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This beautiful guitar is made from Hawaiian Koa wood which is a very precious material. It incorporates the original idea by Warren such as Triangle Fret and Big Block.
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Year Built
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Summer 1991
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Body
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Hawaiian Koa
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Neck
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Maple
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Fingerboard
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Maple
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Pickups
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F : Performance single coil
M : -
R : Seymore Duncan JB
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Bridge
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Floyd Rose w/Big Block
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Performance Guitar had Hawaiian Koa wood which has a beautiful grain and they suggested to Warren to make a guitar with it. At that time, Warren was looking for something new and different, and he decided to make it. Hawaiian Koa wood was very popular around 1980, however felling of Koa in Hawaii was forbidden in 1991. Therefore it was a very precious material. Although If the wood used for the body of a guitar has moisture, it will change, the one in Performance Guitar was in a very good condition because it was dried for ten years or more. |
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- The body is Corsair style with Frank Zappa shaped neck. (Please refer to the corsair page.)
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[Triangle Fret] |
- When they started making the Hawaiian Koa guitar, Warren requested to make the fret triangle. (Usually they are round. See figure below.) There are triangle frets on the market now, but at that time nobody carried it. So the fret was trimmed by hand. It was Warren's original idea.
- With a triangle fret, it's easy to hold, sound becomes clear and easy to tune.
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(Cross Section View)
A: Regular fret
B: Triangle fret |
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[Big Block] |
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(Photo above)
l: FloydRose with Regular Block
r: Big Block |
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- Warren used to use Floyd Rose for bridge, but it has disadvantages such as reduction of sustain and loss of mediant and bass.
- Big Block was developed by Warren and Performance Guitar to fill up a deficiency. They made the block bigger (about twice as big and heavy as Floyd Rose) and used bell metal which was used for church bells.
- The first prototype of Big Block was made by improving upon brass block from a stratcaster.
- This keeps sustain and prevents the loss of mediant and bass.
- The Big Block is Warren's original idea as well, and only Performance Guitar carries them.
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- Warren used Hawaiian Koa guitar when he helped with the Whitesnake tour. There was another Hawaiian Koa guitar as a back up, and Warren liked it better, then he used it mainly. The photo above is the second guitar which Warren plays now.
 The very first Hawaiian Koa guitar has a head stock in a different shape. (Photo on the right) It was made by the sketch which Warren drew at Performance Guitar. Later, it was replaced to the regular head stock.
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"I was addicted to Hawaiian Koa wood for a while
after I made one for Warren."
- Yas Yokote (Performance Guitar) -
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