMoxy]

I'm still angsting about whether to buy it after some of the comments on here. [emoji3]

We get 14 days to try items here in the UK,but I prefer not to do that to small businesses if I can help it.

[tomcstokes59]

I had the same angst trying to decide on buying mine. A nice long conversation with the dealer helped immensely. I have no ragrets. Not even one letter.

[GuitarMoxy]

Originally Posted by tomcstokes59

I had the same angst trying to decide on buying mine. A nice long conversation with the dealer helped immensely. I have no ragrets. Not even one letter.

Thank you again for your replies. [emoji3]

I’ve spoken to them at length and have asked them to put it to one side until I decide tomorrow.

What strings do you use on it?

[tomcstokes59]

I am trying GHS phosphor bronze. They sound good. So did the d'addario EJ16s. I have drawn no conclusions regarding strings.

[Acoustic Wolf]

Originally Posted by Cool555

Wow! Congratulations once again! You got yourself a great deal! I wouldn’t feel totally satisfied if I wanted an all Hawaiian Koa and got Formosan Koa instead. Enjoy your Hawaiian!

What are the tonal differences between Hawaiian Koa and Formosan Koa, such that you would prefer Hawaiian over Formosan?

[Cool555]

Originally Posted by Acoustic Wolf

What are the tonal differences between Hawaiian Koa and Formosan Koa, such that you would prefer Hawaiian over Formosan?

Good question! I don’t think I have the answer regarding tonal differences. The only Koa top guitar that I owned is a GS Mini Koa.

If you had read in the earlier posts, I wasn’t aware that Formosan Koa was grown in Hawaii some time ago and is now considered an invasive species of Koa in Hawaii.

I tried searching in “The Wood Database” regarding the Janka hardness of Formosan Koa and that infor isn’t found there.

After reading all the posts in this thread, I think the OP’s Koa guitar is highly likely the original Hawaiian Koa, and not Formosan Koa.

I prefer to have Hawaiian Koa to Formosan Koa because the former has a richer history when it comes to using Koa for building guitars.

[merlin666]

Originally Posted by Acoustic Wolf

What are the tonal differences between Hawaiian Koa and Formosan Koa, such that you would prefer Hawaiian over Formosan?

"Formosan Koa" is often used for Asia-built ukuleles and they call it "Acacia". It is quite popular as it looks a bit like Koa though the figuring is different. I contrasted Hawaiian built koa ukuleles with Asian acacia ukuleles several times and find that they don't sound alike at all. But this may be due more to the other characteristics of the instruments. The most direct comparison of similar ukes was at my two visits to the KoAloha factory where they also always have several models of their Thailand built Opio line made of acacia for comparison. Their Hawaiian koa ones sound better without a doubt, but it's an individual decision if this is also worth their much higher price.

[GuitarMoxy]

The 822 is Hawaiian Koa, isn’t it? I seem to remember that was established with Eastman by the OP.

[Marshall]

That's one SEXY guitar ! ! !

[tomcstokes59]

I received the following reply from Eastman CS in California:

"Congrats on your new Eastman guitar! The Koa we use is Acacia Koa, however since this is a new wood for us we don't currently have the specifics on it. We will look further into it and get the information from our factory."

Eastman's customer service is typically very good at follow up and responsiveness, so once the supply additional information I will post it to this discussion.

[GuitarMoxy]

Originally Posted by tomcstokes59

I received the following reply from Eastman CS in California:

"Congrats on your new Eastman guitar! The Koa we use is Acacia Koa, however since this is a new wood for us we don't currently have the specifics on it. We will look further into it and get the information from our factory."

Eastman's customer service is typically very good at follow up and responsiveness, so once the supply additional information I will post it to this discussion.

That’s odd. My understanding is that only acacia from Hawaii can legitimately be called Koa. Some ukulele manufacturers try and say they use Portuguese Koa, but that’s frowned on in that community as being deliberately deceptive.

[jrdavies]

er Acacia Koa is the Latin name for Hawaiian Koa. This is mentioned in the article I linked to in my previous post. Also confirmed this with Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acacia_koa.

There is a slight chance that Acacia Koa is the "commonly used" Latin name. I checked the Acacia genus on Wikipedia and it looks like the boffins may have reorganized it.

Random fact Wikipadia got its name from the Wiki Wiki Shuttle at the Honolulu airport. Wiki means quick in Hawaiian and wiki wiki means very quick.

[antvas1963]

WOW, that top and back are gorgeous.