Koa wood is fine-grained can display a number of figure: plain, straight, banded, fiddleback and in a rare instance quilted. Heartwood can vary from a rich crimson-brown to golden yellow and can vary greatly from log to log.
Koa guitars can vary tonally, in accordance with density and weight. They are most often described as
a warm sounding Mahogany to a brighter sounding Rosewood. A lower density koa guitar tends to produce a more mahogany tone, whereas denser sets tend towards the rosewood spectrum.
