Limba — Density, Movement, Workability & Cost

Gibson built the original Flying V and Explorer bodies from a wood they marketed as "korina," and the mystique that name carries in guitar-collector circles obscures a simple fact: korina is just a trade name for limba (Terminalia superba), a common, affordable West African hardwood that happens to machine beautifully and come in unusually wide, flat boards.

One tree, two products sold under different names

At 35 lb/ft³ and 670 lbf on the Janka scale, limba is light, soft, open-pored, and genuinely forgiving under every tool — a real contrast to many of the harder, silica-laden or interlocked West African species on this site. "White limba" refers to the pale sapwood, "black limba" to figured, streaked heartwood from the same tree; the two names describe cutting choice, not separate species, and a single log can supply both.

Movement, and a solidbody guitar blank weight

Radial shrinkage of 4.5% against a tangential figure of 6.2% gives a 1.4 ratio, comfortably stable. A 16"-wide blank, close to a full-width solidbody guitar body, gives up about 0.165" (4.2mm) across its width on the swing from 11% moisture content down to a dry 6%; narrower stock runs through the wood movement calculator. Carved to a 1.75"-thick, 20"-long body blank at that same width, it weighs about 11.3 lb — the wood weight calculator covers other blank sizes.

Working it easily, and a pore-filling decision

Limba glues without any fuss. Its large open pores need filling if the goal is a smooth, glossy film finish; left unfilled, a "korina" guitar body reads as textured rather than glass-smooth, a look plenty of players specifically want and plenty of builders specifically avoid — it's a genuine aesthetic choice rather than a right or wrong answer.

Durability, cost, and a convenience most exotics don't offer

Limba is non-durable and readily attacked by insects, so it stays indoors regardless of price. It fetches about $11 a board foot, moderate-tier by this site's own scale — genuinely affordable for an imported species with this much visual and tonal appeal. Electric guitar bodies, furniture, veneer, interior joinery, and plywood round out its markets. A real practical advantage limba offers that many exotics don't: boards are usually wide and flat, a genuine convenience for anyone tired of working around the twist, cup, and narrow widths common in harder tropical species.

Why guitar builders keep coming back to it

Beyond the vintage "korina" mystique, limba earns its place in instrument building on genuine working merit — it's light enough to keep a solidbody guitar comfortable, stable enough to hold a neck joint true, and forgiving enough that a builder can shape and carve it without fighting interlocked grain the way sapele or bubinga would demand.

What people actually ask about limba

Does a "korina" body sound any different from a body simply sold as limba? No — the trade name changes nothing about the wood itself, so a builder buying by the board foot from a domestic lumber supplier and calling it limba gets the identical tone and working properties as a "korina" body blank marketed at a premium to guitar buyers.

Does black limba cost more than white limba for the same size of board? Usually yes — the figure and darker streaking in black limba are actively sought by builders and furniture makers, so suppliers who sort for it typically price figured heartwood boards above the plainer sapwood-dominant white limba, even though both come off the identical log.

Do I need to fill the pores on a limba guitar body, or can I leave them open? No — unlike a closed-pore wood where filling is close to mandatory for a glass surface, limba's open-pore look is a legitimate finished product on its own, and plenty of production "korina" reissues ship with the pores left visible rather than filled.

Is limba a good beginner wood for someone new to working exotic hardwoods? Yes, genuinely — its forgiving, even grain and lack of the abrasive silica or extreme density many exotics carry make it a comparatively easy introduction, while its wide, flat boards mean less fighting cup or twist than many first-time exotic purchases involve.

(Shrinkage above is FPL Table 4-4; The Wood Database ran the density and hardness testing, at the usual 12% moisture content.)