724ce- any opinions on this guitar, or koa guitars in general?

[beachbum205]

In doing some research for a possible next guitar purchase, I keep running across the Hawaiian Koa 724ce, and I have been very impressed with what I have seen and heard so far, both in terms of sound clips and reviews.

I do understand that if possible, I actually need to play one myself to really make an informed decision on this. Due to driving limitations, this is not the easiest thing for me to do, but I'm hoping to try to find at least one to play if I can in the near future.

In the meantime, I'm very interested in hearing opinions from others here. Does anyone here own a 724ce or something similar? Or has anyone here played one of these, and if so, how would you characterize the tone?

The look of Hawaiian Koa is certainly beautiful, and that does count for something with me. And I'm sure it is a very playable guitar. But what I'm most interested in is how it sounds, and if anyone here would recommend one.

Thanks much,
Jack

[Earl]

I have a 2007 424-LTD, which is all koa.  I used to have a 2006 first-year GS-K (koa/spruce) which would come to be called a K16 using standard nomenclature.  Taylor has wonderfully consistent build quality, but koa wood can vary quite a bit in its properties.  The more highly figured, the more likely that it will not be stellar tonally.  I have encountered some $5K koa Taylor guitars that were not worth $500 tonally, in my opinion -- they sound like plywood but but certainly looked spectacular.  That is a convoluted way to say, "play before pay". 

On my 424 they used the fancy stuff on the top, and more pedestrian looking plain koa for the back and sides.  As a rule, koa as a top wood is a bit brighter and crisper in tone than spruce tops.  It takes longer to open up too, being a harder woods than spruce.  As a body wood, koa is similar to maple.  If you like the modern Taylor tone profile better than some other brands, all-koa is that character on "11".  Full Disclosure:  I have not played one of the new 724's in person, just speaking from experience with other models and other brands in koa.

[beachbum205]

  Taylor has wonderfully consistent build quality, but koa wood can vary quite a bit in its properties.  The more highly figured, the more likely that it will not be stellar tonally.  I have encountered some $5K koa Taylor guitars that were not worth $500 tonally, in my opinion -- they sound like plywood but but certainly looked spectacular.  That is a convoluted way to say, "play before pay". 
.

Earl- thanks for such an informative post- very helpful! And I had no idea about the above. If you buy online from Sweetwater (and perhaps other places as well), they show you what you have in stock, and you get to pick the exact guitar you want. I'm certain if given that chance, if not for your post, I would certainly would have chosen the most highly figured one for sure, assuming that it would have sounded the best. And that could have proven to be a very expensive mistake! For me (and I suspect most of us here) tone trumps looks almost every time.

[beninma]

Very interesting observations.   I wonder if this idea of figuring and tone quality being inversely related to each other is likely to be true with any other woods.

I think the only Koa Taylor I've tried is the K24ce Builder's edition.   The playability was spectacular, but now that I think about it I tried it at the roadshow, and it was definitely noisy in the room, so maybe I have rosy visions of it's tone that are not realistic.

[Guitars44me]

I have not played a K24, but I had an all Koa K-15 from 1998 or so with monster figure all over and HUGE tone.

Koa does vary a LOT in its tone, so I assume that highly figured can possibly sound very good. It just depends on the sets of wood used…

The Koa guitars I have had benefited greatly from a few LONG ToneRite sessions!

I received a used Builders Edition Koa which sounded quite meh…. Fortunately for me it had undisclosed issues and I sent it back for a full refund. Dodged a bullet there.

Not fond of the cheesy lack of binding on the BEs, either.

Good luck

Hope you find just what you seek

Paul

[woozone]

It has been said that for some guitar woods, you need to choose between one of two options: Do you want it to look spectacular, or do you want it to sound really nice?  Koa definitely looks amazing, but try playing it in person and see if you like it...
I had been able to compare the GS Mini Mahogony vs. GS Mini Koa, and I came home with the mahogony.  Was less expensive, too.
One thing to note, I am very curious about how such Koa woods "open up" over time.  Would love to know just how much better sounding a 10-20 year old Taylor Koa guitar sounds.

[Earl]

I wonder if this idea of figuring and tone quality being inversely related to each other is likely to be true with any other woods

I did not mean to imply that beauty versus tone was always a trade off, just that with koa it can be -- perhaps more so that other woods, and especially when used for the top.  As to how all-koa guitars age, my 424 from 2007 sounded quite good to me right away and has mellowed into an added richness over the last 16 years.

I tried twice posting this along with a photo yesterday but kept getting error messages, so I gave up.