GUITAR WOODS: KORINA

Korina (Terminalia Superba) is the USA name for a wood actually named Afara/limba, growing in the north of Africa between Camerun and Sierra Leone. The tree reaches to an height of 45 mt and a diameter of of 1,5 mt. Weight ranges around 480 and 640kg/mt3.

Korina is a medium dense wood featuring a light pale yellowish brown colour with some black stripes here and there. Tonally wise Korina sounds is close to mahogany while on the colour side Korina is lighter therefore offering more possibilities on transparent finishes.

Korina tends to dry very fast and must be therefore stored with care during seasoning to avoid cracks by applying wax on cut sides.

This is the wood Gibson used to build its very first Flying V and Explorer guitars in 1957.

Galeazzo Frudua

As a luthier and guitar making and repair teacher, since 1988 he has built making more than 350 boutique guitars and basses priced from 2,900 to 5,600 Euros and repaired and customized thousands of stringed instruments. His instruments and amplifiers are used by flagship artists, such as Chick Corea, Peter Gabriel, Ennio Morricone, Carl Verheyen. He owns two YouTube channels—where he teaches music—that count up to 40 millions views and almost 200.000 subscribers.