Mahogany or Koa?

[Dluxe]

I'm thinking this is Mahogany with a Mahogany neck. What is your opinion? It is a Carvin LB-75 from 1997.

 

[abstractart06]

Looks like Koa to me. I own a Koa bodied Peavey, and the grain looks just like that. Carvin made that model in Koa, so that's my guess.

 

[smcd]

Almost certainly Koa.

 

[smperry]

It could be either IMO.

Here's the back of a bass of mine, which is mahogany (body and neck are two different varieties). The top (not pictured) is koa.

 

[Dluxe]

The flash does make it seem lighter in color. Here is another shot without the flash.

 

[DiabolusInMusic]

I'm going with mahogany.

 

[smperry]

Yeah, my leaning is hog too.

 

[WoodyG3]

Koa. Almost sure.

 

[jordak]

can you shoot a close up of the grain?

 

[SoComSurfing]

I'm leaning towards Mahogany w/ some nice ribbon-like grain in the piece used on the treble side of the neck.

 

[bootsox]

That's mahogany. It's missing some of the figuring Koa normally has

 

[jordak]

That's mahogany. It's missing some of the figuring Koa normally has

I think so too, but there is sometimes very plain looking koa. Since a few people had some very strong statements that it's koa, I might like to look closely at the pores of the wood. (Koa usually has smaller pores).

 

[exmaxima1]

I'm thinking this is Mahogany with a Mahogany neck. What is your opinion? It is a Carvin LB-75 from 1997.

I used to own a koa Carvin bass and the wood looked just like that. Also, AFAIK the standard wood was maple neck with poplar body, while the optional wood was koa---never saw a mahogany option on the pricelist.

 

[Dluxe]

Here are a couple more shots. I may try tomorrow during the daylight and see if I can get any better ones.

 

[Gabriel51]

This is 100% all KOA with just a little bit of black Walnut in the clear stain.

 

[slap2much]

I vote koa also, my Alembic Spoiler has the same look. Not veneer-worthy flame/figuring but you can still see spots of almost iridescence -- I think that's a characteristic of koa but not mahogany.

 

[hdracer]

It looks like mahogany to me.
How much does the bass weigh? I believe koa is a lot heaver then mahogany.

 

[JacobWhaler]

It's a close call,but I vote KoaLink Removed

 

[mikezimmerman]

It's a close call,but I vote KoaLink Removed

Me too. I remember Carvin offering koa as an option for a very long time, and most of what I saw was not particularly figured.

 

[superbee66]

I have no idea what carvin offered for wood options. That looks like mahogany to me. I've never seen Koa look like that.